Mouse problem!

[Varx]

Hey guys,

So after recent building works in the area, my entire road has a mouse problem...
Most of the humane deterrents I see are things that I feel would bother my pets so I don't know the best way to go about this. I have a dog, a cat (!) and of course a hammy.
Would things like those beepers bother the animals? Probably right? How about peppermint oil, what's a hamsters opinion on peppermint oil? She's in the same room as them (but very much out of their reach) so I'm mostly concerned about her

What are other ways to get rid of them when you own rodents?! Tell me your success stories

[AmityvilleHams]

I think pheromone deterrents for rodents in general are a bad idea,since hamsters are of course rodents themselves Beepers and generally anything along that line of product have the same exact logic applied,and would be of course unsafe or irritating.Peppermint oil shouldn't be a problem though,but definitely stay away from anything that is naturally irritating or harmful to rodents in general.Some people would recommend lavender as the scent is a natural deterrent to mice and rats,but really it is just as harmful and harsh to hamsters and any small pet.

[cypher]

I've heard of peppermint oil being used but really can't imagine it putting off a determined mouse & if it was strong enough anywhere near the hams would probably be unpleasant for them.
Beepers are a definite no, they have quite a big range & would be extremely uncomfortable for your hams. If you have close neighbours you might want to check to see if they use them & try to dissuade them if they do.
Sadly I think the only thing that really works are baited traps, either humane traps & then you have the problem of releasing the mice somewhere else or really horrible to think about I know but poison traps.
No easy answers, sorry.

[CMB]

If they are in your house you want to stop them gaining access to any food. Food needs to be stored in something hard for the mice to chew. Metal tins and glass jars are best

Check for mouse poop and dark streaks on furniture/cupboards etc as this is wee, they leave the trail to help them navigate and it can carry disease. If you want to catch them live the bucket trap works. A deep bucket with food in and put something next to the bucket for them to climb up. They should go in the bucket to get to the food and not be able to climb out. Use a round bucket with smooth sides.

[oddlyoblivious]

Originally Posted by Varx

Hey guys,

So after recent building works in the area, my entire road has a mouse problem...
Most of the humane deterrents I see are things that I feel would bother my pets so I don't know the best way to go about this. I have a dog, a cat (!) and of course a hammy.
Would things like those beepers bother the animals? Probably right? How about peppermint oil, what's a hamsters opinion on peppermint oil? She's in the same room as them (but very much out of their reach) so I'm mostly concerned about her

What are other ways to get rid of them when you own rodents?! Tell me your success stories

Originally Posted by CMB

If they are in your house you want to stop them gaining access to any food. Food needs to be stored in something hard for the mice to chew. Metal tins and glass jars are best

Check for mouse poop and dark streaks on furniture/cupboards etc as this is wee, they leave the trail to help them navigate and it can carry disease. If you want to catch them live the bucket trap works. A deep bucket with food in and put something next to the bucket for them to climb up. They should go in the bucket to get to the food and not be able to climb out. Use a round bucket with smooth sides.

The above advice is excellent, though I do want to add;

Anything that works with a Sonic frequency is going to bother the animals who have more sensitive hearing. There are a large variety of humane live capture traps available, which might serve better if your hamster has a history of escapes and your worried about the effects on them. If your cat is a mouser that alone might be something of a deterrent though one of mine would sit with the dog and a wild mouse and all three would watch tv together, (Tom and Jerry of all things if you'd believe it.)

places that show signs of chew through can be dealt with with steel wool and caulk. We dealt with a few mouse holes that way in an older farm house.

AVOID GLUE TRAPS LIKE THE PLAGUE. They catch more wayward kids and dogs than mice, and it's a bad end for the mouse. Poisons for the same reason, but also if they die in the wall you have to deal with the smell.

[Varx]

Thanks for your replies! I didn't think it'd be so easy...

Food is mostly contained, I found out yesterday they'd been getting fat off the baking supplies which I hadn't considered, but now that's gone I don't think they have an easy free meal anymore.

I'll give the bucket trap a go! we have some snap traps and humane traps but I feel like getting rid of one mouse of potentially hundreds is slow progress ):

The cat is a lousy mouser, he's male so it doesn't occur to him that he has a job to do

Also yeah glue traps aren't even on my radar. They're really horrible things.

Thanks everyone!

[CMB]

You may get more than one at a time in the bucket trap, hopefully.

[Pebbles82]

Hi. I think I'd be most concerned that they couldn't get near your hammy. I mouseproofed our cage for this reason (narrow bar spacing and a few extra cable ties) - although we haven't had any for a while. Mice can pass on Tyzer's disease to hamsters which is pretty nasty.

Unfortunately deterring mice doesn't really work - they need catching and there will always be more than the odd one. I'm afraid I took the view that they needed to be got rid of rather than humanely caught. I did do the humane catching a few times, before we had a hamster, but it is extremely time consuming and not always effective to catch them all before they breed again. If you do catch any you need to take them about a mile from the house apparently or they home back again. I didn't like the humane mouse traps as sometimes they can die of fright in those if it's during the night and you don't see it till next day.

I hated the conventional mouse traps - gory and not that human either. What worked best for us was these - they worked every time, and it sedates them asleep before it kills them so more humane than the gory traps. The 'poison' is a solid block that's enclosed so safer for children and other pets and the hole is big enough for a mouse to get in but not much else. It's quick and you usually find the mice either in or very nearby the traps.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rentokil-PS...rds=mouse+trap

You put them along a skirting board near where the mice go. They come in a pack of two I think. Out of all the things we tried, these worked the best and always got rid of the problem with a kind of compromise between being humane and dealing with the situation.

The other thing that worked was an electronic rat trap but I decided that was too risky to use last time with a hamster in the house (in case the hamster escaped or ran off and couldn't be caught).

Anything that might deter a mouse will have a negative effect on a hamster I reckon. The ultrasonic devices can drive a hamster crazy - it must be very unpleasant. Peppermint would also be a strong scent for a hamster.

There is something in those traps I linked that attracts the mice to the bait and they always seem to go for it. It's not nice having to remove them afterwards, but not as bad as the traditional mousetraps.

I did try a large human mouse trap once that was supposed to hold a dozen of them and not one single mouse went in it! They get a bit wise to traps sometimes, but tend to go for the bait.

Hope this helps! But if there is any chance they could be in a room with a hamster cage I would definitely put a couple of those down and if the cage doesn't have 7mm or less bar spacing I'd move it to another room.

Last time we thought we had a mouse, we caught about a dozen! The only time those traps didn't work was when we realised it was something bigger than a mouse aargh! Hence the electronic rat trap. The rat had just been playing football with the mouse traps which had moved next day but nothing in them. And the cheeky rat stole an apple as well. That was a nightmare lol! History now thankfully.

[Varx]

Thank you for your reply! My hamster is safe, I've already considered this her cage is meshed with very narrow bars and there are traps under the table she's on.

Yeah I'm definitely thinking humane traps are more hassle than they're worth. Only caught two and they were a nightmare to get rid of!

Was just looking at those ones you posted actually, I think I'll give them a go.

Does anyone have suggestions for bait? I'm using peanut butter but I'm not sure it's attracting them enough. Mice activity seems to be at its highest after cooking meat so I was thinking hot dogs, would that work?

Thank you!

[AmityvilleHams]

If they're going to die anyways,hot dogs are fine.