Unwelcome visitors

[Violet1956]

We have unwelcome visitors in our house; they are mice that seem to think it is time to migrate from outside to the richer pastures inside our four walls. I’ve called in the pest people but at the same time part of me understands their choice. The fact that they are mice rather than people makes me not too bothered about their fate.

[StuartO]

We have suffered an annual influx at this time of year and the remedy we found most effective is ordinary "Little Nipper" mouse traps baited with chocolate covered raisins.  Set at least half a dozen traps, three in the loft (around the edges, as you can reach) and the rest out of pet range (eg on top of wardrobes, against the wall).  Check and clear them, refreshing the bait, at least until Christmas.  You may be surprised how many you catch.  The traps are very humane; the mouse dies instantly as the trap springs.

Other types of trap and other baits are less effective.  Avoid using poison; the little creatures crawl into somewhere inaccessible to die and then spend several weeks decomposing and emitting a horrible odour which you smell everywhere in the house.

[Violet1956]

Thanks for the advice Stuart. I must admit I am a wimp and do not relish examining the contents of a number of traps. The OH is far too busy enjoying the fruits of his well deserved retirement to tackle this problem hence I felt the need to call in the heavy boys. They arrive tomorrow so who knows what the evening may bring; in all probability there will be more audacious behaviour of the part of the little b*****s.

[Bulletguy]

 

Never had mice in house but remember years ago when camping having some little field mice that used to visit each day. I hadn't the heart to chase 'em away....after all i was on their land, so i gave them bits of food. Lovely little things.

 

The pest issue i have most years is wasps trying to build a nest under the eaves....anywhere they can find a way in. One year was really bad and called a pest controller out who had a look then told me, "there's good news and bad". Typical! The good news was he could get rid of them BUT.....there was also a bees nest in the same place and to kill the wasps he'd have to kill the bees which no pest controller is happy to do but there was no other way as they'd got inside the eave. Apparently the wasps eat the lavae of the bees. Vile critters....i can't do with 'em!

 

Other than that i get the occasional house spider and yes, i don't like those either! Garden spiders i'm ok with, just not the domestic ones which to me are like something from a horror movie! (lol)

[Barryd999]

StuartO - 2018-11-06 3:28 PM

We have suffered an annual influx at this time of year and the remedy we found most effective is ordinary "Little Nipper" mouse traps baited with chocolate covered raisins.  Set at least half a dozen traps, three in the loft (around the edges, as you can reach) and the rest out of pet range (eg on top of wardrobes, against the wall).  Check and clear them, refreshing the bait, at least until Christmas.  You may be surprised how many you catch.  The traps are very humane; the mouse dies instantly as the trap springs.

Other types of trap and other baits are less effective.  Avoid using poison; the little creatures crawl into somewhere inaccessible to die and then spend several weeks decomposing and emitting a horrible odour which you smell everywhere in the house.

Not always they dont. We had one once and I could hear the little fecker screaming from upstairs. It was riving around in the trap very much still alive until I took it outside and flattened it. :'( Flipping birds annoy me more than anything. We get house martins and swallows and stuff nesting in the eves of our gables. Little sods dont usually venture far beyond there but they dont half make a racket on a morning.

[Violet1956]

I think we have found a solution to our bird problems. They include new impenetrable soffits and the installation of a fake hawk on the flat roof in our modest “West Wing”. So far so good, the obese woodpigeons fed by our bird loving neighbour have stopped stomping and pooing all over it at least.

 

 

[antony1969]

Violet1956 - 2018-11-06 4:07 PM

 

I think we have found a solution to our bird problems. They include new impenetrable soffits and the installation of a fake hawk on the flat roof in our modest “West Wing”. So far so good, the obese woodpigeons fed by our bird loving neighbour have stopped stomping and pooing all over it at least.

 

 

If you have birds coming in through your soffits means youve got some very dodgy soffits ... Have van will travel Veronica for a very modest sum for pensioners

[John52]

Bulletguy - 2018-11-06 3:56 PM

The pest issue i have most years is wasps trying to build a nest under the eaves....

 

I've had that. Loading up the van one dark morning I left the kitchen door open, light on and got thousands of little wasps in the kitchen. But switched the kitchen light off and the outside light on and they all flew out again.

[antony1969]

John52 - 2018-11-06 5:26 PM

 

Bulletguy - 2018-11-06 3:56 PM

The pest issue i have most years is wasps trying to build a nest under the eaves....

 

I've had that. Loading up the van one dark morning I left the kitchen door open, light on and got thousands of little wasps in the kitchen. But switched the kitchen light off and the outside light on and they all flew out again.

