Tamworth mouse traps hard to find as 'plague' takes over town

The wet weather has brought with it what many store owners are calling a "plague" of mice, and residents are buying up big to rid their homes of the little critters.

The Leader spoke to staff at two stores in Tamworth and one in Kootingal, and all had seen a huge increase in customers purchasing traps and baits to try and curb the pests.

Rob Collins, of Collins Bros Machinery and Hardware, said sales for household traps and baits were by up about 200-300 per cent.

"Mouse baits you can still get depending on what you're doing and what you're prepared to spend but mouse traps are nigh on impossible," Mr Collins said.

"We've had customers ask for mouse traps every hour of every day. We mightn't have exactly what they want so we have to sell them something they mightn't be chasing."

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It's a similar story over at Furneys Stockfeeds.

Store manager Lucinda Hellyer said she had about $2500 worth of products arrive in store on Christmas Eve, and not a single trap is left from that shipment.

"We've put another order in but ... at the moment we're taking phone numbers and names and giving them a ring when [the traps] come in," Ms Hellyer said.

She said customers were particularly looking for baits that weren't harmful to pets.

"They're getting a bit scarce at the moment, so now they're just trying to get whatever they can," she said.

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Kootingal True Value Hardware owner/manager Paul Summers said his store has been flat-out too, but hasn't faced a shortage of the products just yet.

"If everybody has the same plague problem, it means supplies are a little bit low, but through Mitre 10 it's been pretty good," Mr Summers said.

"Spiders, particularly mice, and a lot of your insects are prevalent right now because of this beautiful weather.

"We just up our orders so if we normally get 20, we might get 50 or 100 so we can adapt a lot quicker."

Mr Summers told the Leader he'd had customers purchasing baits and traps every day, with about six to eight people on Wednesday morning alone.

"In every order there's mouse baits or traps," he said.