Getting rid of mice in the house

[racinghamster]

You also need to try and block any holes or gaps in the building where mice could be gaining entry if you can find them. Pipe holes, under door gaps, brick holes and old air vents that may need replacing. Buy some cheap filler from Poundland that expands and fill the holes!

I`m not keen on those sonic devices if pets are in the house. I would only activate one if I didn`t have any pets in the house because I wouldn`t risk the thing annoying or stressing my hamster. We can`t hear it when it`s activated, so you would need to have it on well away from the room your hamsters are in.

[hammy2]

We've had a mouse problem before and being a soft sod when it comes to anything living would never kill them. Some humane traps are more successful than others there'sa type that is like a trip switch and a type that tilt and for delicate footed mice the tilt activated trap works better in my experience. I had a wild wood mouse as a pet for 5 years it was much healthier than the shop brought inbred mice. People who say wild animals are all diseased are ill educated and scaremongerers as humans and their cats and dogs carry the most diseases.

[cactus]

Thank you for the extra input everyone, we're going to have a look for the sonic device and see if it is an option, our house is quite big and the mice seem to be up the complete opposite to the hamsters and on the ground floor while the hamsters are on the first floor. We'll give it a lot of thought though as I really don't want to hurt the hammies or distress them for anything. The trap we have at the moment is the tilt kind and we've started using different bait now so hopefully they'll go for it and we won't have to kill them after all. We'll be going around the whole house today to try and find how they've been getting in and block it up for good.

[crazygal330]

You have already had lots of good advice about humane traps etc I just wanted to add please do not use poisons or glue traps if you do end up opting to kill them.

[cactus]

Thank's for the advice crazygal330 I won't be using anything that could make them suffer. It hard enough having to kill them and I won't be doing anything that will prolong their deaths.

[HollyHamster]

If you must kill them, there are traps that end it all quickly and efficiently, and keep you from seeing the "results", when triggered. I'd prefer to use those as I don't need to see their little squashed remains. I've heard its not a pretty sight.

I am too much of a softy though and use a reusable tilt trap for catching mice that have decided to make themselves at home in our house. It doubles as a small hamster trap too, but you'll need to thoroughly clean it out if its been successfully used to catch mice before allowing your hams near it. Wild mice can and do sometimes carry awful diseases that your hams could catch (or even you if you're not careful).

[cactus]

I really do hate the idea of killing them but they're leaving us with little choice. We've had the tilt trap out for days and they won't go near it, we've been looking into the little device to plug in that makes an unpleasant sound for them but we don't want to risk it hurting the hammie's ears. I'll be getting a trap that ends it quickly for them and hopefully I won't have to see anything horrible. I keep my fingers crossed constantly that they'll turn up in the tilt trap and we won't have to go through with the horrible next step.

[HollyHamster]

I know what you mean. It took three days and night to catch just the one mouse in our pantry, and that was after I tried using the kitten to hunt it down. I was a little, shall we say, desperate?

[cactus]

We're getting there now, I keep lying awake at night wondering if I can hear them moving about. 'Did I just hear the trap go?' So I get up and look, nope, nothing. I can keep this up for an hour or so after bed and it's driving me nuts. I hope we can get one soon and get them out safely. We don't have a kitten to try and help either

[HollyHamster]

Could you perhaps "borrow" a cat for a few days and pay the owner for his/her services?