AAAAaaargh!!!!!! Anyone successfully got rid of a family of mice from house?

[anney]

They say due to all the rain in Melbourne, mice are moving indoors to find warm and dry places to live. Have lived in this house 18 years and not seen mice like we have at the moment. Last winter we had two but I knew where they were coming from and put out traps and caught them both within a few days.
This year they have been scratching around in the walls at night but I had no clue where they were getting in. I laid some traps but have not caught any. Very reluctantly I resorted to poison. (don't like the idea of a long slow painful death!) Found blood yesterday in the linen cupboard and traced it to one half dead mouse so have had to wash everything in the linen cupboard. As I was cleaning it, one jumped out and scared the cr%^ out of me. Found another dead mouse in my washing bucket today. They looked like full grown mice but there are still a few littler mice running around the house. Mouse don't really bother me, but I am hating the fact that I could just find half dead mice anywhere now for the next week and feel like just throwing out the poison and ringing a pest controller. Do you think I can get rid of them myself?

[Trillian]

We have them bad atm too. It's been a perfect season for them and they are in absolute plague proportions in some areas out where I am. I even had one in my bed at 5am LOL. But you just need to be persistent with the traps and make sure you find any openings where they could be getting in - look for places that don't even seem that obvious. Mice only need a gap of 8mm to squeeze through which is tiny, so check all your doors and windows etc. Even check your air conditioner vents - we've had them come in through the vents in ours so we had to cover it with mesh. We have also had them come in through gaps at the tops of windows too. We live in an old farmhouse so there are gaps everywhere. I even noticed that they were coming in under our back screen door as there is a gap, so we make sure the timber door is always closed. if you are putting poison out, you will have to check for dead ones to get to them before they decay. Most of the time you will smell them before they decay - it will smell like a really strong mouse wee smell, not a 'dead mouse' as such. Other things that work are mixing plaster of paris powder or flour in with sugar and putting it in bowls - when they have a drink the plaster/flour will set in their stomach, or using bicarb soda and sugar. The aim of poisons is to make them go in search of water to drink, so they are *supposed* to go outside seeking water, so make sure that you don't have any damp areas where they could find water inside the house.

[Jennie13]

No advice really but how horrible hope you get rid of them soon!!! Have you tried those humane traps? I used them once and they worked well, I could bring myself to killing them.

[Boo Boo]

I even had one in my bed at 5am LOL. But you just need to be persistent with the traps and make sure you find any openings where they could be getting in - look for places that don't even seem that obvious. Mice only need a gap of 8mm to squeeze through which is tiny,

In bed!!!!!!!! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHhh. and...8 mm that's tiny, far out, I had no idea!

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

We had heaps here, at one point we were catching up to 10 a day and our local woolies had sold out of all mice related products
On our traps we use peanut butter and sometimes we sprinkle a little parmesan.
Someone mentioned plugging little holes with steel wool, they don't like chewing through it, you can also use silicon on smaller holes but they may bite through that over time.
We had them for WEEKS but we haven't caught any in a while now, even though we know they are still around somewhere.

The other thing that helped was we re-did all our pantry, everything loose went into containers so they couldn't get into anything and thus took the temptation away

[anney]

Oh Trill in bed! my DH said he had one nibbling his finger when he was asleep on the coach but I was not sure i believed him.
Re blocking up the holes - are they nocturnal. there is a large hole in our linen cupboard but i was worried about blocking it in case they are actually in the house and then I block off their escape route. but i guess they will find some other way of getting out.

ZF - 10 a day - that is a shocker. you poor thing. thank goodness they are not in my pantry. they got in last year and munched on pasta so i have been checking pantry every day this year. I accidentally left an easter egg that I did not give to someone as a gift in the top shelf of the linen cupboard (hidded from DD - LOL) that is why they were loving the linen cupboard.

[Charlotte91]

Yep - Steel wool. I chased the little bugger til I found out where the hole was. That stopped them!! Unfortunatly, we have an old house so there's gaps under the doors. They were/are coming in under the sink where the dishwasher (which doesn't work) hose goes, then following the hose and eventually ending up in the kitchen. And just plain old walking under the back door. Grrr
Traps, Traps, Traps and more traps. Not the crappy plastic ones. The good old wooden ones. Make sure you set it fairly sensitive.

