There’s a rat in me kitchem what amagonnado?

I’m sure it’s been done before…  but I’ve just seen a mouse or a small rat scuttle away under my fridge.

Before I’m accused of having a dirty house, I would just like to say it’s not, and I have seen the odd rat around my bins outside, which are in a wooden little shed type thing…

.. the rest of the street I live, is a different matter, some of the butt holes that live on the street don’t use bins and will just put bags of rubbish on the street on bin day, or worse, the night before so it gets ripped up by foxes etc. and makes a right old mess.

I can’t use poison as I have a dog, and it would be inhumane to use poison anyway I think, I used to have pet mice and rats when I was young, so I have no intention of doing chemical warfare…

This is a new thing…I’ve seen the odd rodent in the back yard, but never in the house before,  it probably came in to get away from the rain and get a bit of warmth as there’s no easy food for them to get, I thought it might be after the dog food, but it’s all pretty secure.

Humane traps?

?

I need to nip this in the bud before they breed, I know how fast they can breed as I used to keep them as pets.

Are these things any good?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Upoovver-Outdoors-Effective-Sensitive-Reusable/dp/B0C1GGTWT2/ref=sr_1_5?crid=325GIRQATZ12X&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.TfOxPI42mQICbaHFC8sO9raLjcJtWcbBsf8bOVMpO_CRNLh90f1ZQlUPok-i-ya9tp2nga1Qsr8ud3eLIdHMV94SSBsTvSV5_3ze5sKVZzwGL0J_n-2tqSfsRg5KFysRWTM62EHMOpzjEgnzQdsT-KeV_a99aH1XX-jh7EL5Udt6T1ABIrDzUM3qMqfnK8hR4Kbs0aTsVTzck3je9ERf_MC8tZJTBV8Ga9d73qf6ILOTPLhvgNDcHoNu3XMrajee4LmEZdLKjvcVZwfGUfPCD3RvE_cCQ0qFcTIQZm5glTs.9UZYKepXNQhrqorc59Ldt7kCwjzS__dQ63UMPuyc4lA&dib_tag=se&keywords=humane%2Bmouse%2Btraps%2Bfor%2Bindoors&qid=1727399412&sprefix=humane%2Bmouse%2Caps%2C85&sr=8-5&th=1

I should probablty add, I’ve emptied out all my lower kitchen cabinates, and there’s no signs of droppings of any chewing etc.

So hopefully I’ve caught it early.

We got mice all the time in the place we were living temporarily.

We just got a humane trap (similar to the one you posted – Greenleaf Mouse Trap Catch and Release Green and Yellow (mitre10.com.au)https://www.mitre10.com.au/greenleaf-mouse-trap-catch-and-release-green-and-yellow-6815427?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9YWJqIHiiAMVkaNmAh2pSSKKEAQYBCABEgKTgfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds ) and they’d normally get caught overnight and in the morning i’d drop them off in a hedge 1km+ from our house. Any closer and they’d be back the next night.

In the UK it’s illegal to trap and release vermin (I.e. via. A humane trap) unless you have a licence. Snap trap for mice, some other method for rats. Get a person in if you don’t fancy it yourself. 

I’ve only gone and caught the little bugger!

What the chuff do I do now? I’m not going to kill it… I could yeet it over the fence to the neighbours from whence it came I guess.

It looks like a baby rat rather than a mouse?

That’s a mouse – this time of year they’re seeking a warm place to spend winter and can find their way through gaps smaller than a centimetre. Check there’s no gaps around doors, pipework, vents, air bricks where they can get inside. Get some snappy traps – one pregnant female can have over 12 babies.

I could yeet it over the fence to the neighbours from whence it came I guess.

It’ll come back any time if you do that. Take it for a walk somewhere – a local park or something.

And it’s a mouse!

Well, I’ve given it some food and water and it will stay in it’s new glass house …

I’m half tempeted to keep it as a pet, but that’s not gonna happen

I’m half tempeted to keep it as a pet, but that’s not gonna happen

It’s happened already.

