Heylllp heylllp

[KICKSTART]

As done in my best Penelope Pitstop voice !!! I got a big problem and its not very nice ! My next door neighbour isnt very nice or clean , last summer she left all her rubbish piled up down the side of her house. Now for the past 2 weeks there has been hammering and banging going on all over her house (its adjoined to mine) and then last week i spotted a mouse running across my kitchen floor  I bought some poison and put it very carefully down where the woofs cant get near it ..nothing , ive seen another 2 run across the floor (i bet there are plenty more!) So i ordered some humane multi mouse traps off the net , they had good reviews. They can catch up to 10 mice without you needing to re set it and then you just take them for a drive and let them go. So yesterday i baited them with ...a mini chocolate doughnut ..yum yum mouses. Nothing today , empty . So i decided to take the doughnuts out and put some strong smelling cheese rolls in and just as i was lifting the doughnut out a load of ANTS came running out from under it ...i managed to squish them all but now ive got bloody ants ! What on earth can i do ? I think the mice are coming from next door , so i might never get rid of them and now ants ..well could things get any worse ? Dont answer that ! If you know of any good ideas let me know ....If its a product that works well make sure its sold in the UK please . So heres from one KICKSTART typing while stood on a chair with gaffer tape wrapped round the bottom of her trousers  Oh and no , there is no food stuff out on the counter tops.

[rsudock]

uh oh seems like you have a bit of a pest problem huh? no advice but I'm thinking of you...at least it's not snakes right?

xo,
R

[KICKSTART]

No if it was snakes i guess at least they would eat the mice !

[cariad]

Oh, Kickie... I have had this problem - seems to happen around now, the little rodents come in from the cold. I spotted one of these uninvited guests while talking to Gwyn one evening, and he told me I was seeing things. Then we started finding holes in our bread bags, and one morning Gwyn came down to find one of our homemade cookies in the middle of the floor.

We called in the experts without delay, but in the past I've used the humane traps. If you must do it on your own, they like peanut butter. Oh, but that's not such a common item over there, is it?? Well, do you have any homemade shortbread biscuits? Ours liked those!

The thing is that mice can apparently, according to our exterminators, squeeze through a hole the size of a pencil eraser. Don't ask me how, that's just what we were told. Your best bet is to find where they are gaining entry and buy some of that foam poison that makes them thirsty so they are driven out of your home to search for water. (That's how I was told it works anyhow.) The humane traps did not work for us when we tried them in another house years ago, because we kept catching more and more mice, and a few froze to death, and one died trying to escape, and I had to go release these creatures and it was all a big hassle, did not entirely rid us of the problem, and in the end was traumatic and hardly humane! I am surprised your dogs do not scare them off. Anyhow, I would skip any attempts at playing nice with them and just kill the vermin. Chances are your neighbor is going to keep supplying you with them if you cannot find how they are getting in.

Sorry cannot be more help. Good luck!

[paul.karen]

Get a cat...
When we moved to our new house there was no sign of mice.  Until the cats started leaving dead mice around.  ALl in all about 8 mice were found/killed by the cats.  That was the first month or so.  Since then no mouse problems.

Good luck KS

[KICKSTART]

Thanks guys ..yeah we have peanut butter over here, The 'humane traps' have caught nothing so far. Got some 'ant bait' things today, so down they go. The thing with the mice is i think they may be coming through the attic from next door , as i hear them running around (the mice not the neighbour) and if they are, there is no way i can get up there. I will give the traps a bit longer then i will have to get the specialists in before i get overrun. Oh i would love a cat , but i dont think my dogs would agree !!.

[billybags]

Shi*   KS I would die if I saw a mouse in the house. The daughter had them and she just put a normal mouse trap down with "Chocolate" apparently they love it. But lets be serious, is the house next door owned, rented, council or housing association. There are people you can get in touch with. Phone your local council up and let them help you sort it out, because lets face it they are going to keep breeding unless some thing is done.How are they getting in to your attic?

[Poppylicious]

This sounds like a job for Kim and Aggie!  (I love that programme!)

