The mouse poisons we sell are anticoagulants that reduce the ability of the mouses blood to clot. Mice need to feed several times on a Difenacoum poison for it to take a lethal effect. This means you have to regularly check and top-up your mouse poison to ensure an adequate dose is always available. Our Bromadiolone and Brodifacoum based poisons can kill in one feed. These latter mouse poisons are generally in block or sachet form.
Difenacoum is a compound that was developed to deal with warfarin-resistant rodents and can be used indoors or outdoors.It is a multi-feed compound typically found in our mouse poison sachets
Bromadiolone has a higher toxicity to mice than many other anticoagulants and can be used indoors or outdoors.It kills warfarin resistant mice and rats and is effective in one feeding. Can be used in wet or dry conditions in block or pellet form and is found in our rat & mouse poison sachets.
Brodifacoum is the most potent of the anticoagulants and it can be effective in one feed. It is approved for indoor use only.
Wheat Based Poison
Wheat based poisons are the cheapest to buy and usually contain difenacoum. They work well but should not be used where they could be found by poultry or birds. You should not use wheat based mouse poisons in open bait trays outdoors. Open bait trays are too dangerous to use outdoors anyway.
Use wheat based mouse poison in locked bait station boxes. Topping the boxes up is a chore and you can prevent spillage of the mouse poison by paying a little more and buying it in sachet form. Always anchor you mouse bait box with wire or a brick to prevent it being knocked and spilling bait.
Block Based Poison
Mouse poison in block form has many advantages. Rats and mice like to knaw and find it very appealing. Mouse block bait is easy to handle and is more weather-proof than wheat based products. Poison spillage is also very unusual if you use bait boxes with wire block holders in them. If you are baiting in a garden where pets or children are present you should use block bait in a good quality lockable mouse or compact bait box.
Mouse poison blocks can also be threaded on home-made wire hooks and hung under floorboards, down drains and in other locations where a mouse poison bait box cannot be placed. Make the wire hook easy to retrieve so that you can check that bait is being taken.
Try not to use mouse poison indoors (especially near food) as the mice may die under your floors or in your wall cavities. Whenever possible use a good quality mouse trap. Humane mouse traps are practical for indoor use. The best solution is to kill the mice using a conventional mouse trap and afterwards keep the premises mouse free using a good mouse & rat repeller.
Look for evidence of mouse droppings. The entry point for the mice is usually through pipe-work gaps in kitchens or other holes such as air-bricks. If you know the entry point, block it with wire mesh (a brillo-pad can be improvised) or concrete rubble packed tight. You can detect a mouse or rat run indoors by sprinkling a little flour in the area they frequent and following the trail.
Bait your mouse traps with our specialist mouse bait or bacon for example. Set the mouse traps around the known entry point (outside the building if you have blocked the entry) or where you found the mouse droppings. If you have seen several mice you should set a number of traps.
The mouse traps are most likely to be triggered at night. Check them before retiring and check them again each morning. If you trap no mice, try another bait and/or move the mouse trap to another location. If you still have mouse droppings and no trapped mice, they still have access to a better food source somewhere. If you have no mouse droppings and no trapped mice you have successfully excluded them from your premises.
If your mouse problem is large and mouse traps will not cut the numbers quickly enough you can try mouse glue traps. These are not pleasant but they are effective and easy to place. You must check these at least twice a day and deal humanely with the trapped mice.
The most common food sources for outdoor mice are bird-feeders, food compost heaps or animal feed troughs. Remove bird-feeders and food compost heaps before starting a baiting or mouse trapping programme otherwise the mice will bypass your mouse traps and bait.
Do not use open bait trays outdoors. The wheat based mouse poisons are not weatherproof and open trays harm wildlife such as birds and hedgehogs.
Take care to select the position for your mouse traps or mouse bait boxes. Mice like to run along the side of walls and fences where there is plant or debris cover. If you have seen mice and noted their path, place your poison or mouse trap along it, so that the mice will naturally run through the mouse trap or bait box. Check mouse bait boxes each day and move them if bait is not being taken.
Once there is active feeding inspect and load the mouse bait box with fresh mouse poison each day. There will come a time (usually within 7 to 10 days) when bait will stop being taken. Keep laying fresh mouse bait and inspecting the bait boxes for at least another week to make sure another set of mice does not move in.
Once bait has not been taken for a week you can assume the problem is past.
Outdoor mouse traps are very effective against the young population who are not as wary as the adults. It is useful to set at least one mouse trap along with your mouse poison, just to knock down the young mice and confirm that you are baiting in the correct location. Our mouse traps work really well with our non-poisonous mouse & rat bait. The bait is not weatherproof, so it should be replenished after rainfall or placed in a very sheltered spot. The mouse traps are compact and easy to locate in narrow mouse runs.
Humane live-catch mouse traps work well outdoors with certain limitations. Use them with weatherproof mouse poison blocks or with bait such as bacon which is durable. Put a little bait at the entrance to the trap to tempt the mice in. If the mouse trap is on soft soil, bed it in a little to make it appear more natural. Humane mouse traps are good at capturing adult mice. Small young mice can enter live-catch mouse traps and not trigger the door if they are lucky.
If your live-catch mouse trap has not been triggered but the bait has gone, young mice are the most likely reason. Using a conventional mouse trap along with a live-catch mouse trap will generally cover all the options.
Leave mouse traps baited for at least a week after the last catch before concluding that you have dealt with the mouse infestation.
Poisoned mice will sometimes be found out in the open around your property, but most will die out of sight in their nest or burrows. All dead miced you find should immediately be double bagged and placed in a sealed rubbish bin. Leaving them around endangers pets, wildlife and birds of prey.
Never mind how dead the mouse appears, poke it with a stick to double check and preferably handle it using our Mini-Grabber to prevent contact with your skin. Mice carry many diseases and you should always wear gloves and wash thoroughly when you have been handling mouse traps or working in areas where mice may have been present.
