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Flaming stupid cats grrrrrrrrrrr Twice this week Ive been woken up by fat-lazy housecat climbing through the window and depositing live mice in me house grrrrrrrrr Now, aside from the annoyance and sheer amazement that fat-lazy house cat could actually catch anything, in my attempts to shoo the bl**dy creature out of the house she's dropped said mice and theyve scarpered (well you would wouldnt you ) Last nights is somewhere in the lounge...possibly behind the PC desk (that ones okay...my other cat The Assassin, will have that one when she comes in ) But I have one from Wednesday night snugly settled under my kitchen units. In my attempts to get it out, I pushed off one of the back walls of the cupboard hoping it'll get out and the cat can finish what she started. But all that's happened is this morning I found it feasting on a multi-pack of Walkers crisps grrrrrrr (It seems that even mice are fussy....it ignored the bl**dy T***o values ) It seems Im systematically destroying my kitchen trying to get to the bloomin thing out and all that happens is it moves further around the kitchen. The local shop has only got traps (the snap your head off kind) which I confess to trying last night (although didnt fancy the guilt of actually killing somat meself) but the little swine ate the cheese off of it and the flamin trap didnt go off. I'm off into town today to see if I can find anything else to catch the blighter with....
anyone any advice??? please!!

Sorry, shouldn't laugh. Mine came in with a mouse at 3am the other night, but I managed to get them both out of the house before the mouse hid away...

I would try the trap with a nut on it - preferably hazelnut. They are harder and more difficult for them to chew off without setting the trap off.

This is what we came down stairs to find the other day... We guessed immediately what was going on as Hattie (B/W) has a real skill when it comes to catching mice. This time we managed to grab the cats and catch the mouse in a shoe box, but we've not always been so lucky.

The best way I find is to flush them out somehow and hope the run in to a suitably placed shoe box. That's easier said then done, but so far it has mostly worked. Often I've needed to pull off the plinth faces and poke a stick down the back to flush it out.

Not always enough though. Once the mouse just would not budge. Then I had to lock the cat in to the kitchen and wait. Cat are amazingly patient animals it they know there's a mouse to be had and even Augustus (ginger) despite his girth and laziness is very fast. Cats seem quite capable of catching a mouse without immediately harming it. Once the cat has the mouse you have to get the mouse from the cat - basically you're now back to square one, but there's a good chance the cat drops the mouse in range of you to drop a box near enough so it runs in to the box to hide.

Oh Im so glad its not just me!!!

Will try the nut thing, because I really dont want mice in me kitchen
I was thinking about removing the kickboard but some numpty sealed it to the floor when she built the kitchen (erm......thatd be me then ) Havent heard him so far this morning...but have moved anything out of the cupboards that he could sink his teeth into to.....think the little blighters most likely to be hiding behind the boiler...the one flaming imoveable object in the whole flaming house Now because I havent heard him I'm worried that he's croaked it and is gonna decompose in me house Jeez it doesnt bare thinkin about...but I am thinking about it and am feeling a slight hysteria coming on!
I'm just off to clean everything to within an inch of its life

Never had a rabbit!!! Can just imagine the palaver trying to catch one!!
It's normally The Assassin who brings me stuff home...and always dead. She eats a lot of it and my patio is littered with cadavers Last week (and right up there with the duck at the top of unusual prey list) it was a mole I kinda like moles and was a bit upset by my first time of seeing a real one it was dead on me doorstep. Keep telling myself that its in their nature but I wish theyd stick to mice and rats.
looked for a humane trap yesterday in town but no luck so will have to get something online. Meanwhile, the fat lazy house cat has settled down to sleep in her fave place on top of the boiler...so I reckon if he's still alive she should hear him and then his days are numbered

Mice? Rabbits? huh...Greyhounds leave you rats...nice! Although usually only in bits! yuk!

