Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Mice: Harringay's other dirty secret
... the other one being cockroaches.
Everyone in North London knows the ladder/gardens is infested with mice. Despite living in some scummy lodgings in my time, I have never had them anywhere else (though we had rats in Shoreditch). So it's not my fault.
Anyway, it's a mousy time at home and they don't seem to be very interested in the large amounts of poisonous bait i have put down.
Do we think this is because:-
1) I have put the bait down in the wrong place.
2) The mice are coming into our kitchen because they are cold rather than hungry.
3) They are streetwise, urban mice who wouldn't be dumb enough to trough a load of poison.
C'mon gang, share your mouse-slaying tips. Humane tips not acceptable.
Everyone in North London knows the ladder/gardens is infested with mice. Despite living in some scummy lodgings in my time, I have never had them anywhere else (though we had rats in Shoreditch). So it's not my fault.
Anyway, it's a mousy time at home and they don't seem to be very interested in the large amounts of poisonous bait i have put down.
Do we think this is because:-
1) I have put the bait down in the wrong place.
2) The mice are coming into our kitchen because they are cold rather than hungry.
3) They are streetwise, urban mice who wouldn't be dumb enough to trough a load of poison.
C'mon gang, share your mouse-slaying tips. Humane tips not acceptable.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by rahman on
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De-clutter. We dont even keep anything in our lower kitchen cupboards and there is nothing on any of the floors in any part of the house except for the furniture. Mice dont like open spaces where they cant hide. Seems to have done the trick for the last 5 years or so. and we have students living nextdoor!
(i know it sounds extreme, but the sight of a mouse frightens the life out of me).
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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Get a cat with 'outside cat genes' and not a 'sofa pussy' and don't overfeed it - (that doesn't of course mean, starve it..!) And I'm sure he or she will do a good job.. Once the mice notice there's a cat around permanently, they'll gradually move away..
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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This works for us. He's a sofa pussy but when he does catch them he eats the head and tail too so no mess.
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Permalink Reply by Birdy_Too on
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Put all your perishables in tuppleware, cut off their source of grub and they'll soon bugger off.
Ther're clever sods, I once stayed up all night with a rats cage (use to have them as pets) with string attached to the door and bait in the cage. I must have fallen asleep because the scoffed all the chocolate and scuttled off!
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Permalink Reply by AndyBarron on
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Try using good old fashioned mouse traps, but set with chocolate. I previously tried for a couple of weeks to catch a couple of mice using the traditional cheese as bait, then tried chocolate one evening and caught two in the space of a couple of hours!
Or, go for the cat option...works in my flat!
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Permalink Reply by Anette on
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Yep, cats is the best solution, definitely. Keeps them away. I have also heard bowls with eucalyptus oil works, as they apparently hate the smell, but can't really verify that. Can anyone else?
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Permalink Reply by Cml on
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Ok everyone - mousing tips much appreciated, but my wife is allergic to cats, so that's a no-no.
Have locked up all food after discovering a disgusting half-eaten packet of rice cakes. Mice who are into organic health food; they must have stowed away in the kid's buggy on the way back from stoke newington...
Any other tips?
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Permalink Reply by tigha on
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I had a masive massive mouse infestation about 2years ago-Basically being a buddhist thought I shouldnt kill them and used humane mouse traps which they avoided
never again-Ended up with 3 good old fashioned traps down everyday,ended up killiing about 30-terrible-also loads rat poison under sink,behind shelving etc-have kept rat poison down in my cupboards ever since- no probs since, although my upstairs neigbours have them-was a nightmare
i do have 2 young cats now which def helps-starting to lend them out to friends to sort out their mouse problem-maybe I could start a business
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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IT'S NOT just The Ladder.
A friend in Tottenham reports mice there and I have to report that, even on the wests side of the tracks (upper part of Stapleton Hall Road at least) I have er, heard rumours of rodents. So I'm told. Obviously, I wouldn't have any direct experience of such things.
In terraced housing they can travel quite a distance under cover. And they are supposed to be able to squeeze through a gap of six millimetres.
Wash up promptly. Don't leave food out. It's shocking the way some folk neglect housekeeping, isn't it?
Set traps at the sides of floors or kitchen work surfaces. Peanut butter is good (so I'm told).
.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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I'm glad to see Cml shedding light on the mice problem. Many people feel embarrassment - as if it's a sign of poor hygiene - a reason it isn't always tackled, or even talked about.
Another big reason is when people think about a house or flat having (or not having) mice.
Mice are one of the proofs for Socialism. Because one house or flat never has mice. Houses have mice. Blocks of flats have mice. If your next door or upstairs neighbours have tiny guests, they'll soon be checking-out the neighbourhood. They move rapidly and easily through and under buildings, and up and down blocks. We've installed convenient 'mouseways' - holes for pipes; heating ducts, cables etc. Most of us now have cosy warm homes and plenty of food around. Organic grains and pulses in handy bags? Mouse Eden!
By the way, it's always 'mice' not 'mouse' - they're family creatures.
As Clive says, lots of homes here in the Far East have mice coming to stay from time to time.
Cats do usually persuade them to leave. Otherwise I can confirm that traps baited with peanut-butter worked well. (Though chocolate didn't.)
We found that advice to remove gaps round pipes etc was sound. Not leaving food around and crumbs under cookers etc is commonsense. But hungry mice will nibble lots of things and can do serious damage.
If you can bear the occasional stink from a decomposing mouse under the floorboards, commercial poisons work. I've used Sorex. Mice like to eat small amounts frequently. So you should see the poison going slowly over about a week.
Baiting traps with this stuff means that even if clever mice first eat the bait without springing the trap, they'll come back for second and third helpings and eventually get caught.
There's a helpful page on the Council's website about Pest Control. Including mice.
It will probably tell you far more than you ever wanted to know about a whole range of unwelcome creatures which can turn up in the wildlife park we call our home. But anyone who's lived in a hotter climate will tell you: this is nothing! Though with global warming . . .
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After weeks of trying various diets and treats in a humane trap (chocolate spead, peanut butter, cheese, hobnobs) I gave up and threw the empty trap under the stairs. I later found a stiff mouse inside. I now use sticky tape and a bucket of water.
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Permalink Reply by Barbara Kentish on
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I tried everything - different baits, oldfashioned mousetraps, newfashioned ones, humane, inhumane. In the end a combination of all, and scrupulously cleaning every night, turning out every cupboard, has made them take off in disgust. The infestation team at the Council doesn't seem to answer emails. You can contact them online (they say), but they certainly don't contact you in return.
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