I have mice in my kitchen. Don't know where, cant figure how they got in .
Have set traps and caught one , I have bludgeoned one to death when I found
it hiding behind washing machine this afternoon. OK I am a mouse sadist and
murderer. I hate them. I am scared of them and I want them gone.
However the bait from the traps keeps being taken but the trap isn't
sprung. Can only think I have a clever b*gger!

Not all my bait traps get taken at all and it seems mouse activity is
confined to area by kitchen sink/ dishwasher. Ive looked for holes/ cracks
etc. to no avail.

How do I get rid of them/ keep them away?

I have a cat. Seems mouse has been " stockpiling" cat food ( its dry food)
behind the dishwasher!!!!!! I found a pile of it behind there when I took
dishwasher out to look behind( so it doesn't have to come out into the
kitchen?). Anyone seen this kind of behaviour before?

I wouldn't have thought mouse has been in house long. I am sure I would have
noticed sooner.

Have now removed source of food and starving cat in hope of fat lazy thing
developing hunting instinct.

But a mouse ( or more) remains uncaught and undeaded.

Interestingly and to me surprising, before I realised they were there I
have left food and all sorts out in the kitchen and none of this is taken or
touched.

"bluebell" wrote in message
...
I have mice in my kitchen. Don't know where, cant figure how they got in .
Have set traps and caught one , I have bludgeoned one to death when I found
it hiding behind washing machine this afternoon. OK I am a mouse sadist
and murderer. I hate them. I am scared of them and I want them gone.
However the bait from the traps keeps being taken but the trap isn't
sprung. Can only think I have a clever b*gger!

Not all my bait traps get taken at all and it seems mouse activity is
confined to area by kitchen sink/ dishwasher. Ive looked for holes/ cracks
etc. to no avail.

How do I get rid of them/ keep them away?

I have a cat. Seems mouse has been " stockpiling" cat food ( its dry
food) behind the dishwasher!!!!!! I found a pile of it behind there when
I took dishwasher out to look behind( so it doesn't have to come out into
the kitchen?). Anyone seen this kind of behaviour before?

I wouldn't have thought mouse has been in house long. I am sure I would
have noticed sooner.

Have now removed source of food and starving cat in hope of fat lazy
thing developing hunting instinct.

But a mouse ( or more) remains uncaught and undeaded.

Interestingly and to me surprising, before I realised they were there I
have left food and all sorts out in the kitchen and none of this is taken
or touched.

In case you are wondering why I am up this time in a morning. This is the
THIRD time tonight I have re baited the trap and sh*tty thing has takn the
food and not got trapped! Its only taking from the one trap. The others
are untouched. ( and the cat is out. It seems to know when the cat is in)

"bluebell" wrote in message
...

In case you are wondering why I am up this time in a morning. This is the
THIRD time tonight I have re baited the trap and sh*tty thing has takn the
food and not got trapped! Its only taking from the one trap. The others
are untouched. ( and the cat is out. It seems to know when the cat is in)

There's lots of lore about this. We were suffering again recently, until I
actually got my arse in gear and set the trap properly - got 4 in 2 days,
which was I think the current lot.

The bait which worked was a lump of chocolate (cadburys, nothing nice). I
heated up the little pin on the trap (bog standard conventional trap) in the
flame on the stove, then pushed the chocolate on - this means it's now quite
well attached.

Well, it works for us :-)

cheers,
clive

bluebell wrote:

In case you are wondering why I am up this time in a morning. This is the
THIRD time tonight I have re baited the trap and sh*tty thing has takn the
food and not got trapped! Its only taking from the one trap. The others
are untouched. ( and the cat is out. It seems to know when the cat is in)

Perhaps you need a different type of trap?

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
bluebell wrote:

In case you are wondering why I am up this time in a morning. This is the
THIRD time tonight I have re baited the trap and sh*tty thing has takn
the food and not got trapped! Its only taking from the one trap. The
others are untouched. ( and the cat is out. It seems to know when the cat
is in)

Perhaps you need a different type of trap?

I want the thing DEAD. Its a standard mouse trap, none of your fancy humane
stuff. It traps my fingers fast enough if I am not careful. I would have
thought it was bluddy leathal. What other sort is there?

