An unwanted visitor in the house!

[MissCommando]

My sister was woken up to a lot of noise in her bedroom this week, scratching and rustling. After investigating, she discovered it was a mouse! She is refusing to stay in the house and is staying at my mum's with her bf and daughter.

The mouse was gone when she looked for it. She has set 4 traps (the ones which just trap them in the box) and put peanut butter inside. She went round to check today and the traps were empty. How long do you think it'll be before the mouse gets caught? Also, is there likely to be more than one?

She is a clean person with no animals and is completely petrified.

[daffy654]

Mice are rarely solitary.There will probably be a whole family of them around.

[MissCommando]

Oh my god! How awful. It was under her bed too :(

[maggiebee]

Poor mouse is probably more scared of your sister than she is of it. That being said, local council will have a department that will deal with Mr & Mrs Mouse and their family.

[emmie]

usually a lot more, and they take an age to catch. I had them in the house for ages, and only the pest control guy who came and put down poison everywhere and blocked up all the spaces they can get into did it stop.

[emmie]

they were horrible, scratching and tearing at cables, i even found one, and that is putting it mildly up the top of the curtains. How on earth it stayed still for so long. i couldn't think where the noise was coming from, looked up and there it was. Then there were two who seemed to like the bath, so i drowned them both, really ghastly.

[mike11111]

I presume you haven't a cat.

[emmie]

not now no. And besides my cat used to bring in live ones from the garden, so not a good mouse killer.

[starone]

You have to pay for the pest control man. In Bristol they will get rid of rats free but other pests have to be paid for. Usually rats are in the garden so I suppose that is the difference. As she has no pet animals the poison would not be a danger to other animals and is very effective. If her daughter is young however, she would have to watch for her touching it.

[rowanwitch]

My mum is the same..petrified!!!
.council unlikely to do much as they are tied up sorting rat problems private pest control more help... or borrow a cat for a while.... probably someone local is having building work done that has disturbed them...

Poor little mice...they are really cute if you look at them closely

[RATTER15]

I would get some "Sorexa CD" from your nearest agricultural store, its a professional use product, I always used it when I was a professional pest controller. put lots of little trays/saucers down all over the areas where the mouse has been seen, they are sporadic feeders, one or two trays of poison wont work. "DO NOT" block up any holes, if you close any holes the mouse/mice may not be able to get to the poison and it may move to another area of the house. after the problem has gone, then you can block up holes. It could easily be just one mouse, could just as easily be more than one. Good luck.

[starone]

Rowan, they are disgusting. The poo everywhere for a start and I'm sure you do not want that on your work tops. They like work tops because there are usually a few crumbs missed when you are cleaning. I'd kill the little buggers as soon as possible. Bad enough coping with spiders, leave alone mice!!

[Arksided]

The house next door to me was empty for about six month, the food had ran out obviously so they tried to move into mine, it only took about five weeks to capture thirteen of the blighters... the last thing your Sister wants is them breeding.

[Kiki-frog]

Oh dear, chances are that the mouse's family will move in as well. It's worth putting a smear of olbas oil or eucalyptus or something really strong-smelling on any electric cables so they don't get nibbled. I think she just has to keep on putting down the traps. It sounds like she's scared of mice, but if she sees one, the easiest thing is to throw a towel or some other kind of heavy fabric over it. Mousie will then stop still and can be picked up in the towel and escorted off the premises. I have to do this quite a lot when the cat brings me little pressies.

[RATTER15]

Kiki-frog, that is the problem with cats, cats cause so many problems by bringing mice into the house, if that mouse is pregnant and most female mice are pregnant, the cat puts the mouse down and the mouse shoots under the furniture or the cooker, you now have 1 mouse that will turn into 10 in a few day, HEY PRESTO!! you have a mouse problem and mice are more difficult to get rid of than rats due to their very different feeding habits! If you dont want mice, dont get a cat!!

[Kiki-frog]

Ratter, you are so right there. But it's honed my mouse-catching skills no end.

[MissCommando]

She did ring the council but they were going to charge £80 to put traps down. She said she couldn't afford it etc and they offered to do it for £20, so she just decided to put her own down.
How much is a proper pest control person, roughly? Do you think she needs one?
Ok thanks Ratter, I'll tell her about that.
I absolutely hate mice too and can't see anything 'sweet' about them, they are vile creatures.
My niece is 18 months old, so my sister isn't happy at all about a mouse/mice being there. I guess she could put poison down for a few days as she's not there at the moment anyway.
Oh my god Em, that sounds horrendous. You were brave to drown them - I don't blame you.
I feel so sorry for her that she could have a big problem there :(

[MissCommando]

Thanks for all the answers and advice too everyone x

[LoftyLottie]

Good job some of you don't live where I do, spiders, mice, rats abound!! Brick and flint rubble cottage walls are wonderful places for mice and spiders to live. Much as I don't want mice and rats in the house, I don't worry about them. Rats get into our loft!!! ;o)

[LoftyLottie]

And yes Ratter is right, cats are notorious for bringing mice into the house - and my lovely cat doesn't even try to kill them, she just lets them go!!!

[RATTER15]

I caught a mouse in our kitchen in a mouse trap last night.