The NSW mouse plague has become increasingly evident on hardware store shelves, with outlets seeing a steep rise in demand for traps and baits in the region in recent months.
And one shop owner says that in the last month he has sold six times the number of timber mousetraps as he did last year.
While many are careful to point out that the Hunter Region has not been hit by the plague as badly as communities in the state's west, hardware store owners say they are having customers telling them of finding mice in bed, having dozens of rodents scatter when the lawn mower approaches and catching 50 to 60 of them per day.
Some who spoke to the Newcastle Herald yesterday say the number of mice around the region seems to have settled in the past week or so.
Michael Nelson, Singleton branch manager at Eaton's Mitre 10, said his records showed the sale of 83 timber mouse trap twin-packs last year - but his store sold 498 last month, alone.
He said baits were also in high demand and that the store had been getting "thousands of hits" on social media with people looking for anything to help them ward off the plague.
"It's just gone ridiculous," Mr Nelson said.
Meanwhile, Merriwa Timber and Hardware owner Ray McConnell has had a similar jump in demand for traps.
Mr McConnell said, for a particular type of trap his store stocks, he had sold 500 so far this year - up from 12 last year.
"A lot of people have been using buckets and catching 50 or 60 each day, easily," he said.
Rochelle Newton, who owns Garlic's Hardware at Muswellbrook, said she found 20 rodents in her office one day recently and her husband saw about 50 scatter from a patch of grass when he approached with a lawn mower at their home only a short walk from the shop.
"We were catching 10 to 20 a night," she said.
"Sales in mouse traps and mouse baits have gone through the roof, so much so that I can't get mouse baits from any of my suppliers.
"Every second person coming into the store would be looking for baits or traps."
Over at Denman, True Value Hardware owner Donna Ayre said her store had experienced a rise of 60 to 70 per cent in sales of mouse traps and baits in recent months.
She said there had been many stories from customers about the impact of the plague on people out of town - one customer telling her she had woken one night with a mouse sitting on her chest.
"I had a couple of people saying the mice were actually eating each other," Ms Ayre said.