"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
bluebell wrote:

In case you are wondering why I am up this time in a morning. This is the
THIRD time tonight I have re baited the trap and sh*tty thing has takn
the food and not got trapped! Its only taking from the one trap. The
others are untouched. ( and the cat is out. It seems to know when the cat
is in)

Perhaps you need a different type of trap?

All mouse activity seems to have ceased now for the night ( day?) . Havent
had any takers for the bate since 2.30 am. First lot got took at about
midnight I think.
Mouse droppings are scant but appear to lead into the wall at the back of
the dishwasher. But there is nowhere for the mouse to go from there. The
wall is sealed , not even a crack and the floor is tiled , no holes there.
\================================================= ================/

I want the thing DEAD. Its a standard mouse trap, none of your
fancy humane
stuff. It traps my fingers fast enough if I am not careful. I would have
thought it was bluddy leathal. What other sort is there?

Best mousetrap you can buy:

http://www.ratzapper.com/

No bait stealing. No half-deads. No injured-but-escaped.

On Fri, 18 May 2007 02:50:23 +0100, "bluebell"
wrote:

|!I have mice in my kitchen.

|!I have a cat. Seems mouse has been " stockpiling" cat food ( its dry food)
|!behind the dishwasher!!!!!! I found a pile of it behind there when I took
|!dishwasher out to look behind( so it doesn't have to come out into the
|!kitchen?). Anyone seen this kind of behaviour before?

Tom and Gerry live again ;-)

Get mouse poison. In kitchens the version with solid bait in a plastic
box so that the bait does not get spread around are IME best.

In my house the mice live between the downstairs ceiling and upstairs
floor. I have that space permanently baited.
--
Dave Fawthrop sf hyphenologist.co.uk 165 *Free* SF ebooks.
165 Sci Fi books on CDROM, from Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Completely Free to any
address in the UK. Contact me on the *above* email address.

On Fri, 18 May 2007 04:27:01 +0100, "bluebell"
wrote:


"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
bluebell wrote:

In case you are wondering why I am up this time in a morning. This is the
THIRD time tonight I have re baited the trap and sh*tty thing has takn
the food and not got trapped! Its only taking from the one trap. The
others are untouched. ( and the cat is out. It seems to know when the cat
is in)

Perhaps you need a different type of trap?

I want the thing DEAD. Its a standard mouse trap, none of your fancy humane
stuff. It traps my fingers fast enough if I am not careful. I would have
thought it was bluddy leathal. What other sort is there?

The type of trap where the touching any part of the base on the baited
side triggers the spring are best. The ones I bought branded as
rentokil only had the trigger directly under the food and were
useless. The brand "little nipper" worked for me.

"bluebell" wrote in message
...
....
Not all my bait traps get taken at all and it seems mouse activity is
confined to area by kitchen sink/ dishwasher. Ive looked for holes/ cracks
etc. to no avail.

Mice only need a hole about 6mm diameter.

....
I have a cat. Seems mouse has been " stockpiling" cat food ( its dry
food) behind the dishwasher!!!!!! I found a pile of it behind there when
I took dishwasher out to look behind( so it doesn't have to come out into
the kitchen?). Anyone seen this kind of behaviour before?

I would guess that to be a sign of a nest.

....
Have now removed source of food and starving cat in hope of fat lazy
thing developing hunting instinct....

If it hasn't brought you little presents before, it won't start now.

Colin Bignell

In message , bluebell
writes
I have mice in my kitchen. Don't know where, cant figure how they got in .
Have set traps and caught one , I have bludgeoned one to death when I found
it hiding behind washing machine this afternoon. OK I am a mouse sadist and
murderer. I hate them. I am scared of them and I want them gone.
However the bait from the traps keeps being taken but the trap isn't
sprung. Can only think I have a clever b*gger!

Commonly fetched into the house by non-hungry cats. Particularly Shrews
which they rarely eat.

Dishwasher, refrigerator etc. are nice safe (from cats) hiding places.

Go with the advice on attaching the bait more securely.

Not all my bait traps get taken at all and it seems mouse activity is
confined to area by kitchen sink/ dishwasher. Ive looked for holes/ cracks
etc. to no avail.

Bear in mind that a mouse can probably get through a 12mm hole.

How do I get rid of them/ keep them away?

