snowball12
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Mice like chocolate in a humane trap. Please don't use poison. I am allergic to dogs but I have three tabby cats and I'm fine with them.
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Mouse!
- Thread starter s'nic
- Start date
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maryjaneholland
Well-Known Member
@s'nic I feel your horror and angst about discovering your unwelcome guests in your attic and I'm not pest control expert but have lived in an old Victorian terraced building with basements, yards, air vents, chimney stacks and all kinds of entry points for vermin in gaps cracks split bricks eaves drains etc for nearly fifteen years, fighting civil war with mice (and occasionally rats) which are long-term problems in the inner city area, and unfortunately professional pest control is the only way to get strong bait to remove the mice from inside your home, as new regulations have caused the manufacturers of poison bait to reduce the active ingredients, which means the mice have to eat more of the bait to die, and if not, they are just ill and can develop immunity to the poison bait...
Failing that, my best tip is to be hypervigilant about food storage and food waste in your home, as unfortunately the mice have entered your home on the ground level and chosen the attic to build nests and breed more micelings as it's dark quiet undisturbed, but the mice are very much living in your house and eating your food by the time they are spotted, so I bought stack of tough plastic transparent IKEA storage boxes with lids, and smaller food storage lunchboxes, so everything edible in my kitchen is inside sealed wall cupboards, sealed fridge freezer, sealed plastic storage boxes with lids, and all the food waste goes into carrier bags I take outside to sealed wheelie bins every day, plus very sharp smells like strong white vinegar, bleach, essential oils, disinfectant, will discourage them and destroy scent trails - yes mice are constantly peeing pooping and rubbing themselves all over your home to designate safe routes, so constant cleaning using sharp smells and removing all traces of food and food packaging every day is minimum requirement to create an oppressive hostile environment... Good Luck! 😉
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Failing that, my best tip is to be hypervigilant about food storage and food waste in your home, as unfortunately the mice have entered your home on the ground level and chosen the attic to build nests and breed more micelings as it's dark quiet undisturbed, but the mice are very much living in your house and eating your food by the time they are spotted, so I bought stack of tough plastic transparent IKEA storage boxes with lids, and smaller food storage lunchboxes, so everything edible in my kitchen is inside sealed wall cupboards, sealed fridge freezer, sealed plastic storage boxes with lids, and all the food waste goes into carrier bags I take outside to sealed wheelie bins every day, plus very sharp smells like strong white vinegar, bleach, essential oils, disinfectant, will discourage them and destroy scent trails - yes mice are constantly peeing pooping and rubbing themselves all over your home to designate safe routes, so constant cleaning using sharp smells and removing all traces of food and food packaging every day is minimum requirement to create an oppressive hostile environment... Good Luck! 😉
SAMLA Series
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s'nic
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- At risk of diabetes
I had mice in at ground level when I lived in an old building in the country, so I know what that is like.@s'nic I feel your horror and angst about discovering your unwelcome guests in your attic and I'm not pest control expert but have lived in an old Victorian terraced building with basements, yards, air vents, chimney stacks and all kinds of entry points for vermin in gaps cracks split bricks eaves drains etc for nearly fifteen years, fighting civil war with mice (and occasionally rats) which are long-term problems in the inner city area, and unfortunately professional pest control is the only way to get strong bait to remove the mice from inside your home, as new regulations have caused the manufacturers of poison bait to reduce the active ingredients, which means the mice have to eat more of the bait to die, and if not, they are just ill and can develop immunity to the poison bait...
Failing that, my best tip is to be hypervigilant about food storage and food waste in your home, as unfortunately the mice have entered your home on the ground level and chosen the attic to build nests and breed more micelings as it's dark quiet undisturbed, but the mice are very much living in your house and eating your food by the time they are spotted, so I bought stack of tough plastic transparent IKEA storage boxes with lids, and smaller food storage lunchboxes, so everything edible in my kitchen is inside sealed wall cupboards, sealed fridge freezer, sealed plastic storage boxes with lids, and all the food waste goes into carrier bags I take outside to sealed wheelie bins every day, plus very sharp smells like strong white vinegar, bleach, essential oils, disinfectant, will discourage them and destroy scent trails - yes mice are constantly peeing pooping and rubbing themselves all over your home to designate safe routes, so constant cleaning using sharp smells and removing all traces of food and food packaging every day is minimum requirement to create an oppressive hostile environment... Good Luck! 😉
SAMLA Series
Need to store a lot of things in little space? Discover our range of small and big see-through SAMLA storage boxes and lids. Shop, fill and stack them easily!
Nothing in the kitchen has been touched/moved, also all open items are in plastic/glass containers or securely clipped shut already (something I continued doing even after leaving the house in the country area). Once you've had mice in your food cupboards you don't easily forget it!
I am 99.99999% certain this visitor came up the drainpipe and in through a gap in the eaves/facia. I plan to get someone to check for and tackle any gaps. In the meantime the combination of traps and poison should deal with it. My main concern is that it gets settled, raises a family and looks to move downstairs.
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
They don't even just go for actual food, I found they nibbled at cloths, candles, the corks and foil over wine bottles when they had that.
They eat the pea seeds I plant at the allotment but I discovered scattering hot chilli powder over the row deterred them.
They eat the pea seeds I plant at the allotment but I discovered scattering hot chilli powder over the row deterred them.
maryjaneholland
Well-Known Member
@s'nic yes gaps in the eaves is how they get into my building, but it sounds like you have fought them before, so only other useful things I have learned from professional pest control contractors which may seem obvious but not to everybody, please do not ever use glue traps as they are extremely cruel and inhumane and trapped mice actually die of dehydration and starvation, plus some people have been known to place these outside near sheds, and end up killing all the wildlife in their gardens trapping birds, insects, small mammals, hedgehogs, small pets etc!
And never using poison bait outside unless you have heavy duty sealed locked bait box, as you will be poisoning all the wildlife, pets and risking children accessing poison bait, and even poisoned dead mice can also poison their predators, so birds and cats and dogs etc! Yes all strong sharp smells like chilli powder and vinegar and disinfectant will discourage mice, and I'm always cleaning as they can spread bacteria and diseases on to kitchen counters, despite the wire mesh covering the air vents outside, ugh!
Maybe move any valuables or sentimental items out of attic so they aren't chewed as I have binned lots of clothes, paper files and even soap bars the mice enjoyed chewing, very cute but chewing electrical cables can cause house fires, there were also squirrels living in the attic doing this in my building around 15 years ago, real nightmare!
And never using poison bait outside unless you have heavy duty sealed locked bait box, as you will be poisoning all the wildlife, pets and risking children accessing poison bait, and even poisoned dead mice can also poison their predators, so birds and cats and dogs etc! Yes all strong sharp smells like chilli powder and vinegar and disinfectant will discourage mice, and I'm always cleaning as they can spread bacteria and diseases on to kitchen counters, despite the wire mesh covering the air vents outside, ugh!
Maybe move any valuables or sentimental items out of attic so they aren't chewed as I have binned lots of clothes, paper files and even soap bars the mice enjoyed chewing, very cute but chewing electrical cables can cause house fires, there were also squirrels living in the attic doing this in my building around 15 years ago, real nightmare!
s'nic
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- At risk of diabetes
I'm pretty well versed in rodents and how they can get anywhere tbh, I used to have chinchilla's as pets, so cute but will chew anything and one even got behind my gas fire and was hanging around the back boiler. He had a fine time exploring before I managed to call him back out.
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Eddy Edson
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Anybody considering getting a cat to deal with rats should make sure it isn't this cat:
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