Mice mice baby (dum dum dum dum-dum dum dum)
All right stop
Collaborate and listen
Mice are back with a brand new infestation
They’re not big enough to grab a hold of you tightly
But they’ll run around your flat, daily and nightly
Will it ever stop? Yo, I don’t know
Turn off the lights and they’ll glow (they won’t but it rhymes)
To the extreme, I rock a mic(e) like a vandal
Set up a trap and wax a mouse like a candle

The traditional old tenement buildings in Edinburgh, although beautiful to the eye, are a pretty easy place for mice to live. The old stone work and beautiful wooden flooring can include tiny wee holes which are gateways for mice to navigate between properties. You’ve seen Tom & Jerry – don’t be fooled by that large mouse hole… Mice can pass through extremely tight spaces! Crafty wee rascals. This might frighten some tenants, but you need not worry! This really is pretty normal in Edinburgh, ask around; you will most likely have a friend who has seen a mice in their flat. (squ)EEEK.

Mice get a bad rep through TV & films, and are typically shown in dirty places such as alleyways and bins. Poor fellas. Against contrary belief, it does not mean your flat is filthy. Mice are harmless and will ignore you if there are no reasons for them to come to your property, such as delicious food lying about. Therefore, especially in Edinburgh, it is easier to try and prevent mice rather than trying to remove them. Here’s some tips to help stop a family of mice building THEIR home in YOUR home

Keep it clean!

The most important action that can be taken is by the tenant. Keep the property free from food where mice can easily reach it, primarily surfaces and floors. Our Relationship Managers have visited flats with mice traps left about, and surfaces full of dirty bowls, empty food packets and an overflowing bin. That’s a banquete to our friend Mickey. Keep food in the fridge, and when kept in cupboards store food in plastic containers. Also, tenants need to remember to keep things nice and clean. Emptying bins regularly and keeping floors and surfaces free from food and crumbs will help.

Minty fresh

If there is a suspicion of a mouse family deciding to stay rent free in a property (the chancers!), a good trick is to soak cotton wool with peppermint and place it around the apartment. This is a popular trick to both make the property smell fresh and minty but also to make the mice avoid the property as they despise the smell (apparently!). Two birds-one stone.

Trap them

Some might decide to pull out the big guns and use mouse traps. There are a variety of traps available. The most common is the snap trap sometimes shown in cartoons, and more modern solutions like electric traps to stun the mouse. If tenants decide to use a trap that can catch the mouse alive, the mouse will need to be released at least 2 miles from the home to stop them from finding their way back. Mice have incredible homing instincts! Poison can be an alternative solution, but can be seen as a controversial option as it works by dehydrating the mouse. It can be effective, but the poisonous bait should be used in a very safe location far away from children and pets. If choosing a trap or poison, these aren’t for the faint-hearted as the mouse will need to be disposed of afterwards. Also be wary that poisoned mice won’t die in an easy place for tenants to find, it will strike them down wherever they are. So tenants might find a mouse a while later, under furniture, behind doors, in corridors.

The Ultrasonic avoidance tech(nique)

Wouldn’t it be lovely just having to plug in a device to avoid the wee munching guys? Well, it is possible in our tech age. The answer is an Ultrasonic mice repellent. The device releases an ultrasonic or high frequency noise picked up by mice, but not humans. The sound is thought to cause confusion and convulsions, which makes mice leave the area that causes the distress. The sound not only works on mice, it works on a variety of different pests. Depending on the device, this can include: rats, cockroaches, ants, spiders, squirrels, fleas, bats and others. Most ultrasonic mice repellents are safe for household pets such as dogs and cats; the sound can however distress rodents such as rabbits and hamsters. It is worth checking the manufacturer’s warning labels before buying. You might need several repellants, as the sound doesn’t travel through walls, but you can get multi-packs. Otherwise, a single cost around £20. The sound range of the ultrasonic repellents is connected to the device’s price – the squeaker the price, the squeakier the mice.

If I’ve seen a mouse – what should I do?

Although it seems counter-intuitive – once all means have been taken to deter mice from entering the property (tidying, storing food correctly), one course of action can be to simply do nothing. Mice are harmless and the tidier tenants are, the less they will be interested in the property. If any of our tenants have mice problems, we ask them to alert the Relationship Manager who will be on hand to help. There are many ways of getting rid of mice, so please use this guide only as advice for different solutions.