Mice are eclectic feeders so accumulative poison baits are not very
successful.

regards

--
Tim Lamb

"bluebell" wrote in message
...
I have mice in my kitchen. Don't know where, cant figure how they got in .
Have set traps and caught one , I have bludgeoned one to death when I found
it hiding behind washing machine this afternoon. OK I am a mouse sadist
and murderer. I hate them. I am scared of them and I want them gone.
However the bait from the traps keeps being taken but the trap isn't
sprung. Can only think I have a clever b*gger!

Not all my bait traps get taken at all and it seems mouse activity is
confined to area by kitchen sink/ dishwasher. Ive looked for holes/ cracks
etc. to no avail.

How do I get rid of them/ keep them away?

I have a cat. Seems mouse has been " stockpiling" cat food ( its dry
food) behind the dishwasher!!!!!! I found a pile of it behind there when
I took dishwasher out to look behind( so it doesn't have to come out into
the kitchen?). Anyone seen this kind of behaviour before?

I wouldn't have thought mouse has been in house long. I am sure I would
have noticed sooner.

Have now removed source of food and starving cat in hope of fat lazy
thing developing hunting instinct.

But a mouse ( or more) remains uncaught and undeaded.

Interestingly and to me surprising, before I realised they were there I
have left food and all sorts out in the kitchen and none of this is taken
or touched.


I'll second the ratzapper recommendation. Kills the f*ckers cleanly and you
don't have to touch the bloody things afterwards. The bait that comes with
them (dried cat food I think ;-) attracts them pretty nicely.

Word of caution though, I have seen very small mice not be killed by them
and successfully steal the bait. These tiny mice didn't set off the plastic
break back traps either. I bought a bunch of the sticky paper stuff to get
these little buggers, but didn't need to use it in the end. The last one
ended up drowing in a bucket of water that I'd left collecting drips from a
dodgy fitting when doing up my kitchen.

They got into my house through the airbricks. Just like the slugs.

Fortuntely the rats never seemed to get into my house. I poisoned them, and
sat cackling in my house while I watched them chomping away at the stuff in
the garden. I didn't dare poison the mice cos I didn't want them rotting
under my floorboards.

The other solution I considered was using one of these "humane" traps that
can collect 20-30 live mice, waiting until it was full and then throwing the
contents into the school playground next door at lunchtime. If the little
sh*ts at the school didn't drop so much litter there wouldn't have been so
many mice and rats (and squirrels and pigeons, all rat variants) around
anyway.

wrote in message
ups.com...
I want the thing DEAD. Its a standard mouse trap, none of your
fancy humane
stuff. It traps my fingers fast enough if I am not careful. I would have
thought it was bluddy leathal. What other sort is there?

Best mousetrap you can buy:

http://www.ratzapper.com/

No bait stealing. No half-deads. No injured-but-escaped.

Yes, expensive but effective.

You'll have realised by noiw, bluebell, that you're not alone.

Nor is a mouse, where' there's one there will be several more.

Little Nippers are usually effective too, we once caught two baby mice in
the same trap at the same time. I wish I'd taken a picture ...

Mice are not daft, of course they know when there's a cat about. Also, in
our experience, if we catch a couple in the Little Nippers the rest of the
mice take the hint and go to a better place.

But only temporarily, more will fill the void eventually.

Poison can leave rotting and stinking corpses about, what's more, flies can
find them attractive a nurseries for their babies, then you have a plague of
flies :-)

Mary

On Fri, 18 May 2007 02:50:23 +0100, "bluebell"
wrote:



How do I get rid of them/ keep them away?

I have a cat. Seems mouse has been " stockpiling" cat food ( its dry food)


One of my cats bought mice in to play with. Sadly she didn't always
bother killing them and so we have been faced with catching them and
getting rid of them.
Marginally nicer than finding one chewed in half but more more tricky.

My other cat only brings woodlice in and these are easy to catch. Oh
and blue bottles.

I had a cat who bought a live pigeon in once.

The only real solution would be to not have a cat flap.
--
http://wwww.orderonlinepickupinstore.co.uk
Ah fetch it yourself if you can't wait for delivery
http://wwww.freedeliveryuk.co.uk
Or get it delivered for free

"bluebell" wrote in message
...

