Wretched Mice!

[Deby]

Not sure where to post this as I would hardly call our mice problem a pet!!

Seems the whole area has been invaded by mice at the moment and poisen is flying off the shelves by the truckload.  Our mice just sniff at the stuff and carry on with their party. 

Apart from the usual traps does anyone have any good ideas about getting rid of them.  I have heard of a sticky film that one can put down, they trample on it and get stuck.  Does it really work and if so where can I get some, what is it called? Any other solutions would be appreciated.   

Thanks

Deby (17 Charente Maritime)

[Teamedup]

Friends in the UK put chocolate in their traps. Don't know which sort of chocolate, but the mice love it.

[Tourangelle]

We discovered we had mice when we first moved into our flat here. It is just the worst thing in the world to have to live with, so I really sympathise. The awful thing about having them in a flat is they get everywhere, and we spent ages trying to work out where they were coming from. Turned out they were in the area under the sink, actually in the walls. It took us about a fortnight to reach this conclusion and we had to dismantle underneath the sink and block it up. We did not manage to do this successfully the first time, and they came back while we were on holiday. A total nightmare. And they can really climb, they got in cupboards and everything.

We started with humane traps. The mice ignored them. Then we did not humane traps, but the mice ignored them too. Then we did poison wrapped up in little cellophane packets that they were supposed to want to eat through. The mice ignored them too. We had wanted to avoid loose grains of poison, as they were mostly in the kitchen, but in the end this was the only thing that worked. Cue dead mice, everywhere. Better dead than running around. Particular favourite, die behind the washing machine or the fridge. It was awful, it stopped us sleeping at night and was a very very stressful experience. For months afterwards I thought I saw one. My advice is find out where they are coming from, and kill as many as you can. An old dustpan and brush turned out to be the best way to pick them up. They finally went when the regie of our building after much procrastination put poison in the cellar, so I think putting poison everywhere is a good idea.

Good luck!

[Dick Smith]

White chocolate with nuts, or cheap nougat in certainly-not-humane traps. Works a treat.

As we aren't always in residence humane traps are pretty inhumane, too, and we wanted the dead ones where we could see them, although we still find dead ones laying about sometimes. We also mouseproofed all cupboards and chests of drawers.

[0BRIAN WOODHEADI,m here in franceddMMyyyy0Falseen-USI,m here in franceTrue]

Buy a couple of cats and keep them hungry

[Alcazar]

Now this is not a wind-up, so don't anyone start

I'v often wondered why people hate mice so much? Yet the self same folk often ENCOURAGE birds to come by supplying food.

Yet when was the last time a mouse messed onto your newly washed car? Or onto your clean washing? Or down a window you can't reach?

Don't get me wrong, I can see the PROBLEM with mice, you understand, I just don't get the "birds" thing, given the level of hate of mice.

Oh, and I love birds too. And I don't hate mice

Alcazar

[Simon]

Mice are a pain; we in the end had to use the traditional traps to sort the problem. Humane traps and releasing back into the wild does not work, I read somewhere that mice have a huge homing range 5 or 10 miles? I don't know.

My tip is to file smooth the end of the trap's main rod so that the hook can slip easily past, most of the ones that I have bought seem to have a barb from the cutting process that hampers a slick operation. They seem on the whole to kill instantly: unpleasant but necessary.

Regards

Simon

[Tourangelle]

[quote]Now this is not a wind-up, so don't anyone start I'v often wondered why people hate mice so much? Yet the self same folk often ENCOURAGE birds to come by supplying food. Yet when was the last time ...[/quote]

You've obviously never had mice. The second time we had them they went through the whole cupboard. We were on holiday, they had a field day (fortnight) We have a massive cupboard that looks like it could lead onto another room. The door does not quite shut. They got in. They ate through packets of cornflour, ordinary flour, anything chocolate. The worst thing was that they ate through the sides of the packets of milk (all these things were on shelves, nothing on the floor) There was mess and milk everywhere, it smelt awful. So that is why I hate mice. And I never feed birds.

[Patf]

We've had plagues of mice in certain parts of the house. The thing I hate is the smell - it's unmistakable, from their urine. We found that the poisoned grains work best. Pat.

[Dick Smith]

We had similar damage, plus bedding eaten. Apparently mice have no sphincter and just drop droppings wherever they go, and pee similarly promiscuously. The results are often disgusting. On one occasion they even ate the soap in the bathroom...

[Deby]

We have a cat and we try to use her as a mouser.  I am going to lock her in this evening and hopefully she can join their 'party'.  No doubt I will be faced with clearing up cat poo as well as meece poo too!

We are still using the grains but they honestly seem to scurry past the piles of them. 

The dastardly creatures are mainly on one side of the chateau for now, my biggest fear is if we move them they might appear this side (which is where we live)!!!

However, we still have to get rid of these things and I am quite open to any form of destruction.  Maybe I will sit up and shoot the ******s!

