Oh joy...

[ffutures]

...I appear to have mice. Noticed something out of the corner of my eye while I was eating supper in the kitchen, moving behind a basket containing boxes of washing machine tablets etc., moved the basket, and a mouse ran out and dived down behind the dishwasher.

I suspect that it's come up from the flat below - they've had a new central heating boiler put in today, with lots of noise and drilling etc., maybe it disturbed a nest. Or maybe I've had them for a while and just haven't noticed.

Fortunately there isn't any accessible food, I hope - I tend to keep packets etc. in a wall cupboard, and right now the only food that isn't in there or the fridge are a few onions and potatoes and a bowl of apples, which I'd better cover.

Tomorrow I'll start off by cleaning the kitchen, then I suppose I'd better go out and buy some traps etc., and get used to checking them occasionally, and being more careful about crumbs etc.

It's not exactly the first time, this is a Victorian house so mice etc. sort of come with the territory, but it's a bit of a nuisance.

And before heliograph asks, I don't intend to let the snakes out to chase the mice. I don't think anyone in this country sells snake-traps...

Comments

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

You could catch the snakes with a mongoose...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Riiiight....

[kayshapero]

Do you have the equivalent of kingsnakes or gopher snakes in the neighborhood? If so, catch a few and release them inside. While they're in the house they do mouse patrol. Once they leave since they're local anyway they're not a problem. Either way, no need to catch them. :)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Nope - Britain doesn't have much in the way of snakes, and they don't live in London apart from (I think) Hampstead Heath, which at one time allegedly had a few. Grass snakes mostly eat amphibians, Adders eat mice but they're mildly venomous, Smooth snakes are mostly only found in a few very remote locations. And it's illegal to move any of them from their environments anyway, they're protected species.

[kayshapero]

Which is why it's probably just as well I was being facetious. :) We DO have local gopher snakes though they tend to stay out of sight.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

If we had a suitable species locally I'd do it - I like snakes. But I really don't want to let my corn snakes loose, they're too hard to catch!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you could borrow a cat for a few days? Even if it doesn't actually catch anything its very presence seems to be enough to put most mice off.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'd thought that the cats that live in the lower flat were deterring them, but they're both 14 years old and maybe not as fast as they used to be. It's certainly a possibility - I can get them up here by leaving the flat door open, they'll come up fast enough.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Fortunately in a flat without much food lying around, they tend to be pretty easy to lure into traps with a bit of biscuit or something.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I need to be more careful of crumbs etc, but hopefully so.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Comfort yourself with the knowledge that mice hardly ever murder people in their sleep.

... hardly ever.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Strangely enough that was not my first concern...

[kayshapero]

FWIW the last time I had to use a mousetrap, the bait that worked was a bit of lettuce...

[w00hoo.livejournal.com]

A bit of pain au chocolat works very well. Plus as you only need a little bit of chocolatey pastry in each trap, you get to eat most of a pain au chocolat...

[kayshapero]

Grin.

[coth.livejournal.com]

Try dripping peppermint oil at the back of your worktops and along your skirtings. You either won't notice it or won't mind it and the mice don't like it.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I was wondering what would deter them.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

Won't they come back home on their own? They did the last time, right?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

The last time a snake escaped it came back because the cats in the flat below noticed it, and that led to my being called down to grab it. That's not exactly coming home!