Eek!! We've got mice!!

The old-fashioned, spring-loaded mouse traps are the most humane option there is for ridding your house of mice. Another plus is that they kill the mouse in situ so you won't find dead mice behind your cushions unless you left a mouse trap there. These traps are also cheap and you can load them with peanut butter that the mouse can't get away with.

Peppermint oil is interesting, because with my rat problem [thankfully all sorted now] it recommended planting mint to deter them. Just as I'd dug up all the mint in the garden cause it was taking over.

I knew someone who used glue traps, and he said "never again" far too cruel.

We also had a problem with mice and two things worked for us

--one was the glue traps, if you catch one apparently their wee warns other mice to stay away

AND peppermint oil, must be 100% pure be careful as it is quite strong and can make eyes water and give soar throats but I always put a few drops in the water when mopping the floor, and putt a few drops on cotton wool balls and put in areas I feel necessary

Tegan I keep looking to make sure.

Just dropped in for a quick read and probably wasn't concentrating properly - I got very confused with who had rodent problems and which were the amphibian beasties. Tiny baby ones who hadn't left the water long? Silly me.

Yes; the S.O. had a problem with those in his flat. All we need now is a swarm of locusts [oh and the dog had fleas in the summer as well]. I think I should put a cross on my door.

Newby here - we have had mice visiting, worse were the rats in the loft and annoying but for a change swarm of cluster flies. Lasted for two days. Advised about them.

Just be careful that one doesn't die somewhere that you can't find it. You'll only know when it starts to smell .

I was sitting quietly watching TV one evening about 6 weeks ago when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something run across the end of the room. I thought it was a spider and went to look under the dresser when suddenly a mouse ran back across the room and disappeared under the other dresser.

The next day I went to B&Q and bought some of their mouse killers. I put one under each dresser and another in the hall cupboard. I didn't see the mouse again until 3 days later after my DD, SIL and DGC were visiting me for lunch. As they were about to leave my DD started to look behind the cushions on the sofa to check for toys when, with a scream, she found a dead mouse! It could have only been there a day as my cleaner had just been.

Then two days later I found another dead mouse tucked in by some books.

After that I have seen neither hair nor hide of any rodents!! I do keep checking and have left the mouse killers in place.

Now you mention it Tegan I don't think I've seen any toads this year either. There's normally at least one lurking around in the garden and I met one walking up to the front door one year.

We used to have toads in the garden but I've just realised I haven't seen any this year.

tiggypiro it's the tiny baby ones that surprise me. They can't have left the water long and yet there they are in the garden. At the height of frog season I spend every evening waiting for one of the cats to come in because he usually has a frog in his mouth. Fortunately he never seems to hurt them.

Thanks for that tip, I learn something here every day.

B&Q sell very good mouse traps. Bait them with chocolate or peanut butter. I had them coming into the living room because I kept bird seed there. The sonic thing did nothing [I had one sat next to it one day]. I tried everything humane first of all but they didn't work, and I was finding mouse droppings behind the childrens books on the shelf. Glad you've reminded me about peppermint, tigger. With the rat problem I've had in my compost bins I read that it's a good idea to plant mint as they hate that.

When we moved into our converted barn which had stood empty for a good few months we heard noises at night above our bedroom ceiling. We also installed a sonic device and after a couple of weeks realised the noises had stopped. Its supposed to annoy the mice so much that they either cannot settle down and breed or do actually just move out altogether. After a few months we turned it off and then lent it to our new neighbours who were then having similar problems. Touch wood there have been no more little noises!

Peppermint oil, mice etc hate the smell. Not to be confused with polo mints when I recommended this to an acquaintance, he complained the mice ate the mints.

We inadvertently took a mouse to France once which was not discovered until we stopped to eat our sandwiches. We closed the boot pdq and bought a bottle of peppermint oil which I lavishly sloshed in the boot and the car smelt of peppermint for days but it worked.

Frogs like to over winter anywhere that is cool, dark and damp. I find them in piles of stones, under sheets of wood, at the bottom of the pond, under a few inches of soil, in the compost heap etc. I have a small pond and my neighbour a large one and our gardens are full of frogs. Lovely creatures.
They only seem to spend time in the pond when spawning or when they want a swim ! I'm not sure Deedaa how far from water they will go but I would guess it is quite a distance. Before we had our ponds there wasn't one nearby but they quickly moved in.

We have quite a few frogs around the garden in the summer but none of our neighbours has a pond

Well that's what I thought merlot but I also thought frogs needed to live near water, like Mr Jeremy Fisher.
You can see that my knowledge of wildlife is a bit limited

I bought quite an expensive one which happened to be on offer at 1/2 price, (£30). I think that quality may also play a part.

We used the sonic thing, and it seemed to work.

I bought one of those electronic gadgets and it got rid of my mice within 3-4 days. I keep it permanently plugged in and I have had no problems.

I have a cat who brings them in but she usually eats them. She is not too bothered about a family nesting in a cupboard or under my washing machine..

Sounds like a frog, janeainsworth, Toads don't leap.

I dug up a toad this morning when I was weeding.
I thought it was a greenish stone, and I was afraid I'd killed him, but suddenly he leaped about a foot across the flowerbed.
He sat there gulping for several minutes, before disappearing under some leaves.