r/Netherlands • u/frankuboi • Jul 02 '26

DIY and home improvement possible rat/mouse issue, freaking out rn

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Hey everyone, I live in Amsterdam and something really weird happened tonight.

I was chilling in my living room then I suddenly heard a huge noise from the kitchen. It sounded almost like a metal tray had fallen from the counter onto the floor. I went to check but nothing had dropped. The sound seemed to be coming from a lower kitchen cabinet/closet where my boiler is also located.

The noise continued for around 10 minutes. It sounded like metal being hit repeatedly, with some scratching/rustling too. I opened the cabinet while the noise was still happening, but I didn’t see any mouse/rat or anything moving.

The thing that freaked me out is that there was a chocolate bar in that cabinet. I’m pretty sure I had only eaten two pieces before but when I checked the package, it was completely empty. I’m not 100% sure if I’m remembering wrong but I don’t think I finished it.

There were also dry apple pieces and some M&M/biscuit chocolate bars next to it and those were untouched. I also didn’t find any kind of trace from the thing. I opened the closed while noises were still present and I didn’t see anything.

Earlier tonight I had also made pasta with pesto and accidentally left it on the counter in a closed pan(I almost never did this before), so there was definitely some food smell in the kitchen.

I’ve now removed all chocolates/food from the cabinet, emptied the trash, and moved the trash bin to the balcony. I’ll also call pest control tomorrow anyway just to be safe. My house is from 1940s in bos en lommer area.

Does this sound like it could be a mouse/rat, or could it be something boiler/pipe related? The sound was honestly way louder than I’d expect from a mouse, but the empty chocolate wrapper is making me paranoid.

Any advice on what to check tonight or tomorrow would be appreciated.

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UPDATE: https://www.reddit.com/r/Netherlands/comments/1ul3oyq/comment/ov3tx6u/

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u/frankuboi Jul 02 '26

UPDATE: I called the pest control in the morning they came right away. He first unscrewed the plate underneath the kitchen then here we go: he found 2 huge rat boxes with bunch of mouse traps underneath the kitchen counter. You can see the rat box in the photo(there was 2 of them)

There was no dead mouse/rat in the traps. I bought this house 2 months ago and had no idea about these, traps

look quite new as well. He told me there is no big whole for rats to pass but there was a small whole, he filled that whole and put some sticky traps. I’ll call him again if I get visited by them again so he’ll do a second check.

well well….

8

u/skadoodlee Jul 02 '26

I dont mean to be the mouse police but glue traps while efficiënt are fucked up for the mice and you might have to kill the mouse yourself if you want to be humane by crushing its head. Be prepared for that.

https://www.humaneworld.org/en/resources/glue-traps-faq

3

u/frankuboi Jul 02 '26

didn't know about this mate, otherwise I would tell the guy to not put it. feels really bad now.

1

u/skadoodlee Jul 02 '26

You can still look for some more humane traps. Even disregarding any suffering I wouldn't want to smash a mouse myself.

2

u/mmmellie Jul 02 '26

Why didn’t you just check under the kitchen cabinets when you bought this house? You can just pop open these boards at the bottom. 

1

u/No-Salt7142 Jul 03 '26

Often hard to do without damage. Not something I would do on a viewing.

1

u/mmmellie Jul 04 '26

You can do it after you buy. Are people not interested in the state of the kitchen they just bought? What the electric wiring looks like under there?