MW

Toll this week:
two dead mice - one left for us to find in the bathroom one morning
one bird - survived, but was a devil to persuade to fly out the bedroom window
three butterflies - Augustus's speciality which he proudly drops at our feet

Augustus also like bees - but to the best of our knowledge he's yet to actually catch one (perhaps there is some sense in his pea brain after all).

MW - that take the biscuit. Right now I'm crossing greyhounds off my wish list

our cat used to bring in all sorts of live creatures, she once brought in a live rat sitting half dressed and drinking my first cup of tea of the morning the huge thing walked out from under a chair and sauntered across the room. UGH!!

I'd go for a humane trap for the poor wee mouse too, its not his fault its indoors!

I can second the chocolate advice! We used humane traps once with pengin bars in and they loved them

No mice for us at the minute but found an empty birds nest in the loft yesterday so we've obviously had visitors over the winter!

our cat brings in offerings regularly - i dont mind the dead one so much.. the live ones are a problem... the live rat was very unfunny...

the live mole was interesting and educational...

anyhow mostly himself has got very good at catchign mice by their tails and chucking them out. the mole was put on the other side of the stream (sorry neigbours) and the rat.. is an ex rat.

for the ones we cant catch as they are behind furniture etc - yes we use a human mouse trap.. the type that rocks back and shuts the door. btw if you google there are lots of sites giving instructions on how to make your own

we find peanut butter works well.

Cloud, keep greys on your list, just don't live nextdoor to a derelict house that the owner uses as his personal rubbish tip!

Re- mice (see, I can stay on topic, mods ) the humane traps worked well for us, we baited ours with chocolate spread. Just release the poor creature quickly.

MW

SusieGee wrote:

MuddyWitch wrote: Re- mice (see, I can stay on topic, mods ) the humane traps worked well for us, we baited ours with chocolate spread. Just release the poor creature quickly.

MW

I wasn't going to mention this because it's a bit gruesome but I agree with MW release the poor creature quickly - we used a humane trap under our stairs and forgot about it, went away for a week - came back and one of the mice had given birth in there and they were all dead - and v v stinky - not at all humane in that particular case.

Were you not excited to see if you'd caught anything?! I was checking our trap hourly!!

SusieGee wrote:

MuddyWitch wrote: Re- mice (see, I can stay on topic, mods ) the humane traps worked well for us, we baited ours with chocolate spread. Just release the poor creature quickly.

MW

I wasn't going to mention this because it's a bit gruesome but I agree with MW release the poor creature quickly - we used a humane trap under our stairs and forgot about it, went away for a week - came back and one of the mice had given birth in there and they were all dead - and v v stinky - not at all humane in that particular case.

Ohhhhh that's really sad!

Hmmm, I have had to take too many plinths off kitchen units for the very same reason and they never go back quite right somehow. For this very reason, the last two kitchens that I designed and installed (in my own home that is) I didn't put plinth on but just had the legs on show. It means that you can run the vacuum or a mop underneath.

When you've taken out as many kitchens as I have you get quite frightened about what you can find underneath them

Back to the mice, I am surprisingly good at catching mice using an icecream tub or similar. The funiest bit is watching the cat afterwards as she wanders around the room looking for the non-existent mouse even though she has just watched me catch it and put it out. They just can't make the connection.

Good luck with the mouse problem. Hopefully one of the cats will do their job tonight.

Zoe

Well this is turning into 'mouse wars' here the damn things still under there..the cats just havent seen it. I have the door open and a line of crisps there now, hoping to lure him out and then I can catch him (or club him to death with a tin of beans ) The 'snap your head off' trap is flamin useless....it just looks at it like an 'all you can eat' buffet Ordered humane traps online, still havent arrived and now Im worrying that the darn thing is breedin under there not to mention the build up of droppings Fat Lazy House Cat who brought em in has now reverted back to her old ways, of sleepin, eatin and washin and hasnt shown the slightest interest in the damn things again grrrrr Wish the assassin would spot it...but she's too busy huntin meeces outdoors to spend any time in the house grrr

The ex said he'd poison it.....dunno?? Do you think thats an option? Sounds scary to me...but Im gettin desperate now