How do I get rid of a mouse?

[max_tranmere]

I have a mouse (or possibly mice) living in my flat. One just hot-footed it along the hallway and vanished. I went looking for it and couldn't find it, but 10 minuteslater it sprinted back along said hallway and shot into a cupboard. This cupboard is quite large, has double doors, and houses a washing machine and loads of junk. There are probably cracks in the wall behind the washing machine where the little critter, and maybe his gang of pals, live.

Anyone got any humane ideas for how to get rid of him/them? I don't want to hurt it, just get rid of it. Maybe there is some product you can buy that you put down and the smell of that thing is enough to make it, or them, vacate and go and live somewhere else. It is brown with a tail and about the size of a fun-size Mars Bar. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[Deuce Bigolo]

Use rat baits like this...just make sure you dont touch the bait when your unwrapping it as any scent of human on it and they wont touch it

You put 2 of them within a metre of each other rather than the usual all over the place...definitely more effective than the mice pellets & mouse traps which they seem to be immune to and very cunning in avoiding the snare

[Deuce Bigolo]

I should have said trust me your being humane

Once they've found a way in you wont get rid of them any other way

[rgb]

You can get ultrasonic mouse repellers like this thing http://www.mousetraps.org.uk/Mouse-Trap ... -Repellent . My mum has one and swears it works.

[andy ide]

Max, odds are you have mice, not just the one mouse. I thought I had just the one then I killed him, then he appeared again, so I killed him again, and he appeared again etc etc etc. I must have ended up killing about 20 before peace returned (I found where they were getting in in the meantime). Sad to say, the only effective way of catching them was to lay down adhesive mouse traps, strips of sticky card, laid down from one side of the kitchen door frame to the other. They get stuck in the middle of the night and squeak and wake you up. I then drowned them in the kitchen sink.

[spider]

A couple of years ago, when I had a mouse problem, I found those "Little Nipper" brand traps very effective.

You know the old fashioned type that you see on Tom & Jerry. I think they sell thm in Wilkinsons.

I was told to bait them with "Nuttella", the chocolate spread you put on your toast.

The mouse can smell it a long way off and are attracted to it.

It worked well for me (not so well for the mouse though).

Another plus point is that you don't end up having to drown the mouse, the old fashioned traps kill them instantly.

[max_tranmere]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I agree that geting rid of one won't solve the problem as there is probably a posse of them that is expanding all the time. This is a very old street, which is bound to have old drains in it etc, there are also old cellars underneath all the properties. These are ideal breeding grounds for mice. I think I will start by buying one of those ultra-sonic things, to scare him/them away. Failing that I will have to really take the gloves off and get a device that kills them. It seems there is no other way.

[RoddersUK]

Don't take pity on these little bastards, they spread a very serious disease which can KILL !!
The only way to be sure of getting rid of em is to lay in wait and when the bastard appears give the fucker both barrels from a twelve bore. Blasts the fucker to Kingdom come every time. Scratches the paintwork in the hallway mind, but, hey ho you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.

[RoddersUK]

Being serious though, in previous properties I have found the old fashioned mouse trap to be the most effective. Bait with chocolate or puffed wheat with honey and it gaurantees to operate and snap the little bastards neck every time, and they are reusable.