In case you are wondering why I am up this time in a morning. This is the
THIRD time tonight I have re baited the trap and sh*tty thing has takn the
food and not got trapped! Its only taking from the one trap. The others
are untouched. ( and the cat is out. It seems to know when the cat is in)

What are you baiting the trap with? Needs to be something nice and gloopy
that the mouse is going to pull at.

Unfortunately, one of the best poisons (imho) "Sorexa CD" was removed from
the market last year. Shame really as the stuff was the dogs ********...

Mogga wrote:
On Fri, 18 May 2007 02:50:23 +0100, "bluebell"
wrote:


How do I get rid of them/ keep them away?

I have a cat. Seems mouse has been " stockpiling" cat food ( its dry food)


One of my cats bought mice in to play with. Sadly she didn't always
bother killing them and so we have been faced with catching them and
getting rid of them.
Marginally nicer than finding one chewed in half but more more tricky.

My other cat only brings woodlice in and these are easy to catch. Oh
and blue bottles.

I had a cat who bought a live pigeon in once.

The only real solution would be to not have a cat flap.
Wait till they bring in a live rabbit and turn your bathroom into a
blood soaked slaughterhouse..

"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2007-05-18, shaun wrote:

Unfortunately, one of the best poisons (imho) "Sorexa CD" was removed
from
the market last year. Shame really as the stuff was the dogs ********...

What's the difference between Sorexa CD and Neosorexa (which is what
I have a 25kg drum of in the shed. The rats love it.)

Different ingredients. Sorexa CD contained cholecalciferol, Neosorexa
contains difenacoum. The replacement for Sorexa CD is based on difenacoum.

Mogga wrote:

One of my cats bought mice in to play with. Sadly she didn't always
bother killing them and so we have been faced with catching them and
getting rid of them.
Marginally nicer than finding one chewed in half but more more tricky.

My other cat only brings woodlice in and these are easy to catch. Oh
and blue bottles.

I had a cat who bought a live pigeon in once.

We had a seagull pulled in through the catflap once - made a right
mess and frightened me to death... I always knew they were large but
having a dead one on the kitchen floor made me realise just how big!
As I collected the bits up and went to the bin I found the head on the
front doormat. Nice.

A dragon fly was another peculiar catch - it was being held firmly in
the mouth but flapping its wings like mad - the buzzing noise was
horrific.

And then there's the stones, crab apples and worms... I can't help but
feel our cats are a bit odd.

Mathew

"shaun" wrote in message
. uk...

"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2007-05-18, shaun wrote:

Unfortunately, one of the best poisons (imho) "Sorexa CD" was removed
from
the market last year. Shame really as the stuff was the dogs ********...

What's the difference between Sorexa CD and Neosorexa (which is what
I have a 25kg drum of in the shed. The rats love it.)

Different ingredients. Sorexa CD contained cholecalciferol, Neosorexa
contains difenacoum. The replacement for Sorexa CD is based on difenacoum.


Thanks for the device. Rightly or wrongly I have bought some rat and mouse
bait called "Ratak" which I got from a garden supplies. I also have some
warfarin ( but a bit old from when I had a mouse , or two maybe in the same
place about seven years ago). I have bought another mousetrap with a finer
spring on it. I had wondered if the mouse/ mice concerned were small and
thus not triggering.

I have both baited and set more traps, although still only ONE trap seems
the source of interest and I suspect said mouse is coming in, getting food
and scarpering back whence he / she came

However, I cannot find a hole of any size, not even a crack behind the
dishwasher . Its my belief that said blighter is going under the sink unit
and maybe even down and under the floor void there. If so it might have come
in through the outside vents.

Failing that my cat, who can be an efficient hunter ( but lets face it,
under the sink unit in a fitted kitchen is not an easy target, much better
catches outside aren't there?) looses interest. He may be the source of this
infestation bringing me a pregnant mouse to get into the house!

He has previously brought me other dead offerings and a rabbit .

Short of taking the sink unit out and looking under it ( its fitted kitchen
and the only place not tiled and sealed and wall tiled is behind this unit
and under it. This is because I was bale to tile the whole floor up to the
walls elsewhere bad tile the walls at the back of the dishwasher, washing
machine and fridge/ freezer but as the sink unit was in situ and I didn't
move it, the back of it and under it I guess are plain floorboards and
plaster wall ( and holes?).

