# Mice under bedroom floors



## suicra05

Hi,

we have mice under the bedroom floor. We can hear them chewing the wood at night. What is the best way to get rid of them? Preferably I do not want to remove floor boards etc. I have put down some traps and poison above the floor but to date they have not being touched. I also bought a plug in mouse deterrent device which I have installed. Any advice is appreciated.


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## no_moolah

There is a poison you can get in Woodies they're like little blue balls. I just put that through the gaps in the floor boards and that gets rid of them. I found the plug in device didn't help at all.


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## cremeegg

Getting rid of mice is usually not that easy.

We had them every winter for several years. If you have them under the floor in August then they must be well established, usually they don't come into the house until the weather gets cold.

The poison is generally effective, however you do not want dead mice under the floor boards.

I can see no reason to lift the floor boards. The mice won't come out with their hands up just because you lifted the floor.

I suggest traps. I found the cheap wooden ones  to be better than the plastic type. I also found chocolate to be the best bait.

You also want to try to block the access points into the house. Look carefully to see where they might be getting in, and fill with expandable foam. Places like the drain from the kitchen sink. Getting rid of them is fine but you don't want more mice coming back.

And the best tip of all, get a cat. I really believe that this is what made the difference for us.

We have been mouse free for 2 years, fingers crossed for this year.


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## Black Sheep

When I read your post I could almost hear/feel that scratching noise all over again. We had those little horrors several years ago and they seemed to be wearing hob nailed boots while scurrying around under the bedroom floors in the dead of night. After trying all the above remedies we got one of those plug-in thingys.

This is an industrial thingy. Plug it in to the socket nearest to the point of entry. That was a long time ago (probably 7 or 8) years ago and we have never had a mouse since. In our case they seemed to come in via cavity wall. Many years before we had extended the house so the old back door then became an interior door from kitchen to livingroom. We could never find the exact point of entry.


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## Steven Barrett

We get them every year and use traps. I echo what cremeegg says, the old style are the best as they require less pressure to set off. I use raisins for bait and they stick to the trap well. 

If you don't want to lift the floor boards, you'll have to find where they are coming in and bait/ trap there. That's easier said than done as they don't need much space to get in. And you want to catch them before they breed or you'll end up with loads of them. 

I'd lift the floor boards and get rid of them. it will probably take a day and they'll be gone. 


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie


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## suicra05

*Mice are still under bedroom floor boards on 1st Floor?*

The mice are still under the bedroom floors on the 1st floor. I am not sure where they are getting in. I have blocked off all apparent holes on the ground floor. We put on a kitchen extension a few years ago. Could they be getting in at roof level of the single storey extension? Would they be getting in under the roof tiles of the extension. Presently I am using poison but it is not totally effective and also it is generating a bad odour. Any advice would be appreciated.


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## so-crates

I second the recommendation of chocolate-baited basic traps - either I had a certain class of mice or it has general appeal but I bait with very good quality dark chocolate and it entices them right in. 

Poison just means they die somewhere inaccessible so I never use it. 

As for entry points. You are not thinking like a mouse. Access points on the ground floor are certainly a problem but the little blighters are very light and agile, they will also scale walls and gain access in the most unlikely of places so yes they could be getting in at your extension roof too. 

Be careful blocking off potential access points - these could well be ventilation points. 

Try and identify their "runs", they will tend to skirt close to some shelter, these tend to be good spots to place traps. Oh and clear the traps as promptly as possible. They will alter their "runs" when one becomes dangerous.


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## GFFABM

I'd recommend peanut butter for bait. It can't be dislodged from the trap and the mice have to stay put if they want to tuck in!


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## flowerman

no_moolah said:


> *There is a poison you can get in Woodies they're like little blue balls.* I just put that through the gaps in the floor boards and that gets rid of them. I found the plug in device didn't help at all.


 
Its called BASF Storm rat poison and Woodies are way overpriced for it.Woodies charge 16 euro 50 cents for it.

I can buy it in my local builders providers for 9 euro a tub.
It works very well for killing mice and/or rats.


Be warned thought that any dead mice and or rats that are left under the floorboards will in time start to smell as they decompose.