Ees filligree

I don’t know what you should do with your pet mouse except maybe get it a nicer cage with an exercise wheel, but you should probably spend some time checking out where it got in or it’ll turn into a regular occurrence as they’ll follow scent/urine trails. Mice can fit through surprisingly small gaps and crevices, cracks, holes etc, so you want to block them up.

You don’t want them in your house, they’re unhygienic and will eat your food, chew your wiring and, probably these days, hack into your bank account, withdraw thousands and spend it on cheese. Beware unexpected grocery deliveries…

I’ve put the mouse into a small local shrubbery.

It will probably get eaten by a cat or a crow, but it’s now warm, hydrated and fed, so it has a fighting chance…may the odds be in its favour.

Good luck my random little friend!

Ahh, arnie the mouse. He’ll definitely be back.

Did you put a mark on his back? That way you’ll know for sure

Ahh, arnie the mouse. He’ll definitely be back.

Hopefully I’ve traumatized him enough not to come back, but if he does… that will be his name!

Ah! ‘humane’ traps – we had a mouse infestation a few years ago and laid a few humane traps. We got on top of it till no more nice left and put the traps away…….only I forgot about one. It was only last week when having a big tidy out that I found it.

I can’t begin to tell you how bad I feel about it. On the plus side we’ve never had mice return so I think word got out that there’s a cruel mouse torturer living there.

Now you’ve found it, drop it in a bucket of water…

Humane traps are good, you catch them and then can shoot (drown) them – quick/clean death.

Likely back in the house before you were ;)

@intheborders If that advice is to RustyNissanPrairie I think it’s a bit late!

If that advice is to RustyNissanPrairie I think it’s a bit late!

That looks like a steak I bought from whetherspoons.

Now you’ve found it, drop it in a bucket of water…

Rehydrate it?

Tollund Mouse

Squeak Bog?

I’m a woke tree-hugging vegetarian, and as others have said (good quality) snap traps are the way.

They are bastards, if you have a mouse you almost certainly have mice, they breed like wildfire as you know and are doubly incontinent.  For gods’ sake don’t start naming them, the last thing you want is a wild mouse as a pet.  Arnie wants terminating.

Cougar speaks the truth. We had an infestation last year, it’s grim.

The first trap went down, 2 minutes later the first casualty of the war on mousey terror. 23 within the first 12 hours, at one point we had 4 traps under the sink, they all went off almost together. Every morning a full house of traps.

When we took out some partition walls we found a blind void behind our bedroom cupboard. There was a hole in the ceiling where 12 mice had fallen into the void, all dessicated like Rusty’s. No wonder it stank!

Chewed wire, destroyed insulation and  lagging. Piss soaked ceilings . Eaten cycling kit, anything they’ll destroy given a chance. They aren’t called vermin for nothing

Ps you’ll know if you’ve got rats, all the mice will clear off

Mine weren’t quite that bad, but I had a few rounds with them over the years in the old house.  I lived in a 1890s mid terrace (I still do, just a different one) and I suspect they were coming in from next door.  People glibly say “just plug any holes” but with a house of that vintage it’s almost as much hole as structure, it’s just not possible.

Yep, we lived in a colony flat, Victorian. Mice could come and go as they pleased between 12 properties!

You’d see them out of the corner of your eye, sat in the middle of the floor looking at you, bold as brass.

I once found mouse droppings in the bottom of the oven. We put a trap in there, boom, got the **** next day. God knows how he got it, I guess there were crumbs to scavenge. Or the odd oven chip. Proof that processed food is bad for your health

I believe that when they were built, it was the norm to have the loft space as one massive open area the length of the block.  It was only later that someone thought that perhaps bricking up between properties might be a sensible idea.  I rather suspect that a similar approach might have been taken with the flooring.

Yes that was my understanding. We were a downstairs ground floor, there was umpteen opportunities for critters to travel through the terrace under the floor.

