Mice in my 4th floor flat

[sweetdjina]

Hello.

I spend my days at home, and about two-three times a day I see  a mice running across the room. We had this problem before, we heard them scratching in the bathroom and filled all the possible entrances. Now it's possibly kitchen but we have no idea where they come from. As you can imagine all the kitchen units and appliances won't let us investigate.

I feel helpless because I can't just go out. I spend all my days at home, with my legs now always up. We also have budgies, not sure if mice can harm them or spread a disease.

I don't want to use poison and then have dead mice disintegrating and stinking in some obscure corners, neither do I want to use mouse traps and share a room with a squashed mice till my husband comes from work.

What do I do? I started feeling most uncomfortable.

[kiss*my*pixel]

Our cats sometimes bring in mice and then let them go, so they often have the run of the house and live in one of the sofas for a while!

You can buy humane mousetraps, ones which catch the little darlings alive, then you can let them go (far away from your home). I have personally found that they particularly like garibaldi biscuits and Mars bars. :-x

If you think you actually have an infestation, then you will need to call in an expert.

[mandymoosie]

Kiss yes I have a cat that brings them in live too...........then they get wherever they can get........I never kill them, I just entice them out usually with chocolate, they love it, then I go put them outside somewhere safe 🙂

Sweet do you live in your own home or is it rented ?

If rented, you need to contact your landlord ASAP and they will get someone out to deal with the problem.

If you own your home, it's a case of doing what Kiss has advised and call in the experts or ring them and see if they can offer you any advice 🙂

[023mjc]

A few years ago we had squirrells living in the attic. They climbed up and down in the wall cavities and ran around in the cavity between the bedroom floor and the downstairs ceiling.The noise, all through the night, was unbelievable. Luckily we don't have any small children in the house - they would have been terrified.

They chewed up electric wires and caused power cuts, they chewed up pipes and caused floods, and they chewed up every thing we had stored in the attic. I suppose they just wanted somewhere warm to spend the winter, but they made our lives a misery.

I felt terribly guilty, but in the end we had to get the "rat man" in to deal with it.

[ilove2patch]

Have you thought that the mice might be attracted to the bird seed & that is why they come?

[sweetdjina]

Thank you for your replies. Yes, mice are definitely attracted to seeds and, possibly, bird droppings that contain some grain matter. But as long as I keep birds, I can't help it.

Do you know if they can do any harm to my budgies? Could they bite me on the foot? I know rats can and do. And they're a danger to small birds.

[chickengrandma-2008]

I'm pretty certain the mice won't bite you, they'll keep well clear if the see you're there.  I don't think they'll touch your birds either, especially when there's seed to be had.  I couldn't live with them though, it would be mouse traps for me.  If you set them behind a piece of furniture, if they have a victim in, you won't be able to see it, and then it can be disposed of when your hubby comes home.

[fishpieface]

Any mice I've known will keep well away from humans and certainly won't come up and bite you!

I'd go for humane traps, baited with choccy/peanut butter or biccy crumbs then you or hubby can go and release them, but do this some way away otherwise they come back!

Personally I don't think there is any more liklihood of them bringing disease than your birds unless of course there is an infestation of them, in which case you would have to call in the professionals!

[welsh.lady]

It sounds as though you have an infestation somewhere in the property. I was told that for every mouse you see there are about 20 more elsewhere. I think its time to call in pest control, and they will investigate the whole house.

Don't worry, the mice will not hurt you as they are much more frightened of you than you are of them - but they are classed as vermin, and as they are incontinent they run about leaving a trail of pee and droppings that carry bad germs, especially if they get into your kitchen or food cupboards.