Mice

[USER1999]

Got a bit of a rodent problem.

Currently not living at home, and using the lounge as a storage area for the rest of the ground floor stuff. Went into the lounge a week and a bit ago to find mouse crap every where. Put down some traps, and caught two of the biggest, fattest mice I have ever seen. Haven't caught any more, and the bait is untouched.

Emptied the room on Sunday. Unfortunately, the place stinks. Alot. Badly.

I have tried mopping the floor boards with a mixture of bleach and flash, which kills it for an hour, and then it comes back. Have aired the room for about 48 hours, same. I am going to rip up some floor boards and check if anything odd is down there, but other than that, am out of ideas. It doesn't smell of dead stuff, just musky smell.

Any one had similar?

I am having hard wood flooring put down next week, and don't want to have to take it up again if the smell is still there.

 

[madandra]

You may have to sand down your floorboards to remove the top layer of contaminted wood. An industrial sander can be hired for a day and will do a 6x4 room in less than 2 hours.

 

[USER1999]

That'll be fun. Never used one of those before.

 

[medwayjon]

I had the same problem and had snotty people looking at me like I was a pikey when I went to buy mouse-traps.

Ours was isolated in the understairs cupboard.

1st thing I did was eliminate their access and trapped them.

Ours was laminate so I ripped that out and cleaned the floor with truck-wash and a scrubbing brush, sprayed about 5 cans of febreeze in there, waited a week and then relaid new laminate.

Seems to have done the trick and the cupboard doesnt stink now.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Didn't your cat deal with the problem?

 

[USER1999]

Mogso is 20 miles away, with no bus pass, so no, he's useless as usual. Even when he's in, mice in the house are my problem, as as far as he's concerned, indoors, I'm alpha mog, and hence they are mine to enjoy. He just watches to see if he can pick up any tips. Like growing opposable thumbs.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Never having such a problem, how much would it be to call the pest control experts in and would it not be easier in time and effort?

 

[medwayjon]

Homer, I bought the bait and traps for £27.

A local pest-control guy wanted £90 plus a compulsory repeat visit at £50 to lay bait and traps.

No-brainer for me mate.

 

[USER1999]

Pest control would just put poison down. Not a good idea, as the mice crawl off, die, and stink even worse.

Mouse traps, £2.50 each. Peanut butter, £1.50 a jar.

The mice are gone, it's just the smell that's the problem. There's no companies out there that do the clean up as it were.

 

[medwayjon]

I used peanut butter, never imagined it would work so I was amazed when it did.

 

[Macster]

I can vouch for the 'no-poison' route, in our previous place we had a furry problem in a cupboard, which resulted in me having to pull up a whole section of kitchen floor to retrieve the one dead mouse that was making the place stink to high hell.
Not pleasant.

Mind you, neither is a trap with a mouse with its head smashed to pieces either.

I have one of those Humane 'cant get out of' traps now, just in case.

 

[Spoff]

I hope to hell I never have such a problem, I want to move out if I see a spider indoors!!!

 

[viscount17]

Pest control would just put poison down. Not a good idea, as the mice crawl off, die, and stink even worse.

Mouse traps, £2.50 each. Peanut butter, £1.50 a jar.

The mice are gone, it's just the smell that's the problem. There's no companies out there that do the clean up as it were.

Most councils will have, or have contracts with, cleaning companies that deal with worse than this. If you call them they won't recommend (potential litigation issues) but might give you a contact number.