 

 

See ... If you housed those you claim to care for instead a being a class 1 hypocrite they could have got rid of em for ya ... Shame

[Bulletguy]

Barryd999 - 2018-11-06 3:57 PM

StuartO - 2018-11-06 3:28 PM

We have suffered an annual influx at this time of year and the remedy we found most effective is ordinary "Little Nipper" mouse traps baited with chocolate covered raisins.  Set at least half a dozen traps, three in the loft (around the edges, as you can reach) and the rest out of pet range (eg on top of wardrobes, against the wall).  Check and clear them, refreshing the bait, at least until Christmas.  You may be surprised how many you catch.  The traps are very humane; the mouse dies instantly as the trap springs.

Other types of trap and other baits are less effective.  Avoid using poison; the little creatures crawl into somewhere inaccessible to die and then spend several weeks decomposing and emitting a horrible odour which you smell everywhere in the house.

Not always they dont. We had one once and I could hear the little fecker screaming from upstairs. It was riving around in the trap very much still alive until I took it outside and flattened it. :'( Flipping birds annoy me more than anything. We get house martins and swallows and stuff nesting in the eves of our gables. Little sods dont usually venture far beyond there but they dont half make a racket on a morning.

Used to get those at the house i had before this one which had massive eaves all round and the house backed on to open farmland so it was paradise for them. I didn't mind them as their early evening 'aerobatic display' was brilliant to watch. The only slight downside was the droppings on the patio but nothing an occasional jet wash wouldn't sort out.

[antony1969]

Bulletguy - 2018-11-06 5:44 PM

Barryd999 - 2018-11-06 3:57 PM

StuartO - 2018-11-06 3:28 PM

We have suffered an annual influx at this time of year and the remedy we found most effective is ordinary "Little Nipper" mouse traps baited with chocolate covered raisins.  Set at least half a dozen traps, three in the loft (around the edges, as you can reach) and the rest out of pet range (eg on top of wardrobes, against the wall).  Check and clear them, refreshing the bait, at least until Christmas.  You may be surprised how many you catch.  The traps are very humane; the mouse dies instantly as the trap springs.

Other types of trap and other baits are less effective.  Avoid using poison; the little creatures crawl into somewhere inaccessible to die and then spend several weeks decomposing and emitting a horrible odour which you smell everywhere in the house.

Not always they dont. We had one once and I could hear the little fecker screaming from upstairs. It was riving around in the trap very much still alive until I took it outside and flattened it. :'( Flipping birds annoy me more than anything. We get house martins and swallows and stuff nesting in the eves of our gables. Little sods dont usually venture far beyond there but they dont half make a racket on a morning.

Used to get those at the house i had before this one which had massive eaves all round and the house backed on to open farmland so it was paradise for them. I didn't mind them as their early evening 'aerobatic display' was brilliant to watch. The only slight downside was the droppings on the patio but nothing an occasional jet wash wouldn't sort out.

Strange how birds sense who to drop tonnes of crap aint it ... They prolly smell it and reckon thats the dumping ground

[StuartO]

Barryd999 - 2018-11-06 3:57 PM

StuartO - 2018-11-06 3:28 PM...The traps are very humane; the mouse dies instantly as the trap springs....Other types of trap and other baits are less effective.

Not always they dont. We had one once and I could hear the little fecker screaming from upstairs. It was riving around in the trap very much still alive until I took it outside and flattened it. 

Hence my recommendation for the use of chocolate raisins as bait and these specific traps; the raisings sit easily of the bait pin and stay in position well, so the mouse has to reach onto the trigger platform to sniff the raisin, which triggers the trap spring.  The trap bar in variably whacks the mouse across the head, crushing the skull and finishing the job.

I've trapped a rat in a cage once and then had to drown it (which I didn't enjoy) but with mice it's always simply a question of levering open the trap and dropping the very dead mouse into the bin.

There are other brands of mouse trap, some of which claim that their plastic base acts as bait, and these might be capable of trapping a leg or some such but having tried these, I have reverted to the traditional wood and wire "Little Nipper" and wouldn't use anything else.

[Bulletguy]

John52 - 2018-11-06 5:26 PM

 

Bulletguy - 2018-11-06 3:56 PM

The pest issue i have most years is wasps trying to build a nest under the eaves....

 

I've had that. Loading up the van one dark morning I left the kitchen door open, light on and got thousands of little wasps in the kitchen. But switched the kitchen light off and the outside light on and they all flew out again.

Perhaps the worst i had was an invasion of flies. First it was just in the tens, then hundreds, eventually thousands. I couldn't figure where the hell they were coming from but then a neighbour remarked about the "fly problem" and i soon found i was not the only one affected but the entire neighbourhood! It turned out a chicken farmer a few miles away had changed the type of pest controller he used.

 

I got that sick of 'em i'd resorted to having evening meals sitting in the damn garage as that was the one place which doors/windows remained closed. Shops in town sold out of fly paper (the most effective) and it even made local tv news!