Mouse in the house

[Slenver]

Where? There, under the fucking floorboard, that's fucking where.

We've got an old house and clearly have some unwanted visitors. Sat at my desk in my study now, I can hear it gnawing away somewhere under the floorboards near my desk. I know it's an animal cos if I stamp on the floor he shuts up for a bit, presumably does a sort of nervous swivel-eyed search of the area and then carries on again.

I can't overuse the floor stamp because then he gets complacent and ignores me. It's much like with the kids really, you have to save your anger for when it's most needed if you want it to have any effect.

I've called Ghostbusters and everything, but the question is, can you actually go insane from hearing a tiny, distant gnawing sound all day?

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Burn the house down with napalm, it's the only way to be sure - does this answer your question about going insane?

[v8-powered]

Just wait until they piss in your electrics in the ceiling void and fuse the house.

I speak from experience, little furry piss machines

[Slenver]

Burn the house down with napalm, it's the only way to be sure - does this answer your question about going insane?

I like the idea! I love the smell of burnt mouse in the morning.

[Slenver]

Just wait until they piss in your electrics in the ceiling void and fuse the house.

I speak from experience, little furry piss machines

Little fuckers. Hopefully the men with the cheese and comedy butterfly nets will be here at some point. Curious to see how they locate a mouse tbh.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Fill the floor voids with expanding foam, that'll stop the little buggers moving around

[Slenver]

Fill the floor voids with expanding foam, that'll stop the little buggers moving around

Is that a thing? It actually sounds like an eminently sensible way to also apply some basic insulation to the rickety old place.

[DefTrap]

It's not nice because if there's one, there's more.
When it gets out of hand, it really gets out of hand. I worked in a PlantBreeders as a yoof and part of the setup was having to keep large quantities of seed grain around - as a consequence if you went back to the barn after hours and turned the lights the floor moved because it was alive. Mice piss and crap as they go, it's not nice.

I live in an old house too, it's an annual problem to some degree. I use poison, the emptying of traps are too gruesome after a while if you have a lot of them.

[Slenver]

It's not nice because if there's one, there's more.
When it gets out of hand, it really gets out of hand. I worked in a PlantBreeders as a yoof and part of the setup was having to keep large quantities of seed grain around - as a consequence if you went back to the barn after hours and turned the lights the floor moved because it was alive. Mice piss and crap as they go, it's not nice.

I live in an old house too, it's an annual problem to some degree. I use poison, the emptying of traps are too gruesome after a while if you have a lot of them.

Well that's cheered me up

[Yambo]

Fill the floor voids with expanding foam, that'll stop the little buggers moving around

Is that a thing? It actually sounds like an eminently sensible way to also apply some basic insulation to the rickety old place.

Expanding foam is certainly a thing, you can get it in boat chandlers. The stuff |I've seen and only used once soaks up water though and never dries out which pretty much rules it out for buoyancy chambers!

[DefTrap]

A mouse can squeeze through a gap as wide as a pencil, I doubt expanding foam is likely to be a problem for them.
Plus there's every chance they really like the taste.

[Taipan]

We get them from time to time and as has been said, they aint solo creatures. Get Ruby Red poison seed, they love it. We put a saucerful behind the plinth on teh kitchen units and keep topping it up until it stops being taken. You'll be surprised at how long that takes, which will give you an idea on numbers...

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Fill the floor voids with expanding foam, that'll stop the little buggers moving around

Is that a thing? It actually sounds like an eminently sensible way to also apply some basic insulation to the rickety old place.

I think you need the voids otherwise you'll get rising damp, in case you hadn't guessed, I'm not a builder, I don't know what I'm talking about

[Slenver]

Fill the floor voids with expanding foam, that'll stop the little buggers moving around

Is that a thing? It actually sounds like an eminently sensible way to also apply some basic insulation to the rickety old place.

I think you need the voids otherwise you'll get rising damp, in case you hadn't guessed, I'm not a builder, I don't know what I'm talking about

[Horse]

Fill the floor voids with expanding foam, that'll stop the little buggers moving around

Is that a thing? It actually sounds like an eminently sensible way to also apply some basic insulation to the rickety old place.

Expanding foam is certainly a thing, you can get it in boat chandlers. The stuff |I've seen and only used once soaks up water though and never dries out which pretty much rules it out for buoyancy chambers!

I used expanding foam to fill gaps around the edge of floorboards.

Little bastids chewed through it. Didn't get through the cement I put there instead

Also, find where they're getting in.

[Horse]

Top tip #1:
If you use an old fashioned spring mousetrap, bait it with chocolate buttons ('drill' a hole in them to drop over the pin).

Top tip #2
Expect to have to finish off any that only get caught, not killed.

[Mr Moofo]

Old fashioned mouse trap - and peanut butter. The little fuckers will die for peanut butter

[Kneerly Down]

We use these, or the white versions.
Very effective and cheap. A dab of Nutella seems to do the trick of getting them head first.
Don't like the idea of poison as then we'd have rotting mice around the place.

I use them unbaited in the garage against the walls (where they tend to run along) so as not to attract them.
Problem with using unbaited is that they are much more likely to get a leg trapped and then take the trap on a tour of the garage until they realise it won't fit through the gap they came in through!
Thought about velcroing them down so they don't travel but can still be picked up to be emptied but like so many other things haven't got round to it.

[Slenver]

Well, the Cheeseman's been. TBH, he wasn't much use. I was expecting something a bit more proactive in terms of plans and action and stuff, but he had a good look round, did a lot of shrugging and summed up with 'Yeah. Odd isn't it? I wonder where he got in from.'

Anyway, there's no obvious breakage into the house and the noise has only been noticed in one specific place. Plus, we have cats that regularly bring mice in so maybe he's just been dumped indoors and living out his days somewhere.

Odd isn't it? I wonder where he got in from.

[Yambo]

I think you're all being unnecessarily cruel, arrogant and merciless.

The poor little critturs have as much right to life as you, your kids . . . any humans and more right than some humans - people who would kill small defenceless animals for example. All they are doing is trying to get on with their lives and having taken their natural habitat from them you complain when they come looking to make use of it again.

They are no worse than cats (although cats do seem to know not to shit in your living room and do it in other people's garden) that run around wherever they want to, climb on anything, stick their noses into anything and then expect a cuddle!

Stop trying to kill the poor wee mites and buy an ultrasonic pest controller. Stick it under the floor boards and see if that works*.

Fuckin' savages.


*If it doesn't learn to live with them/it they want to live with you!