ali-s Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 It is behind our bedroom wall, gnawing away all night at the lath and plaster It can hear us because when we talk it stops , waits a wee while , and then starts ganwing again I am scared it will gnaw through the plaster and run over my face while I am sleeping Has anyone used a Pet shield from JML? Any other adivise on how to get rid of it? OH won't let me get a cat Just a thought maybe it is a RAT and not a mouse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Poison. A cat would be better though My dad was anti pet until they started getting mice problems, every time he thought they had all gone more appeared. Got a cat - no more problems. All the mice we see now are dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paola Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Or a trap Thankfully Bella takes care of those for us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 hmm. I have a mouse problem - the bloomin' cat brings them in, and then lets them go! I have a humane trap - only a few quid from a hardware shop - bait it with some chocolate, or even better, peanut butter ('cos it's sticky, and slows the little blighters down). However, I usually only have one mouse at a time. If you've got one gnawing away in the lath and plaster, I would bet that it's raising a family in there. Poison might be a better option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Dad tried a humane trap once before we got the cat. He caught a mouse (chocolate) and had read that you needed to take them a distance away to stop them coming back. He was going to take it to the park but left it ALL DAY before going to take it, of course it was dead by then. It would have been more humane to use a regular trap. I would still advocate poison, there's no better way of ridding yourself of pests. Last year Mum tried everything to get the squirrels out of her roof, after 3 months and lots of different people trying she called rentokil, squirrels were gone within a week and then she could sell the house! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 They say you don't have "a mouse"....you have mice. I was once aware that there was "a mouse" living behind my cooker....we caught 17 of the blighters. They come into the house at this time of year to have their babies.......but then stay. Could you borrow someone's cat for a weekend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Get a written reference first - it might be a cat like mine! I was convinced last year he was on a 'mouse rescue mission' - he just brought them in to spare them from the cold. I do agree with Egluntine though - not 'a mouse' but 'mice'. Afraid I'd go for the chemical option, cats are actually not that effective at mouse eradication. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 What about a good old fashioned trap? We do get them in the house occasionally but set a trap until we don't catch anymore. We have a new one - easy to set and less risk of snapping your fingers in it. It's working well so far and to my mind is actually more humane than poison as it's instant. I've just bought a rat version (just in case you understand!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paola Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Get a written reference first - it might be a cat like mine! I was convinced last year he was on a 'mouse rescue mission' - he just brought them in to spare them from the cold. I do agree with Egluntine though - not 'a mouse' but 'mice'. Afraid I'd go for the chemical option, cats are actually not that effective at mouse eradication. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I used to go from South London to Buckhurst Hill to have my hair cut He was very good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cate in NZ Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 I have a cat like Olly's. He keeps bringing me live "presents", he leaves them proudly at my feet, they scamper PDQ and I spend the rest of the day chasing mice . Personally I wouldn't recommend getting a cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One Man Banned Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 I would still advocate poison, there's no better way of ridding yourself of pests. Hmnn Does that work for all species A xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali-s Posted October 22, 2007 Author Share Posted October 22, 2007 After searching through all cupboards and wardrobes, looking behind and underneath furniture I cannot find any evidence that we have mice inside the house. OH has still to check the loft, which is very small as our bedrooms are in the roof. Hopefully they are just inbetween the walls I bought a pet shield yesterday to scare the mice away If we do find droppings etc in one of our rooms or in the loft we will get traps/poison. I do not want to encourage the mice into the house by leaving a chocolate baited trap around . At the moment i am not sure which room I would put a trap in Slept better last night and we did not hear any gnawing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocolatedog Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 I've once used a humane trap (the killing sort) as we had a mouse under the stairs and it had chewed through into my bag of dogfood.....I tried everything else first, but nothing else worked (not poison though because of the dogs) and finally bought one of the snapping traps. I baited it, went into the living room and waited with baited breath.... (Hmmm - strange phrase, that!!) About 5 minutes later there was a SNAP! And that was it - all over. In a split second. Cried buckets though - I hate the idea of killing anything! And it was the cutest thing with huge eyes. But unfortunately it was a health hazard, and I couldn't catch it using any of the cage-type traps, so it had to be the traditional way in the end.