mice?

athlone M

Hi
I was wondering if anyone would have any advice.
We have recently moved into a new house that was newly renovated, when we moved into the house there was a mouse trap with a piece of mouldy cheese under the washing machine, the trap itself hadn't been set.
a couple of days later the plumber who had done the plumbing in the house during the renovation told me that there had been a mouse here while the renovations were being done, which had been about a year and half before.
This morning there was 2 mouse droppings on the floor infront of the washing machine (the mouse droppings had originally been on top of the washing machine) and I was thinking maybe they were under the machine and I had knocked them out last night when I was brushing and washing the floor.
The droppings themselves were small, black and hard.
Thing is I'm wondering if they were old ones or new ones.
I think the house itself hadn't been lived in a couple of months.
If I do have a mouse how will be the best way to get rid of him.
All help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

HealthNWealth

You need to get yourself a good mouse catching cat, then you will never have that problem again and you will give a loving cat a much needed home!

Neil3030

Get some traps and lay them all over your house. B&Q sell them fairly cheap, as do most hardware shops and supermarkets.

Bait them with peanut butter and leave them along skirting boards, under the fridge or anywhere they'd be protected by a side or overhanging surface - mice don't like leaving themselves exposed for too long so they stick to these areas.

You can also lay down poison, but I've usually found this to be useless.

Chances are there's more than one though, just to warn you. Get plenty of traps and reset when/if you catch one.

Or you could get a cat.

tallus

athlone M wrote: »

Hi
I was wondering if anyone would have any advice.
We have recently moved into a new house that was newly renovated, when we moved into the house there was a mouse trap with a piece of mouldy cheese under the washing machine, the trap itself hadn't been set.
a couple of days later the plumber who had done the plumbing in the house during the renovation told me that there had been a mouse here while the renovations were being done, which had been about a year and half before.
This morning there was 2 mouse droppings on the floor infront of the washing machine (the mouse droppings had originally been on top of the washing machine) and I was thinking maybe they were under the machine and I had knocked them out last night when I was brushing and washing the floor.
The droppings themselves were small, black and hard.
Thing is I'm wondering if they were old ones or new ones.
I think the house itself hadn't been lived in a couple of months.
If I do have a mouse how will be the best way to get rid of him.
All help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

Why not put some flour on the floor tonight in the areas you think there might be activity and if there's a mouse, you will see the tracks. At least you will know for sure then.

Zapperzy

Neil3030 wrote: »

Get some traps and lay them all over your house. B&Q sell them fairly cheap, as do most hardware shops and supermarkets.

Bait them with peanut butter and leave them along skirting boards, under the fridge or anywhere they'd be protected by a side or overhanging surface - mice don't like leaving themselves exposed for too long so they stick to these areas.

You can also lay down poison, but I've usually found this to be useless.

Chances are there's more than one though, just to warn you. Get plenty of traps and reset when/if you catch one.

Or you could get a cat.

I wouldn't reccommend laying down poison, a relative of mine layed down poison and a few of them ate it but crawled into some small crevases before dying, took a long time to get the smell out of the house.
Traps, while I don't like killing mice, are the most effective solution. The flour idea is a good idea if your not sure if you have mice. Humane traps are a good idea but you would have to be willing to drive them a good distance away before releasing them, otherwise they will return. There are also those mice repelling plug-ins but there are mixed opinions as to whether they work.

thankfully Im moving out of my current flat in a few weeks. I went into the (dark) kitchen late last night and a mouse ran over my foot :eek:

Maybe I'll tell the landlady

athlone M

Hi
Thanks for all your replies, after spending most of the day panicking thinking I might have a little furry visitor I said I would ring a pest control place and look for advice, (now knowing it was a bank holiday i wasn't expecting an answer but unusually there was!)
Anyway the nice chaps advice was to put out a piece of chocolate beside where I had found the droppings and if I had a mouse the piece of chocolate would be nibbled on, but thankfully it wasn't.
Thanks again