If all else fails I will have to beg my husband to take said unit out and
replace it so that I can get in behind and seal walls and floor with tiles
the same as the rest of the room.

Some other customer in the garden centre today ( buying rat poison of same
make as my mouse and rat poison) told me she has those sonic things in her
house and highly recommended them for keeping the rodents out.

Anyone else any experiences of these? I gather there are two types, electric
and not. How do the electric ones work. Do they have to be wired?

"nightjar .uk.com" nightjar@insert my surname here wrote in message
...

"bluebell" wrote in message
...
...


If it hasn't brought you little presents before, it won't start now.

He has brought me presents before including a rabbit. One of the
possibilities is that he brought me a pregnant mouse who got away and hid
under my sink.

Another is, since he has been catching a few in recent weeks , he is
actually catching them in the kitchen and not bringing them in?

I dont think they have been in long. I had a new dishwasher and washing
maching after Christmas and there was no sign of mouse activity ( droppings)
in the kitchen then berhind anything as I had a clean out at the time. I
know the cat lost something which I couldnt find about two weeks ago. I
thought it had crawled off to die or cat had taken it back out.

The Natural Philosopher wrote in news:1179488177.21297.0
@proxy00.news.clara.net:

Wait till they bring in a live rabbit and turn your bathroom into a
blood soaked slaughterhouse..


You mean like after one of my special occasion wet shaves...

mike

"FKruger" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 18 May 2007 04:27:01 +0100, "bluebell"
wrote:


"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
bluebell wrote:

?

The type of trap where the touching any part of the base on the baited
side triggers the spring are best. The ones I bought branded as
rentokil only had the trigger directly under the food and were
useless. The brand "little nipper" worked for me.

Picked this out since I have lost the thread.

I am an evil b*stard I know and I feel guilty as hell but I bought another
mouse trap with a finer spring. Now mouse trap has disappeared presumably
with mouse on the end. I have looked everywhere and don't know what to do.

None of the bait I put down has been taken.

Any ideas?

In message , bluebell
writes

Picked this out since I have lost the thread.

I am an evil b*stard I know and I feel guilty as hell but I bought another
mouse trap with a finer spring. Now mouse trap has disappeared presumably
with mouse on the end. I have looked everywhere and don't know what to do.

Hmm.

Something bigger than a house mouse?

Mouse caught in trap and carried away by cat?

We have Wood Mice but they tend to be winter visitors only. My last
cable laying job involved drawing some wire through the insulated void
under the slates and led to the discovery of 30 or so half eaten
Walnuts!

I tie my mouse traps to something heavy.

regards

--
Tim Lamb

shaun wrote:

"bluebell" wrote in message
...

In case you are wondering why I am up this time in a morning. This is the
THIRD time tonight I have re baited the trap and sh*tty thing has takn the
food and not got trapped! Its only taking from the one trap. The others
are untouched. ( and the cat is out. It seems to know when the cat is in)

What are you baiting the trap with? Needs to be something nice and gloopy
that the mouse is going to pull at.

We've always found bacon rind tied on with thread to be effective. The
mice love it and have to pull hard...

Look on the bright side though Bluebell, its only mice. When we were in
London we had a rat in the kitchen. I knew it was a rat, no mouse could
have dragged those potatoes and wedged them under the cooker. Denying
him food other than poison either killed him or induced him to go away.
The kitchen door did stay firmly closed at night though ;-) Won't work
with mice unless it fits VERY well.

Peter

--
Add my middle initial to email me. It has become attached to a country
www.the-brights.net

bluebell wrote:


However, I cannot find a hole of any size, not even a crack behind the
dishwasher . Its my belief that said blighter is going under the sink unit
and maybe even down and under the floor void there. If so it might have come
in through the outside vents.

A mouse can get through any hole it can squeeze its head through, a vent
brick is no barrier. A hole the diameter of a ball point barrel is big
enough. You will not keep them out, you can only deter or deal with
them.

Look carefully through your food cupboards, lift up all packets,
especially those in low cupboards. Mice will tunnel into cereal packets
through the back corner. Remove all food low down for the duration of
the 'emergency'.

