neurotic

OK so I have some updates because today I moved in! The first (and only) viewing was in the end fought for by the agency because everything else I saw online was worse, so I agreed to pay the three months deposit and the landlord agreed to be more flexible with times. I stay in central Haarlem now, close to everything, and all within budget. Ok it's small and dirty and I probably have to nuke the toilet but at least I can do it up to my standards because there is NO SHARING (except for the washing machine but I can live with that.) I'm so happy! Thanks for your replies in this thread.

The AirBnB experience on the other hand wasn't that good, it was like living in a shared housing, my host phoned me at 4 am at one party night because she lost her keys and wanted me to let her in, and there was also a mouse in my room. (For £70 a night for gods sake!)

But here I hope it will be nice and I can be myself with my boyfriend for Xmas, looking forward to that. I really hope this is going to work out fine and I can concentrate on working in my new job

Red_Wine_Fairy

I'm really happy it's worked out well for you. Mice are a big problem here in the old houses (so lovely to look at, so impractical to live in).
Hope you have a lovely Christmas, and hope the job is everything you hoped it would be!

dmu

+1
All the best!

Tweedpipe

I'm quite enjoying reading your adventure. Keep it coming please.
One question. Regarding the mouse. Did it have clogs on, and go clip, clipitey clop on the stair?

Pulaski

Indeed!
Unlikely, it was in her room, not on the stair.

neurotic

Thank you! Merry Xmas to you too!

Yes I know there are mice everywhere... unfortunately this flat is also in an old building and i already found some mouse poison and some droppings too (yuck!)... today I spent the day cleaning and cleaning and cleaning... I only missed one cupboard... noticed it had mice droppings too! Eugh. I have left it there for now because I ran out of cleaning stuff But at least I can take pictures tomorrow... The landlord's agency said they will refund €25 for my trouble cleaning when they noticed some grease was still on the oven but I took some pictures of the toilet already so I'm going to email them. It's gross.

The mouse wasn't wearing clogs btw, it was just chewing. I nearly caught it with a towel but then it jamp out and I screamed lol.

calman014

You can pick up some old fashioned mouse traps at the local diy market or other places like blokker/bazar/xenos/action. Just put down about 6 - 8 of them along edges of the areas where you found droppings. They are normally too fast to catch by hand..

Avoid using poison.

With a little practice you may be able to restrict them to a single area in the house..then it won't be so bad. In an old place it will be pretty hard to get rid of them altogether.

neurotic

I didn't find fresh droppings, or at least, not since I first looked a couple of days ago so I hope they won't be around.

There were no traps in the house but I found poison, why should I avoid that? I also heard they don't like mint scents so I'm going to try to use something minty as a repellent.

I hate the little buggers and bloody terrified of all the diseases they might carry, it's awful and shouldn't be normal!

Pulaski

I wouldn't use poison either, you never know if another animal, or a child might find it.

I use old-fashioned traps when I get mic in the garage or cellar, and I bait them with chocolate; peanut butter is often recommended, but is messy.

Tweedpipe

Mic must be very tolerant if he doesn't object to that....

neurotic

OK so I found the droppings in the cupboards under the sink, presumably mice have been using the pipes... well whatever hole I found around the pipes are now filled in with thick black bin liners, a trick I learnt from my dad when we had mice in our childhood home. I also dropped peppermint oil on a few sheets of toilet paper and left it inside - at least it smells lovely.

Now my only worry is that if I may have trapped a mouse in between my bin bags and will die and stink but I sincerely hope that if there had been one in the flat while I was also present, then I would have heard it by now so hopefully I'm safe and the flat is going to smell of peppermint for the time being. (I also smeared the pil onto the heating pipes and the radiator, hopefully it works as well as they say!)

I found a small plastic box in one of those cupboards very protectively sealed with brown tape, and I don't know what's in it and I was too scared to open it. I kept it but I hope it's not a dead mouse?! (Sorry, it's my paranoia again!)

Red_Wine_Fairy

Becoming a weekend cat sitter for friends might not hurt Mice aren't going to risk it if your neighbours are easier pickings

neurotic

It's a good idea but it's a furnished rental and I paid 3 months deposit, I can't risk bringing a cat here.... I'm trying the mint oil to repel them, I haven't heard any noises or seen any scratchings and no other signs apart from those droppings, which, frankly, who knows how long have been sitting there, the previous tenant definitely wasn't really into cleaning.

So I don't think I'm living with mice the now, but the flat does smell a bit funny, although I can't quite put my finger on it what it's like, a bit smokey, a bit dusty, like old wood, I don't know. Is that what mouse smell is like? If it's just general old building smell then I'm fine with that, honestly.

neurotic

OK so I'm pretty sure that the mice are back, I heard some typical noises 2 nights ago, switched the light on and it stopped so I'm convinced that it was one of the little bastards. I didn't see what it was chewing on or any other signs such as droppings but I tried to close some more gaps and it stopped for the night.... tonight I heard some movement but just once and very briefly, no chewing or anything.

My colleagues say if they don't find food they stop coming, can I hope in this? I'm thinking of getting some traps but the traps have food so even if it kills them, it will attract them to come, and I just want them to stop coming here.

Disappointed that the peppermint oil didn't repel them, I was really trusting it. Any other tips are welcome...

I feel a bit better here now and I was saying that if we end up settling here with my boyfriend we could build our designer boat house and everybody asks if I like mice that much, because apparently boat houses get them all the time so that wee dream is out the window already. Or maybe in our own house we could be keeping cats!

GeniB

Oh dear Neurotic You are having a time of it. Old buildings attract mice(and other pests) its just a fact of life. Its also true that the messier you are the more you will attract ( all species). You have cleaned like a demon and are obviously very careful about leaving anything edible around.Traps will mean you have to deal with the consequences. I think the mice will eventually get the message there's nothing edible for them and go elsewhere
.
We have rats in our compost bins,freaked me out at first.Now I put down humane traps and cart them off to be released far from civilisation as possible (maybe mean to the rats ,but better for my neighbours) It's we humans who invite these animals in to our lives by leaving food around. when we stop doing that. they stop coming...

Good luck with your life in NL.I lived there for over 30 yrs. A roller coaster ride for sure. I also was stunned by how much money the Dutch government took back off you.Not quite the message we got when we started either, on what seemed a very good salary. Makes me wonder what all those Portuguese nurses and doctors, tempted away from Portugal with the promise of higher wages during the financial crisis,are experiencing now?