Yep for peanut butter too! It does work.

If all else fails, get a cat!! Our cat is 9 months old and catches anything that moves. They don't even have a chance to get into the house anymore.

[Ginger]

do you like cats? our cat catches a mouse or rat about once a fortnight. has completely scared them off and cleared them out.

[LaDolceVita]

Agree with the cat idea.. Can't offer any other advice as we have never had a mouse problem because we have a cat. We back onto bushland and know they definitely are around because she will bring us a few dead ones here and there, 3 in one night during summer but as for seeing them alive or inside nope not even once and I think it's all because we have her..

[~MummaBear~]

I was going to say cat too lol
Our cat catches mice pretty much eveyday, she get them from the bush and brings them home to play with before she eats them EWWWW but we havent seen any inside yet! ( apart from the one the cat thought would be nice to catch outside and then bring inside and let it go ROFL)

[jackrose]

I have heard that peppermint oil is a good deterrent. If you soak cotton wool in peppermint oil and leave it around areas where they may get in or in areas you really don't want them like the pantry. You have to keep re-infusing the cotton wool though or as the scent dies off they just nab the cotton wool for bedding You could wrap some peppermint infused cotton wool in steel wool and plug entry holes to be really thorough. Then if you are worried about any being stuck in the house set traps to catch the ones still inside.

[Rivlas]

We use the Ratsack throw ones as we need to put them inthe roof as they like to nest there cause it's nice and warm. We have never found dead ones in the house or roof but have found dead ones outside.

I hate the sound of them in the walls or roof at 1am.

Yes, steel wool does work but keep it there for a month or so before patching.

[~TT40~]

we are at what is hopefully the end of the plague... we were catching like 20 a day... our local supermarket catches hundreds and everynight they have to pack up all the shelves into plastic tubs (some things like suger and floor are always stored in plastic tubs on the shelves) just because they get into it all...poor people.
Ive used traps - but make sure you empty them quickly otherwise the live ones will eat the dead ones and they arent so fun cleaning up then.. we used steel wool but that eventually did get eaten through. we baited...and are now discovering horrible smells around the house where they have died in cupboards and clothes draws.. I have just put mint down aswell cause apparently they dont like that (and it masks the smell), but dont know if its worked cause they have died down a bit now...(too cold) oh we also tried spraying amonia in our roof cause it smells like cat wee and mice dont like cats.
so we might have like 1? mouse left...i know we havent gotten rid of all of them, but its heaven here now compared to what it was.
hope you get rid of yourones.

but it was seriously bad here...the supermarket also put that sticky paper down that when they walk on it they get stuck...but well lets just say mice would do anything to get unstuck, even without their legs...

another way (we havent done this one though) is a bucket of water, with a plank across that rolls, so when they walk across it to get a drink they fall in the bucket and drown. I might put some up in my roof...

[helle]

My mum tried everything under the sun and ended up buying a cat.

[~me~]

I agree with the Cat..we have an indoor cat and no mice

[Kazbah]

another way (we havent done this one though) is a bucket of water, with a plank across that rolls, so when they walk across it to get a drink they fall in the bucket and drown. I might put some up in my roof...

Before I moved in my husband had a mouse problem. My 2 cats though ... no more mice. Although he did the ruler balanced across the bucket and drowned a few - videoed it even. But they can swim for ages, so he'd be having to kill them.

[Cranky Kitten]

Mmmm, I remember having mouse plagues growing up on the farm (central wheatbelt of WA) especially just after harvest. Though the snakes mostly kept them under some kind of control, and the cats kept them away from the house.

Peanut butter on an old style wooden trap worked best for us if we needed to. Cheese or anything else the cheeky beggars would just pinch from the trap and not get caught.

[jaspen]

i've been told eucalyptus oil keeps them away - this was from someone on a property who had a big problem and then started using a lot of eucalyptus oil and leaving open bottles of oil in appropriate places - haven't tried myself as I'm still using rat sac but will have to get rid of it soon so the dog is allowed in the shed.