Peter
--
Add my middle initial to email me. It has become attached to a country
www.the-brights.net

Dave Fawthrop wrote:

On Fri, 18 May 2007 02:50:23 +0100, "bluebell"
wrote:

|!I have mice in my kitchen.

|!I have a cat. Seems mouse has been " stockpiling" cat food ( its dry food)
|!behind the dishwasher!!!!!! I found a pile of it behind there when I took
|!dishwasher out to look behind( so it doesn't have to come out into the
|!kitchen?). Anyone seen this kind of behaviour before?

Tom and Gerry live again ;-)

Get mouse poison. In kitchens the version with solid bait in a plastic
box so that the bait does not get spread around are IME best.

In my house the mice live between the downstairs ceiling and upstairs
floor. I have that space permanently baited.

How did you get in? through the floor of the upstairs hall cupboard?

Peter
--
Add my middle initial to email me. It has become attached to a country
www.the-brights.net

Owain wrote:

bluebell wrote:
Have now removed source of food and starving cat in hope of fat lazy thing
developing hunting instinct.

Fat lazy thing is more likely to claw its way into the cupboard where
the Munchies are kept, as that's what it associates with food.

Agreed, remove the cat food from the mouse but don't starve the moggy.
They will either hunt or they won't, hungry or not. If it is not
interested you won't make it.

Peter

--
Add my middle initial to email me. It has become attached to a country
www.the-brights.net

Huge wrote:

On 2007-05-18, Mathew Newton wrote:

And then there's the stones, crab apples and worms... I can't help but
feel our cats are a bit odd.

I am so glad we no longer have cats.

But not as glad as the garden bird population.

yes, if we had cat I would think twice about putting squashed snails
and slugs in the space behind the roses for the blackbird to find.

Apropos of birds, summer has arrived in Dundee, saw the first swifts of
the year yesterday :-)

Peter
--
Add my middle initial to email me. It has become attached to a country
www.the-brights.net

On Sat, 19 May 2007 09:23:29 GMT, (Peter Ashby)
wrote:


|!A mouse can get through any hole it can squeeze its head through, a vent
|!brick is no barrier. A hole the diameter of a ball point barrel is big
|!enough. You will not keep them out, you can only deter or deal with
|!them.

Standard air bricks have been able to keep mice out for decades.
--
Dave Fawthrop sf hyphenologist.co.uk 165 *Free* SF ebooks.
165 Sci Fi books on CDROM, from Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Completely Free to any
address in the UK. Contact me on the *above* email address.

On Sat, 19 May 2007 09:24:54 GMT, (Peter Ashby)
wrote:

|!Dave Fawthrop wrote:
|!
|! On Fri, 18 May 2007 02:50:23 +0100, "bluebell"
|! wrote:
|!
|! |!I have mice in my kitchen.
|!
|! |!I have a cat. Seems mouse has been " stockpiling" cat food ( its dry food)
|! |!behind the dishwasher!!!!!! I found a pile of it behind there when I took
|! |!dishwasher out to look behind( so it doesn't have to come out into the
|! |!kitchen?). Anyone seen this kind of behaviour before?
|!
|! Tom and Gerry live again ;-)
|!
|! Get mouse poison. In kitchens the version with solid bait in a plastic
|! box so that the bait does not get spread around are IME best.
|!
|! In my house the mice live between the downstairs ceiling and upstairs
|! floor. I have that space permanently baited.
|!
|!How did you get in? through the floor of the upstairs hall cupboard?

I have taken up the upstairs floor boards several times. One small (16
ins) easily accessible piece of board is not screwed down, but does not
move when walked on. The bait goes under that.
--
Dave Fawthrop sf hyphenologist.co.uk 165 *Free* SF ebooks.
165 Sci Fi books on CDROM, from Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Completely Free to any
address in the UK. Contact me on the *above* email address.

"bluebell" wrote in message
...

"nightjar .uk.com" nightjar@insert my surname here wrote in message
...

"bluebell" wrote in message
...
...


If it hasn't brought you little presents before, it won't start now.

He has brought me presents before including a rabbit. One of the
possibilities is that he brought me a pregnant mouse who got away and hid
under my sink.

Another is, since he has been catching a few in recent weeks , he is
actually catching them in the kitchen and not bringing them in?

