Please help- mice epidemic!

[darlin']

Hi all

I am hoping you can give me some good advice about how to deal with an infestation of mice!

A few weeks ago we saw one mouse and thought nothing of it (clearly a BIG mistake!) and suddenly this week we seem to be over-run with them.

We have bought those gel poison boxes that are supposed to be safe around children but they are not working.

This morning I found mouse droppings on my baby's high-chair and actually INSIDE the baby bag! (clearly after the zillions of raisins that litter the bottom!!) Needless to say I was so horrified and feel a bit overwhelmed by how out of control it seems.

Any good tips on getting rid of them in a way that's safe with a toddler around?

Thanks so much- am desperate!

[scotlass]

I would love to hear tips too.

A few months ago i found a dead mouse in my daughters bedroom! I haven't found any droppings or seen anything else but can hear them at night scuttling about. :-S

[The Nappy Lady]

They say if you've got one you've got lots.....I think it is hard to avoid it in London these days.

There is a chap recommended a lot in the other bit of the forum - the recommended local people room - whatever it is called!

Anyway, it seems they can get in a hole as small as a pencil. You need to plug holes with Wire Wool as they can't chew through it. Can do a mix of Wire wool and expanding foam, but the foam alone is no good as they chew through.

Put mouse traps under your kitchen units if you can take the bottom pelmet thing off. Set them with peanut butter or chocolate - Mars Bars are good. Children can't get to them once pelmet is back in place but mice often use this space as their 'M1'. They are very good at getting the food without getting caught in the traps though. You could put down some of the glue traps as well. But of course you have to be ready to deal with the results. Poisen is dodgy because they can eat it then crawl off and die elsewhere and you end up with a nasty smell under the floor or wherever.

This man who is recommended will come in and sort it all out for you, but it costs about ?80 so I guess it depends on how bad the problem is. I think in some cases you will only really get rid of them if you start doing stuff like taking your kitchen units out, finding every little hole and filling it then re-fitting the kitchen...seriously!

If you find the thread there was even a chap who set up a video camera to work out where the mice were still getting in as he thought he'd blocked all the holes .....talk about commitment! He did solve it all in the end though. It did make me laugh when I read it!

All this is from reading the threads (honest) plus some experience of an invasion I had a year or two ago, I think (touch wood) I am now mouse free....for now.

Until you are sorted just make sure you spray anti-bac on the high chair tray, kitchen work tops etc and wipe with kitchen roll before baby or you use surfaces etc. because obviously they pee and poo wherever they go. Oh and be sure not to leave any crumbs about as it will of course encourage them. If they would just stay at ground level I wouldn't mind quite so much.

Nightmare. Good luck with it.

Molly

[Clazza]

If you want professional help get in touch with Colin from K&O Pest Control. He cleared my flat of 3 mice 8 months ago & have not had any problems since ?80 really well spent

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?12,283191,283191#msg-283191

[siobhanleighhunt]

we've just had an infestation of RATS in ours (rental property)- they got in by chewing through plaster by the u bend of a downstairs toilet. I've also got a toddler and a baby so when I found out it was rats I just cleared out to my mums until it was sorted. You know you have rats when they don't die properly in ordinary mouse traps. It took 3.5wks before pest control gave me the nod. Three and a half weeks snowed-in in a small bungalow in the suburbs of west london with my toddler, a baby, and my mum and dad..... happy new year!

I returned to the property after 3 weeks to discuss with landlord about getting the place cleaned and it was taking so long to go through details that I ended up running into baby's lunchtime. As you do, I pulled out the first weaning spoon out of the utensil drawer and it was only half way through the feed that I realised the rubber tipped spoon had been nibbled in half! It is the most horrible horrible thing to have happened. Makes me feel sick now ever time I feed her.

I couldn't use Colin because my landlord has his own pest people but i spoke to Colin on the phone and he was ever so nice. My understanding is that its a 3 stage process - get every possible entry point sealed, entice residing rodents into peanut buttered traps, stuff poison down to kill of the remaining ones. And it takes a few weeks. Sorry I'm a bit vague on this bit. My approach was 'sort it but I don't want to dwell on the detail'. I find the idea of rats around me or my babies quite crippling. Sorry!