But seriously, if this neighbour is a problem I would get the council or the environmental health people involved.  Unless she gets her act together there is nothing that will stop the mice in the long-term.  As for the ants ... ANTS?  In January? That ant killer stuff in the white (with red) packaging works a treat.  I can't remember what it's called.

Good luck!

[KICKSTART]

Hi Poppy and Billy ! The stuff for ants i got today is 'Raid' and i havent seen any , i think they came in for the mini doughnuts i baited the traps with ! . Yeah ive been on to the housing about next door and they just told me if I had a problem with mice get someone out to deal with them . I think there are airbricks and small gaps in attics that mice can come through ? . Im going to give the traps this weekend and then get someone in otherwise.

[jbeany]

No idea if you have it there, but Terro is the best ant poison - it's a liquid sugar gel that they carry back to the nest - feed the queen, the nest dies.

Yup, peanut butter for mice.  I always just got real traps.  Sorry, I stop being humane when you start risking my health with diseases. 

[carol1987]

Yes.. Terro for the ants!  I had ants this past spring (the first time ) and that was the only bait that worked!!! the ants just walked around the others!

When I put out the Terro... I was horrified because hundreds of ants swarmed the traps .. and you had to leave them alone to go back to the nest... it was so hard to not start smashing them!!!

I also recommend a cat for the mice... LOL

[kellyt]

I agree on getting a cat.         Out the country we have "field mice", but we have cats (one in particular) that are hunting machines!  I saw "Mamma Cat" bring up 3 mice in one day (last Saturday, as a matter of fact).  She's a little hunter, which is great cause I don't' want or need those little mice in or around my home.

[KICKSTART]

I cant have a cat ,,guys , i have 2 dogs who have never met a cat ! The ant stuff is a different make over here but yeah they take it back to the nest , rather than just kill the few that come out. Well seen no mice today or ants , i think they must be the more intelligent strain that ive got  The best little mouser i had years ago was a yorkshire terrier , wow could she catch mice and kill them , at the same time i had a german shepherd a big fellow who was lay in the kitchen one day and just as he was yawning a mouse ran out and he by accident caught it in his mouth, thats the end of that one i thought , till he opened his mouth and the mouse ran out unharmed !!!!

[monrein]

I would skip the humane trapping idea myself and opt for a more permanent  elimination of any that came into my place.   

[Poppylicious]

The stuff for ants i got today is 'Raid'.

I think that's the one I meant. It never fails me.

 

As for this:

Yeah ive been on to the housing about next door and they just told me if I had a problem with mice get someone out to deal with them. 

That just made me *gasp* out loud.  If she's a HA tenant and you know the mice are as a result of her cleanliness, then THEY need to deal with it. Don't let them pass the buck. Mention being ill and the media in one sentence and see if that helps them make the decision to at least send someone round to gain an understanding of the scale of the issue. Or, tell them you think you saw a couple of rats ... maybe they'll do something then. 

[KICKSTART]

Oh yeah they would be out like shot for RATS  They know all about my illness but i was just told well call the local council and they would sent a guy out to put poison down and i think the charge is about £40. She said unless next door reports mice , then they have no reason to do anything . To be honest i dont really want to approach her either as she has a lot of hoodies there and most of the road think its a druggie house , by the amount of people that come n go. Yes someone reported them as well but said they saw them turn up at 9 am on a monday morning, every druggies favourite time to light up eh !

[Stoday]

Those "humane" traps are the very opposite of humane.

If you catch a mouse, you release it far away so it won't return to your house. It will be released into an area it dosn't know, so it won't know where to find food; not where to find shelter; not its exposure to predators. It it's female, it might have young dependants that will starve without their mother.

 

[KICKSTART]

  Stoday , just what i needed to hear     At least it has a better chance than having its neck snapped)

[Poppylicious]

Those "humane" traps are the very opposite of humane.

If you catch a mouse, you release it far away so it won't return to your house. It will be released into an area it dosn't know, so it won't know where to find food; not where to find shelter; not its exposure to predators. It it's female, it might have young dependants that will starve without their mother.

 

Awww, now I have images of poor little mice getting lost in dark alleyways, and poor little baby mice screaming for their mummy.

 

[kitkatz]

Too bad you cannot trap your neighbor or the garbage.