Mice or rat in attic

tom_tarbucket

Herself makes out she definitely heard some thing running in attic earlier. She is absolutely petrified of mice, I mean contemplating moving to a hotel petrified scenario. I had a listen for about 15 minutes but could not hear anything.

Read up on some threads here but some are years old.

I know poison is not a good idea as they go off somewhere to die and all this.

In the year 2020, what is best bait?
Any particular types traps I should use? I only know of the old school wooden ones from YEARS ago.

Or any other general hints and tips.

tom_tarbucket

Could I use Nutella as bait?

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Start with a trap anyway, that will confirm if you’ve got visitors or not. You should be able to notice droppings.

august12

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Could I use Nutella as bait?

Plastic traps readily available, put little pieces of fat or some butter , needs to be stuck on near trap centre, do not put down poison, the thoughts of a dead mouse somewhere in house might send her over the edge.

MAJJ

Ensure your water tank is covered securely

Calhoun

Most DIY stores will have reusable plastic traps that are quite decent.

Mice travel along walls ECT so out them close to them and they will default travel over them.

tom_tarbucket

Herself has actually gone off and bought the old school wooden traps.
And we have spread Nutella on them. Is Nutella ok?

I’ve read I should fasten down the trap? Or is this overkill?

tom_tarbucket

MAJJ wrote: »

Ensure your water tank is covered securely

If they do get in, will they last in there or just die cause they can’t get out ?

Effects

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

If they do get in, will they last in there or just die cause they can’t get out ?

Possibly drown

km79

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Herself makes out she definitely heard some thing running in attic earlier. She is absolutely petrified of mice, I mean contemplating moving to a hotel petrified scenario. I had a listen for about 15 minutes but could not hear anything.

Read up on some threads here but some are years old.

I know poison is not a good idea as they go off somewhere to die and all this.

In the year 2020, what is best bait?
Any particular types traps I should use? I only know of the old school wooden ones from YEARS ago.

Or any other general hints and tips.

They are nocturnal so unlikely to be active at noon ?
Are you sure it wasn’t birds on the roof

tom_tarbucket

km79 wrote: »

They are nocturnal so unlikely to be active at noon ?
Are you sure it wasn’t birds on the roof

Heard the noise just now meself. Near to attic door. Definitely was not on roof. Kinda like scratching. Sounded relatively loud.

chuck eastwood

DO NOT use poison indoors. The scrotes will end up dead under a floorboards stinking the house out for weeks. We get mice in the attic every year for the last 15 years. Peanut butter and bread mixed on a cheap 80c wooden trap. Works every time...but get rid of the wife for a week in a hotel first. You and the rest can watch some box sets on netflix

vicwatson

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Could I use Nutella as bait?

Yes, they love it

You need to check the entry point and sort that

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

If they do get in, will they last in there or just die cause they can’t get out ?

Drown but in the meantime contaminate your water with pish, then their decomposing corpses.

tom_tarbucket

km79 wrote: »

They are nocturnal so unlikely to be active at noon ?
Are you sure it wasn’t birds on the roof

Active all day more a less.

What could possibly be active during day?

Calhoun

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Active all day more a less.

What could possibly be active during day?

While they are nocturnal you can still here them during the day.

august12

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Active all day more a less.

What could possibly be active during day?

Is it very loud or just slight scratching sound, if very loud, then it's the bigger critters I would think, they freak me out.

tom_tarbucket

august12 wrote: »

Is it very loud or just slight scratching sound, if very loud, then it's the bigger critters I would think, they freak me out.

Well I’ve read that a mouse in an attic can sound like an elephant or seem to sound like an elephant. Seems loud enough alright.

