Mice in my greenhouse

[Sky]

And they're digging up and eating all my newly potted seeds

What can I do to stop them, I put a mouse trap in there last night but they must be very quick and clever mice as the trap has gone off but no mouse!

[Carltonian Man]

You could try a blob of jam in a glass bottle. Prop the bottle up at 45 degrees or more (or bury it almost up to the neck) the mouse should go in but is unable to climb back out. For humane reasons a piece of carrot or apple in the bottle will stop the mouse dehydrating until you can release it.

[spider8]

We tried the humane traps but they never got caught........ate the bait though and scarpered! We put chocolate - yes, had to sacrifice my favourite indulgence - on the kill 'em snap traps and it worked (but I hate having to do it ).

[Sky]

I'm not keen on poisoning them as won't they go somewhere else to die? I've got three cats (load of use they are) and don't want them finding a deceased mouse and eating it. I'm going to have to resort to it soon though as the mice are eating all my future food for the year.

[old tree man]

I read somewhere that certain crystals placed in the the area you want cleared may help, i don't know what ones but i'm sure some where on the net will tell you, on a lighter note Hugh on an old river cottage programme had the same problem and he got a lady to ask them nicely to leave i found it funny but who knows if it really worked

[vancheese]

We use mouse-glue (available in all good Hungarian shops!) which is quite effective but do the electronic ultrasonic devices work? and are they compatible with dogs?

[homegrown]

Well you could try HFW's approach I saw on an early version of river cottage he got in a couple of mouse wisperers who simply asked the mice to leave. (not sure about that).

I'm afraid Sky that its you or them so you'll have to do the deed. or lock a cat in the greenhouse for the night and see what happens.

[Sky]

Yep, poison and traps is what it's going to have to be or I'll have nothing left to grow.

[vancheese]

Well you could try HFW's approach I saw on an early version of river cottage he got in a couple of mouse wisperers who simply asked the mice to leave. (not sure about that).

I'm afraid Sky that its you or them so you'll have to do the deed. or lock a cat in the greenhouse for the night and see what happens.

How effective are cats at demousing? and is overnight good enough to get rid of an infection?

[grahamhobbs]

Having suffered the same problem at my office, where I raise all my seeds, and littered the place with poison and traps I realise there is only one solution - cover the seeds so the mice can't get at them until the seedlings are big enough not to be of interest.
A little story about using poison, I put out poison, the blue poison coated seed (wheat I think) type. Each morning I would come in and there would be a neat pile of blue poison beside the seed, and I mean neat, a perfect pyramid or cone of the blue powder and a diminishing pile of seed poison. None of the traps of course where ever touched.

[oldjerry]

If the seed trays are on a table couldn't you put a thin circle of wood or similar like a ruff a la blackadder round each leg that the mice can't circumnavigate ,my old man reckoned he put the same things round his bed legs when he was serving in Singapore before the war,so he didn't get nibbled by creepy crawlies while sleeping....mind you he was one of the greatest wind- up merchants I ever met!

[Sky]

If the seed trays are on a table couldn't you put a thin circle of wood or similar like a ruff a la blackadder round each leg that the mice can't circumnavigate ,my old man reckoned he put the same things round his bed legs when he was serving in Singapore before the war,so he didn't get nibbled by creepy crawlies while sleeping....mind you he was one of the greatest wind- up merchants I ever met!

Lol ... sounds like my granddad, who allegedly was shipwrecked and stranded on an upside down table with six oranges for two days during the second world war. Our seed trays are already on benches and have you seen mice climb? they can just scurry up the most insane verticals. Love the tip though and I wonder if it really does work.

[oldjerry]

Really tired this morning,and thats when I have the crazier ideas, if you're plagued with mice that can walk horizontaly upside down,couldn't you clad the table legs with something like upside down branches of holly or gorse?..