best ways to get rid of mice

The best ways to get rid of mice in your home are often the most humane. Poison is not an option you should choose lightly. You could be risking your pets lives and your children's health could be affected. How would you cope with dead mice rotting away in inaccesssible places around the home? Old fashioned mouse traps are undoubtedly effective and relatively cheap. But not everyone feels comfortable collecting dead or half dead mice and then disposing of them.

Now, personally I have a totally irrational fear of mice, but I would feel bad about killing the things. Really, I would just want rid of them. Obviously, you could call out experts such as Rentokill and pay them approx £300 to deal with the problem. However, a much cheaper solution is to buy a humane ultra sound electronic device. You can buy these cheaply online or in many high street shops. If you have pet rats or gerbils ( shudder the thought) this will cause them distress, so this would not be an option in that case.

There are some ingenious mouse traps which use bait and then trap the mouse without killing them. You need to place them in places you know the mice are visiting. Before you do this you must of course cut off every source of food to these unwelcome visitors. All your food should now be placed in airtight containers. You will need to thoroughly clean behind the fridge, under the cooker and down the back and sides of armchairs and settee. Don't worry, no matter how many mice are in the house , you will get rid of every single one. The most effective bait seems to be peanut butter,chocolate, oats, nuts and berries.

Some imaginative people have successfully set up their own home-made devices using nothing more than a huge plastic bucket. They have smeared foodstuff such as peanut butter or chocolate around the top of the bucket and the mice topple in and are unable to climb out. You need to provide some dodgy steps up to the bucket to get the mice to fall in. This is not going to work fast enough if you haven't cut off the food supply.

Now when you have caught these live mice you have got to dispose of them. Obviously you don't want them coming back again so you need to let them off well away from your house. Experts suggest at least a quarter of a mile away and preferably one mile away.

Once you have dealt with the problem you need to plan how to make sure you don't get a new family of mice turning up to your house. Mice only need a 6mm gap (the size of a hole made by a pencil) to enter your house. So you need to block every gap you can find (except air vents). Mice really don't like peppermint so it's a good idea is to grow mint plants outside your house and even indoors. Soaking peppermint oil in cotton wool works as well but it is a bit of an eyesore. You can also buy plug in devices that release a peppermint odour but these need to be constantly refilled.

Humane mouse traps are very effective and are an absolute bargain compared to bringing out the experts. I would advise everyone to purchase a patented humane mousetrap but to also experiment with your own homemade trap. Who knows you might get yours patented and make a fortune. Also if you ever get mice back you can quickly rig up your own trap.

One final piece of advice, make sure you use disposable gloves if you ever touch a dead mouse.

If you would like to read about my phobia of mice it is explained in why I am scared of mice.

I would strongly urge you not to use the glue trap boards. These are very inhumane. Many mice are only half killed by these devices and the mice take ages to die. If you want to kill mice then the old fashioned mouse traps are the cheapest and the most humane way of doing it.