Was up there now, no droppings of any sort. The tank actually has a specially made cover for it. Set 3 traps.

riclad

the best bait is peanut butter, a small dab of it.buy snap traps,
theres shops in talbot street, 4 snaptraps in a pack, 6 euro .
the traps are plastic ,black in color, 2 inch x 3 inch long approx.
do not waste time using wooden traps ,they do not work.
mice can go through a half inch hole in a wall,
look in the attic , try and see where they are coming in.
there must be a gap in the roof, wall,s .doors .
tuse disposable plastic gloves to handle the traps .
mice or rats carry infections,
use gloves once and throw them in the bin.
buy gloves in a chemist or a hardware store

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012RGM7BO/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B012RGM7BO&pd_rd_w=TsMgR&pf_rd_p=45a72588-80f7-4414-9851-786f6c16d42b&pd_rd_wg=Gg5CE&pf_rd_r=KAQY1J7SR66WGH767SN3&pd_rd_r=fb80ff41-ece1-4e67-92cc-8fb7be0bad0b&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzRjI3TDdUSVdFQ05LJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzQ2MjQ0M1QyOVZPWDk3VFJIJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA5MDIyNTJKRVMzS0E3TkQ2STgmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWwmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

they look similar to this

Stigura

Hand out of commission. Hard to type. Mars Bar.

tom_tarbucket

Herself did not really sleep last night and we have been awake since 6am with kids.

We have not heard a thing since yesterday at about 4pm. Herself is tuned in and listening intently too.

Any thoughts on this?

Max Moment

Put some traps in your hot press too. Against the walls as has been said already. They like the heat.

Plastic traps are yer only man. Wooden ones are a waste of time IMO.

Effects

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Herself did not really sleep last night and we have been awake since 6am with kids.

We have not heard a thing since yesterday at about 4pm. Herself is tuned in and listening intently too.

Any thoughts on this?

Probably just heard a bird so. Maybe she needs some sleeping pills for a while.

tom_tarbucket

Effects wrote: »

Probably just heard a bird so. Maybe she needs some sleeping pills for a while.

Would a bird scamper around. When I did hear it, it sounded like a scamper and kinda scratching.

TheEyeonyrBack

I had the same issue last year and also found a dead mice in a tray behind my fridge. I live in the city and am sure that my house is clean enough to prevent a pest invasion. After that episode, I still kept hearing scratching on the ceiling, so I purchased a pest control device. It took a month or so but eventually no more scratches whatsoever. Opinions are contrasting about such devices but it worked for me and for my parents as they had a worse problem in their garage.

tom_tarbucket

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Would a bird scamper around. When I did hear it, it sounded like a scamper and kinda scratching.

Sorry to ask this again but would a bird do a scamper or scurry movement. And scratching ?

newbie2

Almost definitely a rodent of some sort. The weather is colder now so they have come indoors. Very common - although unpleasant. As stated earlier, peanut butter is great, but I'd recommend getting good quality traps. We purchased some sh!t ones and the feckers just licked the peanut butter off the trigger.

At this stage, there's more than likely a number in your attic/wall spaces. Set some easy to access traps . You'll need to check every day for about a week. When you stop catching the buggers, they'll be out.

Then get a cat

riclad

A mouse can get through a hole of 0.5 inch,
its not a bird, if you hear one or 2 mice, in a few days there,ll be 7 more there .
i find the cheap small snap traps, work fine. put traps in the corner, go up in the attic,
wear disposable gloves .
if your attic is insulated you may only hear a noise now and again.
attics have vertical slot holes for ventilation,
mice can run up through them,
if house is old there,ll be horizontal slots in the wall,s
,mice can use them like cars use a roadway.
to travel from room to room,

riclad

put down traps 5-7 traps, check em in the morning, evening, after 11pm.

read this
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/house-and-home/household-advice/a672418/how-to-get-rid-of-mice/

mad m

Without fail melt a piece of Cadbury’s chocolate on trap, it goes hard and the mice will have to gnaw it off. Just Incase it’s a rat put a screw in trap and tie piece of string to it and secure string to another screw. Don’t want the rat getting away if it gets caught in mouse trap.