Deby

[Teamedup]

Yup, I think you'll have to stop feeding your cat and get it to do it's job.

The only time I use 'poison' is when we get ants coming in and I hate using it, helas I have yet to find another deterant.

[Alcazar]

Yes, we've had mice, here in the UK (twice) and once at the French house.

Wife is TERRIFIED of them too

In France we keep a large plastic lidded box, which has it's lid secured with overcentre clips. All dry & packet goods are kept in this when we aren't there, and only once has it failed, when she who knows best failed to shut the lid!

The twice we've had them here were down to her too: once when she had left opened packets of sweets in a kitchen drawer to snack on, and the last time when she brought home about 1000 walnuts off our tree and insisted on storing them in the garage!

Now, can you imagine ME attracting SNAKES? But would she be told? Nope, and guess who had to empty the garage to evict Mr Mouse, poor thing.

Alcazar

[Deby]

How daft are we!  We have now discovered we actually do not have mice, ithe droppings belong to a family of bats, so no wonder they were not eating the poisen and there were so many droppings.  So now we have to find a way to get rid of these creatures instead, hopefully this might be easier, but i wouldnt count on it

Deby

[maude]

We have had the problem,but only in the garage-auvent de caravane  fini!!!!we had immediate success with the pink envelopes which smell of almonds,bought in a sealed tin from Mr.Bricolage.The mice dont seem to move more than a few inches and -legs in the air!No smell either from rotting carcasses.Mothballs also seems to repel the varmints.Maude

[Monika]

[quote]Yup, I think you'll have to stop feeding your cat and get it to do it's job. The only time I use 'poison' is when we get ants coming in and I hate using it, helas I have yet to find another deterant...[/quote]

I have heard that only well fed cats mouse. (This was certainly true with our two cats, when our neighbour's old farmhouse was restored they brought in and ate mouse after mouse and demanded and got their breakfast, lunch and dinner).

Monika

[Paul Bradford]

I used to work in a supermarket after school (many years ago!). It's inhumane, but the best thing we used was a piece of cardboard, a spread of glue and chocolate in the middle> Worked without fail.

Regards

Paul Bradford

[Missy]

[quote]How daft are we! We have now discovered we actually do not have mice, ithe droppings belong to a family of bats, so no wonder they were not eating the poisen and there were so many droppings. So now...[/quote]

Keep quiet about bats or you will have some busy body coming to do all sort of things to rescue them and impose on your good humour.

My next door neighbour has some sheds/barns/outbuildings attach to her main house. The roof is in serious need of repairs on the whole lot but bats prefered the sheds/barns/outbuildings. She went to some animal welfare organisation or other to complain of bat problems in her house and could they please remove these critters! They came and investigated etc... and found out that 'her' bats are such rare species they need saving! so this animal welfare busy body have actually PAID!! and REBUILD the roof of her sheds/barns/outbuildings ONLY!

Only snag is that whilst the men mended the roof on these buildings the bats have gone to the main part of the house!... Back to square one!

So to get rid of them... Don't know how big your place is but you need ladders, a husband good(ish) at D-I-Y and willing to work at dusk time/night and not afraid of vertigo. Plenty G&T/plonk/liquid poison will help!!

Just as dusk falls as all the bats are going out to feed : block solid (with a blob of mortar/cement) the hole from which they've come out. That will tell them to go and roost somewhere else in a tree or a barn on their return. Like chucking out an unwanted tenant! Don't allow it to come back!

It takes a while to get rid of the lot but it is do-able. It took my husband and I a summer to get rid of them on the main house where we live in Wales. Bats have migrated to the barn but since only the dog, the tractor and the car live there it don't worry me at all. We won't ever get rid of them altogether as the house is near a river and surrounded by some woodland where insect life is busy. So if you live near pond/river/woodland area bats will always be around.

Alternative method but not for the squeemish... Fumigate your loft space. Best done by a professional pest controller and make sure you are NOT in residence for a week or so for the fume to completely dissipate.

Don't go too batty hunting!!! HaHa!!

[Missy]

[quote]I used to work in a supermarket after school (many years ago!). It's inhumane, but the best thing we used was a piece of cardboard, a spread of glue and chocolate in the middle> Worked without fail...[/quote]

I read in some 'Good Housekeeping' magazine a while ago that if you stuff a mouse hole with some cotton soaked with essence/oil of mint (to be found in places where they sell all that aromatherapy stuff), the mouse will go away as it doesn't like the smell of any thing minty...

Worth trying...

Best solution a very hungry barn cat!

[Deby]

Thanks for your advice. Husband has been up the ladder many times and they have plenty of little accesss holes (our roof is enormous).  So we will just have to persevere.

Will try the minty mice solution as during the change of seasons the mice come out to play.

I am probably putting people off coming to our place with all this talk of mice and bats, but this is rural France and big buildings are somewhat lived in - adds to the character and all that.

Children love it by the way

 

Deby (17 Charente Maritime)