[tallgirl]

We had this problem about 3 years ago-I think it depends of the type of mouse you have. Friends of ours found peanut butter and chocolate spread on normal mouse traps worked-but not for us! Gel boxes didn't work, sonic repellents did nothing.The only think that worked was putting anticoagulant coated grain (comes in little bags) down the holes in our floorboards by the radiators and behind the boards at the bottom of our kitchen units. We had a toddler around at the time too. Since then we have heard a mouse once and done this again and had no more problems. If you have alot of rodent residents you may need more than one treatment. Krystal Pharmacy on Evelina Rd in Nunhead sells the stuff.

[blainiac]

Perhaps you might consider getting a cat - my brother had a house that was overun. He was at his wits end and his girlfriend was threatening to move out (I wish she had as it goes). They got a kitty and the problem was solved, the mice moved out - unfortunately the girlfriend stayed.

I appreciate getting a pet might be seen as a little drastic by some and sometimes they aren't a good mix with small chidren (although our cat loves ours - she is the boss of them though). Good luck with finding a solution.

[The Nappy Lady]

Hmmm, not sure every cat will be a mouser though?

Not an option for us anyway due to me being mega allergic, and having a dog (who is def. not a mouser!!).

Molly

[plimsoul]

the council can also come and clear pests, they charge less than the high street guys and worked fine for us and for the wasps nest that we had this summer.

finger foods that the kids leave everywhere just tempts them in. i found keeping the house super clean once the kids were in bed really helped, plus we had our kitchen redone during which we blocked up loads of holes. but we have a cellar so we will never be totally rid, however, i've not seen one in over 2 years when before they would just run through the kitchen without a care!

the way i understand things this area is well known for mice and one can simply hope to contain them rather than ever really going. they pass from one house to the next and therefore all your best efforts can be wasted due to neighbours down the street.

[ThePrincessBride]

I bought a sonic mouse repellant from Primrose and haven't seen a mouse since. Never bothered with traps etc. If you just plug this in (follow instructions from Primrose people on best place to plug it), that's the end of your problem!

[Mrs TP]

Darlin - I spray our highchair every night with dettox surface spray - the smell puts them off if all else failing.

Also be sure to check in side your toaster - are they really crumbs at the bottom or mouse droppings? We are on our third toaster in 12mths and this one is religiously covered every night. Although, I had been hoping a mouse might trigger the mechanism and toast itself - cruel but enough is enough.

Have a sonic plug-in in the lounge, which seems effective and just try and keep the kitchen as clean as possible. Planning a cat when the baby is old enough to swipe it off her head should it choose to sleep there.

[ginarog]

Since we plugged in the sonic mouse repellent plugs, we've not seen a mouse or dropping since. Highly recommend giving them a go. You can get 5 for about ?25 from most DYI stores.

[JessicaCT]

Toaster? We found one in the bottom of our wine cooler - fell in and couldn't climb out. Considered marketing it as the ultimate in middle-class pest control.

And btw we had two cats and it just meant they carried the mice upstairs then chased them round our bedroom. In the middle of the night. The old fashioned traps seem to be doing the job for now but it's an ongoing battle. I say we set the foxes on them.

How to Be Unemployed ? the White Collar Way

[Mrs TP]

Oh dear I forgot some cats like to play with them. We were rather spoiled by our last cat (RIP Louie) who was incredibly tidy, caught them, killed them, ate them. I can still hear the crunches of the little bones as he happily chomped away - truly gruesome but not as gruesome as mice in your wine cooler.

[cate]

Check with your neighbours to see if they have them too. Mine had an infestation and I could hear them running underneath the floorboards in the room above when I was in the kitchen. I caught a few in my house but the pest control company said they caught thirty next door. I used gel traps and rat poison in hidden places like the cellar. I could hear them crunching away on the poison. Found one dead from poison and two in a gel trap. It took the traps a while to work. I had tried the plastic reusable ones with peanut butter but no luck. With the gel traps you have to hide them and cover them. After the pest control guy was brought in next door I didn't see or hear any more.

[darlin']

Thanks guys,

Quite demoralising to know we probably can't get rid of them, but also good to see we're not alone! Was sure it was our fault somehow and feeling truly disgusted with the situation!

