This week we found mouse droppings inside our house. Now we are mounting a campaign to get rid of them humanely. Admittedly the husband is doing most of the 'ridding' as there is no way you will catch me handling a live mouse. No way, no how. My job is to bleach the whole of our house whilst trying to keep the toddler safe.
Most sites recommend taking the mice 2 miles away from the house. But for now, Plumstead Common may find its got a few more inhabitants. Well 1 at least since that's how many we have caught.
The mice around here are clever. Last night the one caught by the trap managed to gnaw its way out. Out of hard, hard plastic. Gulp.
Any tips from fellow plumsteaders or from mice infested parents are welcome.
5 comments:
Uggg! Sorry to hear of your mouse whoas. We've been having mouse issues this year... more so than any other year I've lived here in the North East (USA). My side bar count says 9, but I think it's actually 10 since December.
Unfortunately, I won't be much help. We find that they don't come back if you skip the "humane" part. (Sorry) Beyond that, we live in a mobile home and all our ducting is under the house. And guess what... that is where they are coming from. My husband figured that putting the traps in the vents would keep them out of my pantry (and house all together) and it seems to have worked. Haven't had a mouse in the house in more than a month... and yet we've caught 5 or 6 in that time. The worst of it (not that there is much we can do about it since we rent) is that our vents are full of "mouse presence"... or I suppose you could call them "presents". I just love the thought of all that blowing around my house every time the heater clicks on.
'Humane' traps are anything but - the little buggers are likely to die of fright or starvation, so frankly breaking their backs is quicker and better.
Plus, it's an offence to release vermin anywhere except your own land.
Babychaser - are you sure you can't do something about your landlord. Tell him that you will sue him for huntavirus infection if he doesn't sort the issue.
John - didn't know it was illegal. Anyway, we got the little nipper back breakers, hubby baited them with Dairy milk chocolate and caught 4 of the sods. Since then we have had no more. I've bleached everywhere and have put little cotton balls saturated with peppermint oil which should keep them away now.
i'm afraid that we've learned that mice are inevitable in terraced houses like those in plumstead. and also that humane traps simply don't keep the problem at bay. the main thing to be done is to search every nook and crany of the house to make sure all entry points are sealed. the rentokil man told us this about a year ago when we had to resort to calling them. we keep a very clean house, don't leave food around ever, etc. but still the little vermin thought they could make our home theirs. we tried human traps, the electonic plug-in things, and then the dreaded glue traps, and snap traps (horrible!). finally we called renotkil who put out poison bait boxes, and that sorted things out. now we replace the poison boxes every 6 months or so as a preventative measure. if you do use poison that does mean the mice go away to die somewhere else, which may mean they'll die under the floor boards, and result a yucky musty smell for a few weeks. but it does fade and is bearable if you open the windows and use air freshner.
i never heard of peppermint oil on cotton balls. what is this supposed to do? sounds interesting!
It seems mice don't like the smell of peppermint oil so it's a deterent. Not as good as putting wire wool and expanding foam in the bathroom wall though.
Oh the oil also works to keep out ants. And IMHO it smells lovely so I'll be putting it around the home.
Also do you know about using chestnuts to keep out spiders. I picked up a few chestnuts when walking in LesNes park and our bathroom has been (almost) spider free since.
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