Mice (pests)

[Aims]

I am not sure if I have posted this in the correct place.... Sorry if I haven't.

I have a problem with mice. We recently heard scratching in our loft/roof. I saw a mouse run through the lounge, we have placed traps around the house which we only put out on a night when the children and birds are safely in their beds/cages. We caught two but I still keep finding fresh droppings so there must be more. there is probably a huge nest in the insulation in the loft.... gross little things.
Anyway I was going to put poison in the loft and hope that gets them but i have recently discovered that that have been going on top of the bird cage it has a play gym up there, Jax never plays on it he prefers to fly and sit on me. I have no idea how they are getting up there, maybe they climb the cage like a ladder? anyway I daren't put the poison down incase they come in contact with it and they transfer it to Jax's cage somehow.... or would the poison kill them immediately?
If anyone has any good ideas that are bird safe... your help/advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Grenage]

Poison isn't instant, it's a freaking horrible way to die; avoid where possible, especially with pets in the home.

 

[talldub]

Try laying humane traps that way there is no danger to Jax. Also, with regards to the cage, can you lubricate the outside maybe to stop them getting up? Or consctruct a makeshift barrier (something like the cone placed on a dog after surgery might do it, depending on cage size etc)?

 

[henpecked]

I've had a similar problem, it didn't get any better until i put a small cornsnake in the attic. The snake will track down the nest and eat all of the mice. Never had a problem with the snake and the birds. Amazing no more mice. Of course i'm here in the US, maybe there's a similar snake you can use downunder.

 

[mcw009]

We have a mouse problem at work. There's poison all over, including in rooms that contain bird cages. The mice get everywhere- we've even found them nesting in nest boxes finches are concurrently attempting to use. We haven't had any problems with the birds from the poison.

If I were you, I'd bait snap-traps with peanut butter in the loft, placed along the walls and where you see concentrated droppings. I'd also dig around and look for a nest, destroy it, and kill the babies. Pinkies can be humanely euthanized by putting them in the freezer. A pair of kitchen scissors can easily decapitate any larger babies you catch.

And of course, go around and make sure ALL the food in your house is in mouse-proof containers, and do a cleaning overhaul to get rid of any crumbs they're finding.

 

[terry52449]

Take the food away first. You have to be diligent about it. Your birds may throw food on the floor like mine and has to get picked up. All stored food has to be in sealed containers. Then traps and poison will work. Once they enter your house or building it is really tough to get rid of them. They breed so fast. May have to have a professional come in and get rid of them.

 

[Parrotmamma]

I had a problem like that a few years ago , mice had been in the attic and walls . we had to have a re pipe done on our house and when they cut holes in the wall to do the re pipe . the mice started coming in. I placed glue traps under the holes and right when they came through the whole the landed right on it. I ended up catching 21 mice.... I had no idea we had mice at all! Ugh !!!
I eventually found the spot where they came through outside near the air conditioning unit . I stuffed it with wire brillo pads and put caulking all around it and solved the mouse problem .
Hope you get rid of your little pests soon, I know it is maddening trying to get rid of them.

 

[IcyWolf]

I'm all for humane/natural pest control so I'd like to through it out there, mice hate peppermint. Try scattering some peppermint leaves in your loft and remove any food they may be eating.

We have a humane "tilt trap" that works great for catching mice and it doesn't hurt them, we just take them out back to the woods and let them go. The last one we caught was pretty skinny so we even released him with a handful of chips to nom so he wasn't encouraged to return to the house

We also have quite a few black rat snakes that live in our cold cellar, they help keep the population down too. I've only ever seen one in our bird room(s) and we immediately sealed up a hole we found and haven't seen any since.