They're back!

8/11/2014

One of the less welcome wildlife sounds here is the mouse running around behind the walls at 3am!

Either at the first frost or after a day or two's solid rain the mice invade this wooden house.

We tried humane traps (empty every three hours? From the loft? I don't think so, and if you don't they starve to death..)

Cats in my experience like to torment mice and we might have a cat and a mouse running around at 3 am.

We tried a sonar plug in 'deterrent' - I think this may have reduced the numbers and only the hard-of-hearing mice come in now but..

we've resorted to the old fashioned, nasty but (mostly) quick, mouse traps.

Needs must.

It's a cruel world.

They only want in out of the rain.

10 Comments

rusty duck link

8/11/2014 07:26:21 am

Freda, you have my sympathy. We caught 43 of them outside with the 'Little Nippers' and yet they are still finding their way into the house. The loft is next.

Freda

8/11/2014 08:10:07 am

I was thinking about you as I wrote this Jessica. That's a plague! (And a horrid job..)

elaine link

8/11/2014 03:08:20 pm

We had the plumber in recently to replace a leaky radiator. He had to go in the loft to do something and came down looking rather white round the gills. He said the expansion tank was full of dead mice and one was blocking the outlet pipe, which when he tried to get it out, disintegrated into bits. Oh dear. The tank has a lid so he was puzzled as to how they got in there. Guess we'll never know.

Freda

9/11/2014 01:58:51 am

I'm white around the gills just reading about it! Mice soup!!!

Swissrose link

9/11/2014 01:42:27 am

Oh dear, mice are a problem!
They used to come into our big old house where there was no way of preventing it - so cheeky, they would run across the parquet floor of the bedroom while the lights were on and we were reading… and they loved Swiss chocolate, best way of catching them, we found :o
They also loved my wool stash :(
One time they ate the whole lining of a riding hat that wasn't in use, leaving a few red silk shreds and the remains of a nest.
Our (large) dog would just eye them warily, so he was no help. Eventually, I decided I would like cats again anyway, and the two we got were a very good deterrant. In our present house, we've never had mice indoors except when our (remaining) cat brought the occasional shrew in and let it go, but that was in the early years! These days, a lazy 13 yr old cat is enough to keep them out, it seems… though she will sit and stoically watch strange cats that come in out of curiosity and pinch her food. Fortunately, the present dog usually chases those out - post haste and with a great deal of barking. We just hear the struggle through the catflap as the creature flees...

Freda

9/11/2014 02:05:13 am

I love your mice stories! Thank you for sharing them (I don't think I could spare any Swiss chocolate for them though..)

julia

9/11/2014 05:48:24 am

hello freda, we know all about mice too! mice ate the insulation out of the fridge at the cottage and so when i turned the fridge on in the spring, chewed up styrofoam came flying out at me from the freezer..they also ate holes in all the corners of folded blankets and built nests in the couch and under pillows...and ate a big hole in the middle of my comforter! that was the last straw. a friend of mine asked where we were laying the traps and mouse poison...and we said, of course in all the rooms where we typically found mice evidence...he said,well you are inviting them in! lay your poison outside around the perimeter of your cottage. we have never had another mouse or any rodents indoors again.....it did cut down on the squirrel and chipmunk population for a short while in spring and i know this sounds harsh. but mice in our area carry a virus that can kill people and also rodents chew on your wiring and can cause fires...of course, if you have outdoor pets, or small children, this would not be safe.
another solution is to put about 1 tsp of peppermint essential oil in 2 cups of water in a spray bottle and spray around all your windows and doors. this is reputed to keep out rodents, and spiders. it has been working for me for stink bugs, asian ladybugs and wasps as well...yay!

Freda

9/11/2014 07:10:40 am

It sounds so obvious! Inviting them in... We have to consider our tame robin and our neighbour's cats but we will look again at different types of trap - and at peppermint spray. Thank you so much Julia for making us think again!

Lucille link

9/11/2014 04:49:58 pm

I found that mice had made themselves a home in the doll's house in the garage. They had eaten all the bedding to make it cosier and chewed the clothes off the resident family. An horrific find.

Freda

10/11/2014 02:19:34 am

Horrors indeed! Your mice story reminded me that they once ate the baby Jesus from a little straw nativity set we had stored in the loft. Oh dear.

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