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Looney Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 My Oh hates the idea of killing mice and rats and I had to be very firm in persuading him we must use poison to get rid of rats and traps to get rid of mice. I prefer traps as they (more often that not) are instant. I actually don't mind rats and mice but as people have said you never just get one lone one wandering around. I have to act quickly if I spy a rat in the garden as last time we had a neighbour come to the door complaining. My friend's dad had mice living in the walls of his house and called in the pest control people in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dancing Gal Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 We've got them in the loft - but OH will not put poison down insists on using a humane trap. 1 a night he is getting as he only has 1 trap - not sure if its the same one coming back every day. Very annoying it is - they dance jive at night in the roof above our heads. That's what it sounds like anyway. Plus the cats like to bring in cats from the garden and show them to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrocksrock Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Ali _ I dont know what the pet shield is but we have a thing which is plugged into the hall electric socket and emits some noise in the house and I have not heard any in the walls for years - since we bought the thing so I hope it works - I have still evidence in the loft but thats because I have not swept up all the chewed up bits and must do so to see if there are more after I get rid of the lot there. Hope it works P.s. - did you see I am an eglu owner now!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH! Can't wait. susan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali-s Posted October 22, 2007 Author Share Posted October 22, 2007 The pet shield is plugged into a socket and works by altering the normal field aound the house wiring. This affects the rodents nervous system which drives them away..... thats what the leaflet says anyway. The pet shield cannot be used if you have Hamsters, Gerbils, guinea Pigs or chinchillas as they have the same nervous systems as rodents. Tarantulas are also included and normally we have huge spiders in the house which I see every day, today there are none Susan I read about you getting an Eglu, that is great Now you must find some chickens that is the difficult bit around here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrocksrock Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Well my plug in seems to work so good luck with yours. My chickens will wait till the spring me thinks and plenty of contact where I work at the vets!! Lots of farmers there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 We used the humane traps (that get them alive) and kept them as pets... we were quite surprised to catch more each day... we kept them in a hamster cage and some regularly escaped, to be captured again the next night... it was like 'Mice Hilton' here, with them checking in and out... The cats now take care of them, bringing them in alive, and I have become an expert at catching them with a teacup and saucer... but they tend to die soon after being 'handled' by the feline guard... One humane trap we bought was useless, it was quite large and with see-through panel, like a flat box and two entrances... we never caught anything with it. We then got a simple cheap one from Homebase, a simple black tunnel that works by flipping when the weight of the mouse makes it go down and the door snaps shut and there you go... one mouse every night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocchick Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Would you bother about mice in a shed? I've started finding "presents" and something was nibbled a while back. If I set traps, wouldn't more just find their way in, as I'm sure it's not very mouse-proof and has holes? The problem is there are dropped bits of food and bedding, but it has carpet down so hard to clean. I scaped as much up as I could. Chicken food is in a metal bin, but bedding just in plastic packaging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 We used the humane traps (that get them alive) and kept them as pets... Were you not worried about disease etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Would you bother about mice in a shed? I think it depends what you keep in the shed! It's probably quite difficult to make it mouse-proof, and they can get into the tiniest holes. I'd focus on protecting what you keep in there, as you say the feed is in a metal bin then it should be ok - they will probably love the bedding, though. The main problem with mice is hygiene, which isn't really an issue in a shed although you wouldn't want the bedding contaminated. I think I'd just accept that the shed will have mice in, and ensure everything is in metal containers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 We used the humane traps (that get them alive) and kept them as pets... Were you not worried about disease etc. No, not really... we kept them in a huge hamster complex, and didn't handle them... they were not tame so we didn't want to stress them out by trying to handle them, we just fed them and tried to keep them safe, away from our cats and away from chewing on everything in our shoe cupboard! I take a very (maybe unwise) relaxed stance about diseases, cause to be honest mice that breed under my floorboard are not so likely to be so dangerous, whereas the hand-reared cockatiels we bought for our daughter from a reputable source got my husband in hospital with pneumonia, and after all the research and queries about this, I found out many pet birds and wild birds carry psittacosis (up to 80% of birds I was told!!)... we never had issues with the mice we kept, or from the rat that kept visiting our garden... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Weils disease (leptospirosis) can be fatal I know someone who died of this it causes a hepatitis like infection that destroys your liver normally spread by rats but can also be spread by mice urine Wild mice and rats are vermin not pets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 My two cats are excellent mousers and stand guard by the wood pile, daring the mice to come out sometime they bring in live offerings though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
