Mice!

[JES72]

We have a mouse infestation!
With Homer being sick, there is plenty of food for them betweem the floor boards and everywhere!
I've put out humail traps but not caught any.
Our house is old with gaps all over the place.
I don't think getting a cat would be an option as Homer chases cats and I wouldn't want to bring a cat into a situation that could be stressful for it.
Has anyone had any success with peppermint spray?

There was even a mouse in my bed the other night!

 

[Cath]

Has anyone had any success with peppermint spray?

No sorry never needed to used that. We got two cats, but my niece caught her with peanut butter.

 

[Atemas]

We live right on the edge of the countryside and mice are a problem for us on a regular basis. We too use peanut butter

 

[HAH]

I’ve heard that mothballs, garlic and cloves can also be helpful - clove oil on cotton wool at entrance points are apparently very effective?

 

[Kelsey]

Ugh mice!! I also use peanut butter in mouse traps, we get so many with that! Haven’t had to try anything else so don’t have any other suggestions, sorry

 

[Lisa]

Ugh! In your bed???

Surprisingly I’ve never had a mouse in my house. I’m not sure why as we are close to rural areas but there are also cats that roam the neighbourhood so perhaps that is why.

My daughter gets mice occasionally in our city condo. Peanut butter in the traps works well.

I wonder if you might need an exterminator if you have that many, though?

 

[Kelsey]

I wonder if you might need an exterminator if you have that many, though?

This was what I was thinking also... I have never had them inside, knock on wood, but if I did, this is probably the route I would go. They multiply so fast unfortunately!

 

[Jen]

We have a mouse infestation!
With Homer being sick, there is plenty of food for them betweem the floor boards and everywhere!
I've put out humail traps but not caught any.
Our house is old with gaps all over the place.
I don't think getting a cat would be an option as Homer chases cats and I wouldn't want to bring a cat into a situation that could be stressful for it.
Has anyone had any success with peppermint spray?

There was even a mouse in my bed the other night!

What you need to do is burn your house down

 

[Jacqui-S]

Best tip for mice is being scrupulous about anything they could eat (I know they can get into cupboards but no point in making it easy) and get at least 6 mousetraps, more if possible and don't go for the humane ones.
Bait wise I found peanut butter or a chunky raisin/sultana, bit of chocolate on it were the best baits. And check them 3 times a day, concentrating the traps close to any successful catches.
I would never use poison bait....apart from it being rubbish for nature and domestic pets, the little bu@@ers just die in roof or floor space and stink.
Living near fields, we accept mice as just part of life but when they eat the kids toys, scavenge our bags of rice, boxes of cereal, or chew through cables we normally have a purge.
My trigger point one year was having a mouse steal a gravy bone from my bedside table. Whilst I was in bed. And I heard it. They are ALWAYS in a treat container now.

 

[kateincornwall]

Meet Micky , he also got onto the bed one night , then made himself at home in the sitting room when there were two dog snoring away ! We did eventually catch him and set him free a mile or so away and yes , silly Paul did feed him

 

[Emily]

Has anyone had any success with peppermint spray?

We did, with rats. I never saw the rats but saw enough evidence to know they were there. They were outside, behind some seating near our door. Given that they were outside, I didn't feel it was right to trap them.

I pulled out the furniture, scrubbed the mess away and then put a pot of cotton wool soaked with peppermint oil behind the furniture. I check every few months but haven't seen any evidence of rodents again.

 

[edzbird]

peanut butter and mars bars. Many Little Nipper traps. We had them a couple of times. ( we're near fields too). Since then I have plug-in ultrasonic rodent (and sp**er) repelling devices which seem to work, Touch wood, we've had none back in the house. One in the loft (where there are no ultrasonics).

 

[Lisa]

I’m not scared of mice, but I just can’t even with them in the house. I don’t know if hanta virus is a thing in Europe but it’s definitely a risk to humans here so I just couldn’t handle them in the house.

 

[Candy]

Best tip for mice is being scrupulous about anything they could eat (I know they can get into cupboards but no point in making it easy) and get at least 6 mousetraps, more if possible and don't go for the humane ones.
Bait wise I found peanut butter or a chunky raisin/sultana, bit of chocolate on it were the best baits. And check them 3 times a day, concentrating the traps close to any successful catches.
I would never use poison bait....apart from it being rubbish for nature and domestic pets, the little bu@@ers just die in roof or floor space and stink.
Living near fields, we accept mice as just part of life but when they eat the kids toys, scavenge our bags of rice, boxes of cereal, or chew through cables we normally have a purge.
My trigger point one year was having a mouse steal a gravy bone from my bedside table. Whilst I was in bed. And I heard it. They are ALWAYS in a treat container now.

We had mice once. I'm quite fond of mice, I had them as pets as a child (I wanted a dog really, but was only allowed mice) However, I really don't want them roaming free around the house and especially not in the kitchen. I can't bring myself to use traps or anything that would harm them , so as @Jacqui-S has said, I'm just very scrupulous now about how I store food, which is good practice anyway.(Didn't stop the evil weevils from getting into the flour though, cross reference to 'What I'm cooking today's post!)

 

[Jelinga]

I had a little mouse, who got into Rourke's kibble under the sink and carried each piece up into the cutlery drawer! I felt so sorry for it, all that hard work!

 

[M.F.]

We’ve had rats in our courtyard getting into the compost bin. We used a humane trap with bread smeared with peanut butter and released them into a park. Please only use a humane trap. Those ones that snap onto a limb means it will be suffering terribly until you check the trap and eventually have to kill it yourself to put it out if its misery.

The peppermint oil deterrent sounds excellent! Going to try that if we have another rat visit!

 

[JES72]

peanut butter and mars bars. Many Little Nipper traps. We had them a couple of times. ( we're near fields too). Since then I have plug-in ultrasonic rodent (and sp**er) repelling devices which seem to work, Touch wood, we've had none back in the house. One in the loft (where there are no ultrasonics).
[/QUOTE

Is friend has used ultra sonic I think I’ll ask if I could borrow it for a weekend to see how Homer reacts.

 

[Jacqui-S]

Please only use a humane trap

I started using humane traps, and taking the mice a mile away "over water" at the beginning......
Then the bait was going missing from the traps without catching the mice. I have a video somewhere of how they did that.
There may be more sophisticated traps now, but over the years, I have only had twice that I believe the traditional snap trap did not do an instant death.
I'm afraid when you are over run, there is just no time for humane traps in my life.
But I do understand your take on this @M.F.

 

[JES72]

I have sprinkled peppermint oil around the house and went round stuffing steal wool into the main holes. Hubby says they’ll just make another hole as our floor boards are in such a bad state. I have asked for a new floor but Hubby is stalling.

 

[SwampDonkey]

if you go onto the give sites there is lots of info. Get rid of them asap remove Access to food and block all holes.