Hi everyone,

Long time lurker here...

I have my first inspection coming up next week. I was planning on spring-cleaning the house thoroughly this weekend anyway, but just seen a mouse scurry across my bedroom! :panic: Heard scratchings a few nights ago and dismissed it, I guess I should have acted on it. The house is pretty clean, I hoover the kitchen every day and everywhere else every 2 - 3 days, so feeling very grumpy about being infested.

Just send husband out to get emergency mouse catching supplies. I'm going to put them round upstairs but also in kitchen as that's the only place where food is in the house.

What will the inspector say if he/she sees a mousetrap in the kitchen???? :panic:

I would hide the trap while they are there! Its not something they can do a lot about, but might be best not to mention it. Mice can invade anywhere, its nothing to do with cleanliness, just unlucky I think.

This is just one of those things that happen. There is not a lot you can do to prevent it, but now that you have seen them, carry on doing what you can get get rid of them. I wouldn't mention it, you are doing what you can to rectify the situation, and as long as you can keep your food stuffs free from being nibbled then you should be ok. Make sure your worktops and chopping boards are wiped down with anti bac regularly. It really doesnt mean your house is particularly dirty, more likely, they have just found somewhere nice and warm out of this cold weather we have been having. Can't blame them really. aaaaahhhh:)

Set traps with chocolate i.e. a blob of choc spread or piece kit kat etc mice love chocolate, nearly as much as me:blush: that will get the blighters.

I cant remember how the subject came up, but my Ofsted inspector told me she freaked when one ran across her lounge :D

Its just something that happens, as long as you are doing your best to sort the problem and antibac your worktops before preparing food. I would hide the mousetrap and hope it doesnt make an appearance during your inspection

Peanut butter works well too - take it from one who knows :rolleyes: our mice seem to take the choc and run :laughing:

I live on a farm - part and parcel of living here. Saw a rat under my birdtable a few weeks ago - not in minding area - stealing the fallen nuts!

We trap the mice and our terrier is a great ratter :thumbsup:

Set traps with chocolate i.e. a blob of choc spread or piece kit kat etc mice love chocolate, nearly as much as me:blush: that will get the blighters.

We've had them before. They seem to come in when it snows. You might only find it's one rather than a colony (or whatever a whole load of mice are called).

I agree with Dragonfly, choccy in a trap is the best way. We tried "safer" poision and the bad stuff and it wasn't touched. Put choccy in a trap and caught the thing within an hour of going to bed that first night. So if you do that ASAP the problem will probably be no more, very quickly

When we had them they liked terrys chocolate orange :thumbsup:

The ones we had liked tuna-caught 7 of the little horrors!!!

Don't panic. This is not gong to instantly ruin your Ofsted inspection: it is an opportunity to show them how good you are at handling such circumstances.

The likelihood is that you've not doing anything wrong to attract them apart from having a warm, dry home. I've read that the average garden supports up to 20 of the littlechaps, and it's not surprising that they'd rather be indoors in January.

However, do make a thorough check that they've not found a food source. They can gnaw through food packets easily, or it might be a mindee has shoved a sandwich under the fridge or similar. Even the slightest little thing like a few breadcrumbs will serve them and so, once you have mice, you need to be meticulous about cleaning out all the shelves, etc. I've had them in my shed befoe, and they happily ate cardboard and garden waste sacks. Strange tastes.

The main hazard is that they're incontinent: they pee and poo even as they're running around. You can usually see where they've been by their little poos, which are shaped like rice grains, though smaller and brown. Eeeew:p At least this gives some indication of where to set traps if otherwise safe to do so.

As others have said, the main thing Ofsted will want to see is that you're doing something about it and not turning a blind eye (and the fact that you've raised the matter here shows you seriously want to deal with it.) They'll probably need to see that you're dealing with it in terms of safe food management, and that means you contacting your LA Environmental Health Officer - which is the best thing to do in any case. They will advise and may offer to help directly. In my borough, they will even send out a pest control specialist to make an assessment and set the safer sort of traps, so I wouldn't have to pay out for a private one. Don't worry - even top hotels and restaurants get mice and don't get closed down unless they do nothing and let it get out of control.

There's a whole section on pest control in the new FSA guidance Safer Food, Better Business: for Childminders. If you follow that, you won't go far wrong. EHO will want you to record it in your food management records: the diary section of Safer Food, Better Business: for Childminders is ideal for this. It will also be excellent documentary evidence to show Ofsted. :thumbsup:

Thanks everyone for the reassuring words :)

We caught one on saturday night, literally 2 mins after turning out our bedroom lights, the little snuffling noises started and he/she got caught! (Using the glue strips, I can't cope with traps, too scared of loosing a finger! Also MIL advised against poison, not sure if she was right, but in her experience the mice don't eat the poison but just redistribute it around the room!). No more since so hoping it was just the one. I did pull everything out from under our bed and it was quite unpleasant, lots of little poos in my shoes, and smell of wee.... Oh well, just have to go buy some new shoes now :)

I like bunyip's idea of putting it in the safer food folder, I haven't got much in there at the moment and it doesn't sound too bad to talk to the ofsted inspector about (compared to food poisoning or similar!). Hoping she'll be snowed off today, giving me a chance to get it done tonight. Otherwise, house is spotless, snow-themed activities planned, paperwork all ready... fingers crossed it will go ok.

I had mice in my old flat and got a nice man from clean kill out. He explained that the poision he put down was not strong enough to harm Los. It was in a box that locked. I put it all I'm my safer food book. Then EHO came in to inspect and she said what I was doing was good. They were placed whet no kids could get them. Put it in ra so all ok. I hate the noisd they make as they sound like a herd of eliphants. Aldo Dettol spray everywhere before anything as they climb like crazy.

Try the friendly mouse traps. They are brilliant. We got rid of the 4 our cats brought in in less than 24 hours, but make sure they are put a long way from your house or they will come back!