Best bait for mice

[typonaut]

I am having an ongoing problem with mice. It seems impossible to find and block all the ways that they can get into the flat, since the block seems to be full of runways for them, and must be completely infested (I’m on the seventh floor, so everywhere below must have them too).

They don’t appear to be at all interested in poisoned bait, and I only seem to catch them in traps by chance – ie they get a leg caught when crossing the trap, rather than their heads when they have gone for the bait in the trap.

Previously I ws pretty lucky with strawberry jam, but they don’t seem interested in that. I have tried mix of grain/butter, but also no luck.

Any suggestions for baiting traps?

 

[RandomGrinch]

A slice of a Mars bar.

 

[Old Salt]

Chocolate or grain from wild bird food. I have caught half a dozen this year and a couple of pigeons too!

 

[DAZB]

Chocolate or Peanut butter is good or combine the two and go Nuttella, to save a fortune i would go for the cheaper version of any hazlenut spread.

 

[Munroast]

bird seed
we have probs from time to time, andwe will have a clear out and may be catch 10 to 20 in a week, (all done humanely) very very easy to catch

 

[charliegolf]

A slice of a Mars bar.

Was going to suggest Rolos, but Mars will do nicely.

 

[Koolpc]

Caviar

 

[Murdochcat]

What do the management company say about this? Surely they are involved.

As for your flat - maybe buy a trail camera and use it to find how they get into your flat - then block the gaps? If the gaps are around pipes then use wire wool

 

[Odds]

Mice are well known to be vulnerable to extreme sarcasm - failing that, try 'The Big Cheese': endorsed by Humphrey Bogart and on sale at Amazon for a tenner.

 

[typonaut]

What do the management company say about this? Surely they are involved.

“You’re a leaseholder, the mice are in your flat, it’s your problem”

I know I should get one of those ambulance chasing lawyers on it, but just don't have the energy for it right now.

 

[Rodders53]

They need something that they have to 'tug on' in the bait pot so as to spring the trap reliably. I use nuts wedged in, along with a bit of peanut butter for the smell. (Hazel or almond halves).

Have some field mice that have a way into one loft space still. I can't find the access. They caused £ks worth of damage when they got in via the garage and under floorboards and other loft as well a few years back. That access route has been fixed.

You maybe need a pest controller to advise on sealing all pipes and cable accesses from your demise to the common and other parts of the building. Fire-proofing and rodent proofing of the gaps into service duct voids will be needed, I suspect.

 

[typonaut]

You maybe need a pest controller to advise on sealing all pipes and cable accesses from your demise to the common and other parts of the building. Fire-proofing and rodent proofing of the gaps into service duct voids will be needed, I suspect.

I think it is closee to impossible, because of the design of the block. I have already blocked all the obvious entry points, but the design is a wooden floor suspended over concrete (where there's a void between the two layers). So, you'd have to rip up all the wooden floors to find the holes in the concrete – and some of those floors have partition walls on them (rather than the concrete) into vent/service ducts that aren't really part of the flat...

 

[bernardgreen]

I use one of these

Pest-Stop Plastic & Metal Battery-Powered Mouse Killer - Screwfix

Order online at Screwfix.com. Battery-operated mouse killer. On entering the device, the mouse creates a circuit by touching the metal plates on the floor of the tunnel and is killed virtually instantly. Tamper-proof design, safe to use around children and pets (excluding rodent pets). Warning...

www.screwfix.com

Not cheap at £30 but very effective and can be cleared of the body and reset in less than 30 seconds.

Best bait is peanut butter.

 

[Rodders53]

So, you'd have to rip up all the wooden floors to find the holes in the concrete – and some of those floors have partition walls on them (rather than the concrete) into vent/service ducts that aren't really part of the flat...

If so , then that's what needs done...

Probably by all the other block owners and the Freeholder to manage the vermin and fire risks of openings between different dwellings and the service voids!!

Fire and smoke will travel through the same holes!

Some use of suitable inspection cameras might allow some of the ducts / pipes through the concrete floors (and ceilings to above?) to be declared filled / pugged with fireproof materials already and minimise flooring removal.

Perhaps your Council Environmental Health may have some input to the Freeholder/Buildings Management if you and all the other residents that are affected by the mice talk to them?

 

[typonaut]

Perhaps your Council Environmental Health may have some input to the Freeholder/Buildings Management if you and all the other residents that are affected by the mice talk to them?

Hard to move on that one when any enforcement authority is one and the same as the freeholder/manager. That's why I say the only way foward is legal…