4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[chelsea]

right now.....

 

I've just heard some rustling I have a butchers block with baskets under - it came from there, I've just sent out my huge german shepherd to investigate and she ran back in the frontroom.

 

I've shut the door now and we are hiding in the frontroom.

[Reikiranf]

Oh dear, I hope you haven't scared the poor thing Can you borrow a cat from someone? We've had mice come in the house when the weather's nice and we leave the door open, but fortunately the cats saw them off pretty quickly

[chelsea]

I've had my back door open all day - so that's what it is. Trouble is I have to go out through the kitchen in a mo to shut the chickens in out in the garden

 

We cant get a cat cos the dog would eat it! she hates cats.

[Tessa the Duchess]

Yikes. I have a humane mousetrap I would bring over but I'm a long way from Devon I would wait until OH gets home and then hand the problem over to him

 

Tessa

[The Dogmother]

I can always lend you Biscuit - he eats dogs!

 

Have you tried looking for it Chelsea? They're pretty easy to catch - my two mousers are always bringing them in, then getting boresd witht he game

[chelsea]

I dont know why but im scared!! ..dont want to go looking Clare!

 

Havent heard the rustling for a while, I have the sound down on the tv.

 

hubby is in bed (he works nights - going to work at 3am). so cant wake him up.

[Egg Lou]

Hi .. sorry to but in but thought a little trick I've used before may help you!

 

An emergency humane trap..

 

Take an empty narrow necked bottle,something like a Robinsons squash drink bottle..

 

Put an inviting treat inside.. cheese, biscuits etc.. then place somewhere quiet near the area and prop up at quite a steep angle using a brick or similar..do make sure the mouse can access the bottle opening.

 

The mouse will hopefully go inside the bottle to eat and then the sides will be too slippery to climb out.. (the angle needs to be enough to cause slipping)

 

this has worked for me every time..however you do then need to take the mouse somewhere to release.. farmers field in my case

 

Lou

[The Dogmother]

I dont know why but im scared!! ..dont want to go looking Clare!

 

I'd be straight down to help if Rosie wasn't snuggled up in bed upstairs, Chelsea.

 

It won't hurt you at all, they are soo cute

[Tessa the Duchess]

The bottle trick sounds like a plan Chelsea. Mice are particularly fond of peanut butter, sultanas and chocolate, try using one of these for bait.

Good luck.

 

Tessa

[chelsea]

Aww, thanks Clare.

 

Im going to have to brave it in a moment, I will send the dog out first for cover.

 

If Im not back in an hour - you will know the mouse has got me!!

[Hen Huggers R Us]

You are so lucky to have a mouse, I want one in my garden, somebodys cat ate mine, we used to feed it on cheese and crackers, whilst sitting under the patio heater and numerous stars drinking lots of wine. We miss him dearly... The only consolation is the fact we have our girls to admire instead, we have just watched them go to bed after feeding them a pasta supper whilst drinking lots of wine under the spring sky

[Olly]

This made me smile ... the cat brought one in last Friday, and let it go in the kitchen. I haven't seen it since, dead or alive, so I had a horrid suspicion it had crept behind the bookcase and expired and I'd have to look for it. The humane trap has been baited with peanut butter, and left untouched.

 

This morning my cleaner arrived, opened the cupboard under the sink and said 'you need to buy some new rubber gloves, these have holes in'. (I never use gloves.) I looked at them, and they had holes chewed through all the fingertips!

 

Mousetrap has now been moved to the other side of the kitchen. I did think about baiting it with a bit of rubber glove! I hope you find your mouse soon, Chelsea. Try trapping it in a welly boot if you don't have a humane trap handy.

[Yorkshire Pudding]

Weetabix mixed with peanut butter is our bait of choice. But release Mickey a good long way away from your house, or he'll come back and look for another trap with all that delicious bait in - and bring the wife and kids too....

 

We used to use the weetabix mixture to trap wild mice and voles in hedgerows, mark them and release them so as to estimate the total population. Some of them got so fond of the bait, they would be caught and released every night. One little vole had been caught so many times he was almost tame.

 

If you want the mouse to survive and the night is chilly, you could add some bedding too so he doesn't freeze in the bottle. It's easier to get him out if you cut the bottom half off, then push the whole thing back together before setting it.

[Flo]

I found a mouse in the shed at the weekend, I'm not sure who was more scared me or it. I was looking for a flowerpot at the back of the shed, lifted up an empty seed tray and this little mouse flew out. The lawnmower was in the way so I couldn't make a swift exit so I just screamed! My OH who was reading his book in the garden didn't move!

 

I think I have just about recovered!

[theherd123]

If Im not back in an hour - you will know the mouse has got me!!

 

Hmmmm has anyone seen Chelsea this morning???

[AnnieP]

I love to see them in the garden, in the shed, in the garage, but NOT in my house! The chewing noise drives me nuts, but luckily, I'm not afraid of them. The cut out juice bottle sounds like a good emergency plan. We set humane traps when we had a problem a couple of years ago. OH used to release them every morning on his dog walk, and I became convinced that they usd to get back to the house before he did!

In the end, whenever we got one (pretty much most mornings and once, two in the same trap), I would put purple spray on them by way of marking them to see if indeed it was the same animals returning. It wasn't! We caught 15 in that season, but once the weather got really good, they took themselves back outside, thank goodness.

 

Good luck!

[Laura & CTB]

Purple mice

[AnnieP]

Please don't report me to the RSPCA.......

[theherd123]

Annie, punk mice will not go down well in your neighbourhood!

[The Dogmother]

I have a baited humane trap on permanent duty in the utlity room - they get behind the washing machine and it's too heavy for me to get out!

[MedusA]

When I lived in Newmarket, we lived on land backing on to one of the training yards and used to get loads in the Autumn. We had a humane trap baited with chocolate at the ready at all times. They were so cute when we caught them. We used to take them out on to the racecourse area and release them, so no harm was done, though I did get a bit fed up of constantly cleaning the kitchen!

[chocchick]

Good luck, a humane mousetrap sounds like the way forward with something tasty like chocolate or peanut butter. We had some in our student house once. I released one at the grassy area a few minutes walk away and it leapt out of the trap and whizzed off.

[Yorkshire Pudding]

Purple mice

 

...and all we used to do was just snip a little tuft of fur - the mice who got caught several times all had trendy 'stripes' in their fur. They'd have looked really cool in purple....

 

Purple stripy mice.

 

The local birds of prey would have loved them!

[chickencam]

Has anyone heard from Chelsea since?

[theherd123]

I think she may have been taken by the mouse!