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## flowerman

cremeegg said:


> Getting rid of mice is usually not that easy.
> 
> We had them every winter for several years. If you have them under the floor in August then they must be well established, usually they don't come into the house until the weather gets cold.
> 
> The poison is generally effective, however you do not want dead mice under the floor boards.
> 
> I can see no reason to lift the floor boards. The mice won't come out with their hands up just because you lifted the floor.
> 
> I suggest traps. I found the cheap wooden ones to be better than the plastic type. I also found chocolate to be the best bait.
> 
> *You also want to try to block the access points into the house*. Look carefully to see where they might be getting in, *and fill with expandable foam*. Places like the drain from the kitchen sink. Getting rid of them is fine but you don't want more mice coming back.
> 
> And the best tip of all, get a cat. I really believe that this is what made the difference for us.
> 
> We have been mouse free for 2 years, fingers crossed for this year.


 

DO NOT do this with any low down wall vents that are placed externally for airflow to circulate under kitchen and ground floor floor joists.

Air flow is vital to prevent rot in the joists.


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## RichInSpirit

I borrowed a wooden trap off my father a few years ago that was like a wooden box with 3 holes in the side and a spring loaded wire noose in each hole. You dropped the bait into the holes and tied the noose down with thread. To get at the bait the mouse had to chew the string and then got chocked. Often the 3 holes would have a mouse in them at the same time. They probably thought the other mice were feeding. 
It's a deadly (good) trap. I've never seen a second one like it but I'm sure they can be got somewhere.


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## Bronte

cremeegg said:


> And the best tip of all, get a cat. I really believe that this is what made the difference for us.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about this, but our cat has brought in a mouse for the last 3 weeks every second day. I hate when they are half dead.
Click to expand...


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## so-crates

Bronte said:


> I don't know about this, but our cat has brought in a mouse for the last 3 weeks every second day.  I hate when they are half dead.



You do know you are supposed to finish 'em off


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## Bronte

so-crates said:


> You do know you are supposed to finish 'em off


 
Not able to, I can flush spiders down the drainhole though, and I free wasps, bees, flies and ladybirds.  But mosquitos get killed.  Ditto fruit flies, and I'll even kill the tiny weeny flies in my hands, by clapping.    

How do you kill the mouse?  Or bird?

The last semi alive mouse, with guts exposed, he was on a rug, I flung it outside and hey presto gone when I returned.


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## so-crates

I don't kill spiders where I can avoid it (difficult at the moment with the current surfeit of them!). Wasps I kill on sight in August/September - they are sugar-crazed and a bit drunk so they are not very nice and on the slippery slope to an Autumn grave anyway. 
A mouse or a bird? Break the neck (be careful not to get bit though!) They wouldn't survive anyway so it is a kindness at that point.


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## Bronte

I know it's a kindness, no way will I be able to do that though. 

Never go after a wasp. They will come back to you if you don't get them the first go, as my OH found out this summer when he was the subject of a direct hit. You have to be as gentle as a fly with wasps.

Spiders don't bother me either, but if they come up the drainpipe, they are going back down it.  As my mother used to say, cobwebs keep the place clean.


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## so-crates

I only bother wasps when they get to the point in the year that the queen stops breeding and they are driven out looking for sugar as a result. I have a specific technique which has so far (finger's crossed!) resulted in any retribution  First whack is purely directional - get them to a window that has light coming in, they will tend to stay there and they are then easier to deal with - once the wasp is on the window every whack after that is a killer blow...


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## flowerman

so-crates said:


> I only bother wasps when they get to the point in the year that the queen stops breeding and they are driven out looking for sugar as a result. I have a specific technique which has so far (finger's crossed!) resulted in any retribution  First whack is purely directional - get them to a window that has light coming in, they will tend to stay there and they are then easier to deal with - *once* *the wasp is on the window every whack after that is a killer blow*...


 

Myself and/or my wife trap them in an empty glass or jar and then we release them back outdoors.

Wasps are very good for the garden and they eat up little nasties like aphids and wooly aphids.
Ladybugs also feast on the aphids too.


Be carefull not to mix up a wasp with a hoverfly,as hoverflies are very good for the garden aswell.A hoverfly can look more or less the same as a wasp but it wont bother you in the slightest.They are amazing creatures to sit in the garden and watch.


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## so-crates

Of course this only applies to the social wasps and only when they become a nuisance as the colony starts to die off for the winter and the production of new larvae reduces. The remaining workers become rather more focussed on sugary foods and much grumpier too. I'd never mistake a hoverfly for a wasp


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