ᐅ Mice in the newly built house – flooring installer coming tomorrow

Created on: 20 Dec 2020 17:28
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Bertram100
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Bertram100
20 Dec 2020 17:28
Dear forum community,

I recently moved into my new build. Due to delivery delays of the flooring, the screed is still exposed for now. Unfortunately, the house was already occupied by mice before I moved in. They run freely over the screed and investigate the moving boxes nearby. Then they disappear back into the cable ducts, which are open by a few centimeters (inches). The plaster ends about 3-4 cm (1-1.5 inches) above the top edge of the screed, so you can see the vertical pipes. It’s a paradise for mice, but quite annoying for me.

So far, they haven’t fallen into any traps and are ignoring the poison. There aren’t many mice, but I’d prefer them out of the house.

Tomorrow, the floor installer is coming to lay parquet flooring (layered parquet in long click planks). Then it will be oiled and left to dry, and after that, the baseboards will be installed.

My question is: Should I put some mouse poison inside the cable ducts and close everything off with the baseboards, hoping the mice family will die? Or should I leave some spots open, hoping the mice will come out on their own and eventually get caught in a trap somewhere in the room?

I’m also considering getting a cat. Any good advice is welcome!
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Steven
20 Dec 2020 17:49
Hello Bertram

If you close off the cable ducts, the mice will die inside and eventually cause odor.
Buy some cheap mouse traps (why are they called “mouse traps” and not “mice traps”?), bait them with small pieces of chocolate. Important: place the traps along the wall. Mice are cautious and don’t like crossing open spaces. You’ll see, every morning there will be mice caught in them. Use Hanuta. You can remove the wafer, only the chocolate is needed. Mice love Hanuta.

Steven
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Bertram100
20 Dec 2020 19:44
There are already 4 traps set up in the room (2 live traps and 2 traditional snap traps) baited with Nutella and dark chocolate. However, the pests are not going into the traps.
Unfortunately, I only realized yesterday why it might not be working: about 4 weeks ago, when I first discovered the mice, I put all the food supplies into jars and containers—except for a moving box full of flour and oats. I accidentally overlooked that while cleaning. Apparently, they found the flour and newspaper attractive and were able to survive well for some time.
Now there is truly no food left out (I don’t have a kitchen yet). Maybe the traps will work soon.
Do I need to replace the bait every day, or is dried Nutella also effective?
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Steven
20 Dec 2020 20:07
Hello

I never found Nutella very appealing. I had heard about it, but the success was limited.
It was only with the chocolate from Hanuta that the pests lined up. Put out at 8:00 PM, gone by 10:00 PM, gone again the next morning.
For me, it was the terrace. The mice were dancing right in front of my eyes.

Steven
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Bertram100
20 Dec 2020 20:09
I don’t think Hanuta is available here. I live in Belgium. What would be a good alternative? I’ll take a look in the candy aisle tomorrow (ugh, I usually avoid it for personal reasons related to addiction 😀).
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motorradsilke
20 Dec 2020 20:27
There are different types of mice. Not all of them eat chocolate or similar. Some only eat sausage or meat. So it’s best to set traps with chocolate and traps with sausage.