Quite likely, although he could also be bringing them in and they manage to
get away once indoors. One of mine does that - apparently cats notice that
their pet human does not go hunting, so they bring in live prey for the
human to practice with, as they would for a kitten. However, I also have two
indoor dwelling cats that will catch anything that does escape, so it isn't
a problem for long.

One answer might be to keep the cat in at night. That is when they catch
most small mammals, so if he is brining them in it ought to stop and if they
are residents, he will probably catch them for you. If the mice are coming
in from outside, they most usually come in through air bricks. Covering the
air bricks with a fine stainless steel mesh will prevent that. Removing any
foliage within several feet of the wall, for example building a footpath
right around the house, will also deny them cover and thus deter them, but
that is not always practical.

Colin Bignell

In article ,
Peter Ashby wrote:
A mouse can get through any hole it can squeeze its head through, a vent
brick is no barrier. A hole the diameter of a ball point barrel is big
enough. You will not keep them out, you can only deter or deal with
them.

Why then does standard rodent protection mesh have holes rather bigger
than a ball point pen? Unless it's a Tonka Toy one...

--
*Just remember...if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
Peter Ashby wrote:
A mouse can get through any hole it can squeeze its head through, a vent
brick is no barrier. A hole the diameter of a ball point barrel is big
enough. You will not keep them out, you can only deter or deal with
them.

Why then does standard rodent protection mesh have holes rather bigger
than a ball point pen? Unless it's a Tonka Toy one...

The mice that come in are very often juveniles leaving the nest (at
3weeks, adults are 6-7 weeks). They are thus smaller than adult mice.
Wild mice are also generally much smaller and scrawnier than pet
shop/lab equivalents. Life is hard as well as red in tooth and claw and
nasty, brutish and short.

Peter

--
Add my middle initial to email me. It has become attached to a country
www.the-brights.net

"Tim Lamb" wrote in message
...



We have Wood Mice but they tend to be winter visitors only. My last cable
laying job involved drawing some wire through the insulated void under the
slates and led to the discovery of 30 or so half eaten Walnuts!

I tie my mouse traps to something heavy.

There's no room in our house for a tractor!

Mary

regards

--
Tim Lamb

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

"Tim Lamb" wrote in message
...



We have Wood Mice but they tend to be winter visitors only. My last cable
laying job involved drawing some wire through the insulated void under
the slates and led to the discovery of 30 or so half eaten Walnuts!

I tie my mouse traps to something heavy.

I should certainly tied my trap to something. I have jumped up and down and
shouted and generally thrown a wobbly and made it clear that this cook,
cleaner and general dogsbody doesn't cook in a kitchen with mice in it and
a certain husband will not be fed if he doesn't pull his finger out and deal
with it.

You don't want to be married to me.

Anyway, after procrastination he took the sink unit kick board off and
looked under. Mouse droppings, no mice. He looked at the back wall behind
the sink unit panel and found large holes - the size of a house brick going
into the cavity.

Best guess is mice are coming and going there. He has cemented them in ( or
out , take your pick)

Still have the mystery of the mouse travelling with trap attached. No trap
anywhere. My husband is firmly convinced the mouse found its way over the
back of the dishwasher and into said hole complete with trap and is
languishing below in the void. I expect to hear Victorian style cluncking
of ball and chain ( or mousetrap) under the floorboards, but all has been
silent so far.

I hope that is the end of the mice.

"bluebell" wrote in message
...

....

I should certainly tied my trap to something. I have jumped up and down
and shouted and generally thrown a wobbly and made it clear that this
cook, cleaner and general dogsbody doesn't cook in a kitchen with mice in
it and a certain husband will not be fed if he doesn't pull his finger out
and deal with it.

If mine won't do something quickly if I consider it urgent I simply say that
I'll get a man in.

It always works.

You don't want to be married to me.

Well, that's true. But few people would want to be married to me either :-)
He's stuck with me for 47 years. At first it was because of the children,
neither of us would have wanted them had we divorced. Then it was sheer
idleness, neither of us could be bothered doing anything about going for a
divorce. Or even separation.

Thank goodness it got better and not worse over the decades :-)

Mary

bluebell wrote:


Still have the mystery of the mouse travelling with trap attached. No trap
anywhere. My husband is firmly convinced the mouse found its way over the
back of the dishwasher and into said hole complete with trap and is
languishing below in the void. I expect to hear Victorian style cluncking
of ball and chain ( or mousetrap) under the floorboards, but all has been
silent so far.

