Mice!!!

[DDIL]

For the first time ever we have mice!!

I discovered mouse dropping in the cupboard under the sink, I have double checked all the other cupboards no evidence, even taken the kickboards off and no evidence under there either.

I am assuming that it is the dog biscuits that are attracting the little blighters!! 

Is it possible that they are only in 1 cupboard?  We have checked and can see no visible holes to the outside but the blighters must be getting in somehow!

[wolf63]

Cats?  If you have any then they could have brought one into the house.

 

[DDIL]

I have 2 but they are 18 and 14 - don't go outside and the 18 year old just about manages to walk across the kitchen.

[Barmaid]

Mice need only a tiny tiny hole to get in.  Under-sink cupboards are ideal since there are normally outlets to the outside and often holes in the cupboards.

Once they are in, they are in and the only way to deal with them is a trap.

[DDIL]

Amazon have just delivered a couple of traps, as the mice seem to enjoy the dog biscuits I have used them as bait.

[choux]

I once heard an item on radio by a vermin exterminator who said that mice can enter your home through a hole the size of a Bic biro as they are enabled to reduce the size and shape of their body! 

My sister had mice in her kitchen that had come through an obsolete hole for a washing machine pipe which had not been properly sealed when changing machines. I fixed that for her and set various traps in the kitchen, emptying cupboards and sifting flour onto the surfaces which I regularly checked for footprints. We caught about 6 of the blighters until the house returned to its pre-vermin state. I found it useful to anchor the traps to a heavy weight - some mice will make off with the trap if they are caught by a single leg/foot to rot away in a hidden place. It may be advisable to store the dog biscuits in a solid plastic container/bin. I know they can chew through plastic but something substantial will help.

Her dear lurcher had caught none of them, bless her. Thank goodness for practical sisters. I hope your efforts are soon rewarded and you can rest easy once more.

[DDIL]

We went for humane traps and it will be the beloveds (cough cough) job to drive them away from the house before releasing them.

Tsk in this house the mouse could be staring the dogs and cats in the face and they still wouldn't catch the blasted thing!

[davebro3]

A wee sleekit timorous beastie - och aye.

[ladybirder]

I got rid of mine when I first moved into this flat and had an outside water tap installed through my boiler cupboard.  The guy who had installed it had left the tiniest hole but it was enough for them to get in.  Had him back to sort it out and been OK ever since.   Sometimes in Spring I put a camera out on the patio for the night. So busy out there! Very interesting what you see including a fox sniffing then peeing on my camera.

[davebro3]

I once stayed at a cottage in the Lakes - each evening a mouse would emerge & scramble around the rough stone fireplace.

[Barmaid]

If you are using humane traps, you need to keep checking them regularly since the little blighters will get trapped in a small plastic box and then chew their way out.  Then you still have a mouse problem but no trap!

Choux, I use the flour trick too - particularly when I think that one of my darling princesses has brought something in and then lost it under the stove.

 

[DDIL]

We got 1!!!