Just wondering if anybody has any non-lethal tips to get rid of wild house mice.

We found they had been in our kitchen cupboard about a year or so ago, chewing on a bone we had bought for a Big Issue seller's dog. We cleared out and cleaned the cupboard, put all the food into metal, ceramic or glass containers, or else kept it in the fridge.

We saw a few mice after that in our living room. Then a week or so later, in the bedroom. They did eventually go though, when they realised the restaurant was closed

Anyway, idiots that we are, when we were having a tidy recently, we put a bag of barley rings that we had purchased for our pet rats (which they wouldn't eat) into a plastic bag in another cupboard. Hey Presto, DH discovered a few days ago that mice had chewed through the bag and either eaten or carried off all the barley rings! He cleaned up but I mentioned that we might see mice in the rest of the flat within a few days, as they did what they did before, and started scouting out the place for more food. Hopefully they'll bugger off again after drawing a blank.

I just saw a mouse in the living room!

Last time I read that mice hate peppermint, so I put peppermint oil on some kitchen towel and scrunched it up near the cupboards. Just trying to find anything else that will put them off. We can't use sonic deterrents because of the pet rats.

I don't think a cat would scare them away. MIL has a cat and they get mice

Why "non-lethal"? They're vermin and a health hazard.

If you trap and release them either (i) they will come straight back in or (ii) a cat or hawk will kill then for you.

There's no way I could kill a mouse, it would upset me too much. Besides, killing a few mice is like p*ssing in the ocean, they breed so fast it makes absolutely no difference. The future of rodent control is contraceptive bait, such as that developed for rats by US company SenesTech. Also, I hate the word 'vermin.' To me it translates as 'An animal species which dares to be hugely successful that isn't human.' People have done far more damage environmentally than all the other species put together, so I find our attitude highly hypocritical.

Pet rats...don't rodents attract other rodent??

Actually the opposite is true. Rats predate mice and that's why nobody ever has wild rats and wild mice. The rats would drive the mice away. Last time we had wild mice, one of our pets, Elsa, found one hiding under the TV unit. She fluffed up and started huffing and was desperate to get at the mouse. I'm sure she'd have killed it if she could. We actually hoped that realising there were rats would put the mice off, but it didn't seem to. They only seemed to go after they determined that they wouldn't be getting any more free buffet. It's like they realised that the rats were locked in a cage most of the time.

Funny, to me it translates as "carriers of fatal diseases like Weils, as well as bubonic plague in some circumstance, to name but two".

Birds would also refer to rats and mice as "vermin", when they have destroyed the eggs of breeding pairs and caused population crashes in places like Australia and New Zealand.

Mods, please could I ask that you close this thread? I don't think I'm going to get any useful help here. Will post on my pet rat forum.

Extractly...the rat didn't put the mice off. My sister had a pet rat...one day we found 2 mice nestling in the rat's cage. Enough said.

But you'd toss it, chase it, or repel it outside where it will probably be eaten.

OP, there's a product called Mouse Magic that appears to be available on Amazon UK. Sachets of pleasant smelling herbs that are supposed to deter mice. I use them in the cabin of my car as I'd cause a pileup if a trap went off when I was driving.

I would suggest

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I would suggest those closed traps for mice and/or rats as you don't have to see them except for the end of the tail. We had mice in a previous house and that solved the problem, and also blocking the hole where they were getting in.

We had a couple of rats get into our garage, and one caused $1500 worth of damage to DH's car as it got up under the dashboard. No way would I allow them to live to cause that much damage, so got an exterminator in and he set traps in various places, got a couple and blocked up entry holes. Not had a problem since. Wash all the shelves and cupboards down with bleachy water to try and kill germs.

We are inundated with these, the Pup likes digging them up, they do not last long.

Mice tends to be more a problem for me in the Autumn, I found some nice traps on Amazon.

I put some of his dog food in a small bowl, surround the bowl with traps on which I have smeared a bit of peanut butter, seems to work.

Friend of mine used poison last year, sadly his dog found it and was killed by it.

A lot of people swear by peanut butter traps (DIY Five Gallon Bucket Mouse Trap | Gentleman Homestead Consulting)

There are a bunch of no-kill traps available - I'd suggest looking at Amazon reviews to see what works.

I'm having serious deja vu.