The upstairs neighbour was completely in terror of mice, always had rentokil round and stuffed wire wool into every crack. He could never understand how they kept coming back!

I once looked at a property for a potential job, it was completely and I mean completely overrun with rats. It was utterly utterly vile inside, stank to high heaven and riddled with burrows inside and out. I don’t know where you’d start with something like that, I guess terriers and that rat hunter on you tube with his sniper rifle.

It’s that time of the year when the mice look for cosy winter quarters. We realised we had a mouse in the house yesterday, a pear on the kitchen side had been nibbled. So I got our traps out and and bought a couple more. This morning two had caught culprits in the main room (open plan downstairs).

9:30 tonight, me and wife watching telly, 3 spaniels in the room too, and CLICK, the trap under the TV cabinet catches victim #3. There’s clear space either side of the cabinet. Irony is the cocker spaniel will spend hours watching for mice in the garden. She’ll be getting a doggy P45 soon.

I had mice in the garage last year – I’d not bothered to look at the rotting bottoms of the door frame. I wasn’t very well for about 3 weeks and hardly went to the garage… when I did, and started looking around, they had peed and poohed on everything, everywhere. I didn’t how how they climbed to some of it! I think the score was 17 -0 to me by the end although it did also cost me 3 bottles of spray bleach and a day cleaning THE LOT.

(And a rapidly fitted new uPVC door/frame)

Had mice for a bit, on and off. Outskirts of civilization so expected it really. Twice a year we’d get 2 or 3 caught in the traps, then nothing for the rest of the year. Manageable, but if get a bit more aggressive if it was an infestation.

I did have a vole in there once too.

When I lived in Glasgow west end I had rats in my basement flat, that wasn’t pleasant and I really didn’t mind those being killed by back snappers, it’s the only way.

Thanks all..

I’ve put some humane traps down.. I yeeted the first mouse out back somewhere, and then yesterday I saw another one in my celler, this one was dying though, it was just kind of laid on its side on the middle of the floor and didn’t try to run…

I’ve not seem much if any evidence of dropings but I’ve not looked too hard, as in under kitchen units etc…

I’ve looked all around at ground level and in the celler and can’t see any entry points.. possily come from next door through floors or ceiling/loft – it’s an early 1900’s end terrace.

I’m often in and out of the back door in the garden etc, leaving the door aajar, so they could have easily just snuck in through the door… who knows, hopefully it’s just a couple of random ones that get in looking for warmth..

See if the traps pick anything up… ive just put a few bits of dog kibble in them for now..

One of the mice in our house could get in and out of a Longworth mammal trap with the bait but not triggering the door.
It could also get on and out of a trap man humane trap. We only caught it by putting our hands over the entances.

Thanks all..

I’ve

… ignored every single piece of advice you’ve been given?

Best bait I’ve found is a current/raising, speck of chocolate. Stick them on with a dod of jam

In time you need to wash them to remove the smell of human/dead cousins”

Nutella and peanut butter have both not failed me.

I use rat traps screwed to 4 ft planks for both mice and rats.

Get a couple of mice a year Nd had 2 rats over the last 15.

We have a bucket trap in our polydome to get them at night – they don’t go in there during the day as the chickens get them – they’re like mini velociraptors, hunt them down in a pack and tear them to pieces. You could borrow some chickens to run around the house, but not if you’re worried about poo…

DM me your address and I’ll send my vermin  controller around

Nutella and peanut butter have both not failed me.

Peanut butter is mousenip, and it’s sticky so they have to work for it.

DM me your address and I’ll send my vermin  controller around

Yeah, we have 11 legs’ worth of organic pest control here.

Ahh man… I’ve just spotted #3, or it might be the return of #1

Had 2 traps but now got 4 traps down with a combo of chicken and dog kibble in them… don’t have any peanut butter but I’ll get some.

… ignored every single piece of advice you’ve been given?

Like what? I don’t want lethal traps and poison is out of teh question…