Mice infestation - ...anyone in South East London have a house cat I can borrow?

Ok so we've been seeing mice in our flat for a few months now. Have set traps and tried our best to cover holes but the flat is quite old and the holes are endless. Not to mention they are practically around every room along skirtings and radiators, so some are quite difficult to reach to fill in.

My flatmate said we should borrow a cat for a week and see if that helps. However my friends with cats have gardens and I don't want to deny a cat its outdoor time for a week. Bit of a crazy ask but don't suppose anyone in Lewisham/ Catford area has a cat I could borrow? I often dog sit and recently looked after a friends cat, so I have experience with animals and it would be well looked after!

Failing that, if anyone has any tips or advice I would be super grateful. For context, we live on the high street and are surrounded by local takeaways. Probably quite unavoidable at this point but if anyone has any experience please get in touch!

Thank you!

“Little Nipper” mouse traps baited with Nutella work well and are cheap.
What kind of dog is it, some are quite good mousers.

1 Attachment

Otto takes mouse control quite seriously

1 Attachment

My cavapoo has cleared a garage of a mouse infestation and a boat of a plague of rats, while other dogs proved no use at all. (unfortunately, he lives nowhere near you)

@Dibble didn't realise they were into Nutella! Thanks for the tip!

I usually look after a couple greyhounds but have also had a dachshund and a Sealyham terrier.

Otto sure is beautiful ! I don't doubt he's great as his job !

@kl that's awesome. funny how different breeds differ!

Unless your problem is Badgers I don’t think the Dachshund will be much good and the Greyhound won’t get up to speed but Terriers tend to be good at rats etc.

Thanks @Dibble ill bear that in mind. Might be time to offer the owners some free daycare ... thanks for the help!

We have a Cavapoo too. Catches, pins and shakes rats to death in silence, then quietly walks off like nothing happened.

She’s terrified of cats and wheelchairs tho. And we live out of London.

TBH I’m just telling you how fucking hard she is.

I don't know about your moral view on this but this stuff will wipe them all out sharpish...
I got rid of a Rat infestation in our loft with this (be careful nothing else ingests it though)

https://www.diy.com/departments/deadfast-rodents-plus-rodenticide-pack-of-15/5023377005589_BQ.prd

The problem with poison is that they die somewhere (usually inaccessible) and then rot and stink for ages.

How many have you trapped? Whenever I have had problems I seem to stop catching after the 6th.

You need to fill all the holes though or they'll be back sharpish!
A very thick mix of plaster of Paris and stainless steel pan scrubbers chopped up works really well. It needs to be like soft plasticine. Push it into the holes with the back of a spoon.

hahaha this thread. i wish i had a cat i could lend

The problem with poison is that they die somewhere (usually inaccessible) and then rot and stink for ages.

This. My neighbours had a mouse infestation, poisoned them, and several of them died in my fucking kitchen walls. All because they had a filthy kitchen. Flats too, so no lawns to hammer sausages into.

The smell lasts about a year in our experience.

Met a girl once who lived in Surrey Docks.

She had a dead rat under her stairs that stank. She asked me over to get rid of it.

This year we celebrate our Silver Wedding Anniversary!

That 1st line would make a great limerick. The rest needs some work!

My experience with mice is that glue traps are most successful, but murdering lovely little mice is a tough gig.

I took my kitchen apart 5 or 6 times to block up every tiny hole. I also stuck metal mesh air vent covers over the external air bricks.

Good luck!

Anyone have tips on humane traps? So far I've only caught two mice, and they were in the same trap at the same time - I'm thinking maybe they're only sensitive enough to go off when two are standing on the trigger at once.

If you want 'the business' then a longworth small mammal trap is the answer.

I did fine with something like this: https://www.espares.co.uk/product/es1642922?

However I think we were mainly getting field/wood mice ventureing into our house. Once we caught what I thought was a house mouse and it rattled the thing so hard it escaped. Then when I caught it again, it chewed it's way out of a recycling box.

We have two like (but not identical to) this: https://www.diy.com/departments/pack-of-2-indoor-outdoor-small-humane-mice-mouse-rat-rodent-trap-catcher-cage/5021196016670_BQ.prd

I'm going to try gluing a penny or two to the trigger pad today, because we've suspiciously never caught a solo mouse. The two I caught together were tiny. Your house mouse sounds terrifying - like one of those angry young men on steroids who scream at you from a BMW 1 Series.

The trap I linked to was really good for me, mechanism seems different to the one you have. I would regularly catch mice with it and relocate them to the park near my work. The 'roid' mouse was a bit of a one-off but I still caught it eventually and just put the whole thing in a metal saucepan so it couldn't escape/chew its way out.

Metal bucket with roller pin gizmo on top seems to work on farms.

Have just ordered a couple of those on your recommendation. And I glued a couple of coins to the pad on mine as well - they're on a hair trigger now. Fingers crossed I bag some of the furry fellas tonight.

Update: the two new traps didn't get anything overnight, but the 5p coin-modified old ones caught one. He's now with his mates down the park.

Interesting info this, we've currently got a mouse problem and I think the baby mice aren't setting the traps off.