Hate to say this, if it was a rat it would easily drag a mousetrap. How
big are those droppings? the size is diagnostic.

Peter
--
Add my middle initial to email me. It has become attached to a country
www.the-brights.net

On Sat, 19 May 2007 16:40:26 +0100, bluebell wrote:


"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

"Tim Lamb" wrote in message
...



We have Wood Mice but they tend to be winter visitors only. My last
cable laying job involved drawing some wire through the insulated void
under the slates and led to the discovery of 30 or so half eaten
Walnuts!

I tie my mouse traps to something heavy.

I should certainly tied my trap to something. I have jumped up and down
and shouted and generally thrown a wobbly and made it clear that this
cook, cleaner and general dogsbody doesn't cook in a kitchen with mice in
it and a certain husband will not be fed if he doesn't pull his finger
out and deal with it.

You don't want to be married to me.

Anyway, after procrastination he took the sink unit kick board off and
looked under. Mouse droppings, no mice. He looked at the back wall behind
the sink unit panel and found large holes - the size of a house brick
going into the cavity.

Best guess is mice are coming and going there. He has cemented them in (
or out , take your pick)

Still have the mystery of the mouse travelling with trap attached. No
trap anywhere. My husband is firmly convinced the mouse found its way over
the back of the dishwasher and into said hole complete with trap and is
languishing below in the void. I expect to hear Victorian style cluncking
of ball and chain ( or mousetrap) under the floorboards, but all has been
silent so far.

I hope that is the end of the mice.
===================================
And if it isn't, try the old method of a generous sprinkling of pepper on
a stone floor.

Cic.
--
===================================
Using Ubuntu Linux
Windows shown the door
===================================

"Peter Ashby" wrote in message
uk...
bluebell wrote:


Still have the mystery of the mouse travelling with trap attached. No
trap
anywhere. My husband is firmly convinced the mouse found its way over the
back of the dishwasher and into said hole complete with trap and is
languishing below in the void. I expect to hear Victorian style
cluncking
of ball and chain ( or mousetrap) under the floorboards, but all has
been
silent so far.

Hate to say this, if it was a rat it would easily drag a mousetrap. How
big are those droppings? the size is diagnostic.

Thankyou, but I have now solved the mystery of the travelling mousetrap and
got a second mystery.

Mousetrap found outside under trees on front garden, complete with small
dead mouse which was caught by its tail. So it was walking around with a
mouse trap? Methinks big fat idle moggy saw it and took it out through cat
flap.

But a second mystery. I didnt find this trap until 6.00 pm tonight. Cat was
indoors. I came in to get gloves and went out ten minutes later to retrieve
mouse trap and mouse only to find mousetrap had travelled across the garden
to the other end and was now minus its contents ( mouse) except for the very
tip of the tail. Whither mouse went I do not know. A bird take it? (
mousetrap undercarriage dropping off as it lifted?)

I will reset said trap and put it down by the dishwasher in case we still
have mice.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will be back if mice are still around.

"bluebell" wrote in message
...

"Peter Ashby" wrote in message
uk...
bluebell wrote:


Hate to say this, if it was a rat it would easily drag a mousetrap. How
big are those droppings? the size is diagnostic.

Thankyou, but I have now solved the mystery of the travelling mousetrap
and got a second mystery.

Mousetrap found outside under trees on front garden, complete with small
dead mouse which was caught by its tail. So it was walking around with a
mouse trap? Methinks big fat idle moggy saw it and took it out through cat
flap.

But a second mystery. I didnt find this trap until 6.00 pm tonight. Cat
was indoors. I came in to get gloves and went out ten minutes later to
retrieve mouse trap and mouse only to find mousetrap had travelled across
the garden to the other end and was now minus its contents ( mouse) except
for the very tip of the tail. Whither mouse went I do not know. A bird
take it? ( mousetrap undercarriage dropping off as it lifted?)

I will reset said trap and put it down by the dishwasher in case we still
have mice.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will be back if mice are still around.

I may have been unfair to my fat lazy cat. It could just be that the mice he
has recently brought in he has actually caught in the kitchen?