Think the advice to get a cat is great and sound but am also very allergic so that's just not gonna work for us!

Will try the sonic plug ins and pray that they work! Am getting so exhausted picking up every little crumb she's dropped and madly spraying and wiping surfaces all over the place. Being massively pregnant also not helping hugely ;-)

Would also like to try dropping poison under the cracks in floor but worries toddler could still somehow put her hands down and get bits out. Eeeek.

Back off to the hardware store later. Will let you know if we have any success.

[simonethebeaver]

Good to read this thread and know I'm not alone. I have what I think isn't a massive infestation but it's very stubborn! Traps didn't work, poison is going untouched from what I can see. I think ?80 would be worth it to feel comfortable in my kitchen again so I'll give the poison a few more days and then give them a call.

I do have a cat - she ignores them entirely.

[Em]

We are in the same boat and have tried 2 types of poison, sonic alarms and traps with no success. It really is awful I'm constantly looking for poos and have become a complete clean freak!

A pest control guy from Southwark council came out and said we need to fill any holes in with wire wool - this is tricky when they are under the kitchen units! Also the larger pellet poison is better than the small green/blue crystals apparently. The other thing he said to do is to fit rubber draft exculders on all the doors to keep them contained although I think it's a little late in our case.

Hope that helps a bit - we did notice yesterday that 2 pellets had been eaten so fingers crossed!!

[candp]

You have my sympathies. In my old flat I used to get mice coming in through the fireplace and pipes and setting up home every autumn when the weather got cold and I tried everything and almost went mad. I hate rodents! In the end this combo worked:

- clean all food away. Put bread in breadbins, anything in cupboards that isn't a tin or whatever put in tupperwear. Clean the kitchen more than is normal.

- get the council to put down poison in cardboard boxes (council seem better than private catchers as the mice change which poisons harm them and their tastes over time - yuck). The council can put boxes in back of cupboards, under fireplaces and in spots where it's harder/impossible for the kids to reach I guess? This is better than pointless traps which catch a couple and leave you having to deal with dead and half dead mice whilst the others climb over the corpses of their mice buddies!

- fill in gaps behind cupboards/under fireplaces/ underneath plumbing/etc with wire wool. Over time the push it out of the way so you have to keep returning to this. Boring.

- Keep the sonic thing plugged in on the wall where you think they live/enter. 2 if it's a house or big flat.

- Burn peppermint oil. Oh do the draught excluder thing too.

[marax75]

Hi,

we also used the sonic repellent and it really seems to have worked. Very safe for kids and costs around 20 quid.

[northlondoner]

My understanding is that the sonic system only works once the infestation is cleared - so as a deterrent against intruders, rather than a means of forcing the resident varmints out.

[Bloggsy08]

my cat ignores mice too - either too cold or old ... but i found dosing entry and exit points with peppermint essential had some good effect

[OliviaDee]

i thought i had gotten rid of mine but they are back - and seem totally resilient to everything and not afraid to give me a good eyeball too. horrible little things. they have ignored every type of trap i put down and i even found poo ON the sonic alarm. like he was leaving me a little message.

the only thing i haven't tried is poison. i have two children so i have obvious concerns there - but i also heard that if you use poison they can die in wall cavities and under floorboards and really stink for ages. can anyone confirm or negate this?

(home-made trap - get the paper tube from a kitchen roll and smear one end with peanut butter. Place it over the edge of a counter top just before the tipping point. Bucket of water underneath. i caught two like that. easier to clean up than the traps. so what if they take ages to drown - i am so over that. i have looked inside my toaster....)

[EDmummy]

@OliviaDee, I wouldn't worry too much about the poison and children. Exterminators put the bait in places inaccessible to humans but accessible to the mice. Yes, they smell for a few days but you more than often find the carcasses to dispose of. In the case of infestation, I think bait is the only way to deal with them. We had an infestation last year and they were all gone within a week of so. This year we have only had one or two and have dealt with them by using snappy traps and Nutella.

Good luck with whatever you chose. They are vile little beasts and I unfortunately now have a fear of them.

[OliviaDee]

thanks EDmummy. poison and nutella it is then...