Oh the hot press is like the M50 to them. Make sure pipes are sealed top & bottom

greasepalm

:eek::eek:

riclad

Snap traps will go off and kill the rat, 99 per cent of the time,
the activate in 1 -2 seconds.
if you buy the right type of trap.

mobby

mad m wrote: »

Without fail melt a piece of Cadbury’s chocolate on trap, it goes hard and the mice will have to gnaw it off. Just Incase it’s a rat put a screw in trap and tie piece of string to it and secure string to another screw. Don’t want the rat getting away if it gets caught in mouse trap.

Oh the hot press is like the M50 to them. Make sure pipes are sealed top & bottom

Got 8 mice in the attic just before christmas using the plastic traps and ferro roche chocolate. I have no idea how they got in, had a lad from rentokil in as i thought I had a rat. waste of money as i caught them all myself with the chocolate. I advise you screw down the traps.

greasepalm

We had rats in the garage years ago and my mate got some bait and it had a hole in the centre for tying a coat hanger around them and securing it.They had a good feed on 4 baits and not seen again .Entrance and exit was 3 feet away under a worn sliding door.

Effects

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Would a bird scamper around. When I did hear it, it sounded like a scamper and kinda scratching.

Yeah, they can hop about in the attic. It's happened to me before.

But no harm in being safe and getting traps. I caught a mouse last year in a trap that was there over 12 months.

Cleaning up after the fúckers is a pain in the ass.
They had chewed through a lot of cabling in my attic and all the downlights had to be replaced.

As mentioned, it's a good idea to screw or tie them down.
I caught a rat in a trap where I work, and it had snapped on his foot. Looks like he pulled it about 10 metres to where I found him, dead.

Also caught another rat, a long time ago, where the trap snapped and it ran away, leaving a blood trail to clean up!

tom_tarbucket

Thank you all for the help.
Have heard nothing since Saturday at 4pm.
Had a look at traps just there. No trap touched, as in no bait gone or even licked Etc, can’t see any droppings.
Attic is about 80% timber floor, only small bit of insulation. House less than 20 years old and no record of mice before.

Yellow_Fern

I find snapping traps not very effective. I got a electric trap for about 30 eur over Christmas and find it was very better and was also cleaner.

riclad

The small snaptraps work well. they are made of plastic.you place them in a corner,against the wall, or underneath a floorboard.
and they only cost 6-8 euro for a 4 pack.
put 4 or 5 in the attic .
they can be re used and cleaned ,.but wear plastic gloves when you handle them.

flanna01

You'd often wonder what the little blighters are at... Most attics have a menu consisting of fibre glass loft insulation, and a couple of boxes of Aunt Lou's Christmas prezzies...

Surely the pickings would be better downstairs, or out the back in insect Utopia..???

Why the attic?

Yellow_Fern

flanna01 wrote: »

You'd often wonder what the little blighters are at... Most attics have a menu consisting of fibre glass loft insulation, and a couple of boxes of Aunt Lou's Christmas prezzies...

Surely the pickings would be better downstairs, or out the back in insect Utopia..???

Why the attic?

Not just mice. I found a shrew in mine. I dont what a shrew is doing in an attic

Shefwedfan

We got a mouse a few weeks back, thought it was a rat so bought the big old fashion wooden one. Next day checked and little fecker had eaten the mars bar without setting off trap

Went and bought the wooden old fashion mouse trap and bang

I had the plastic ones before, came back to trap lying in middle of floor and little bloody foot prints all over kitchen, had half killed mouse and he was dragging the trap around...he got free and died somewhere in house, never found him again

Better Than Christ

TheEyeonyrBack wrote: »

After that episode, I still kept hearing scratching on the ceiling, so I purchased a pest control device. It took a month or so but eventually no more scratches whatsoever. Opinions are contrasting about such devices but it worked for me and for my parents as they had a worse problem in their garage.

The mouse probably took one look at it and laughed himself to death. I remember my mother bought one... and from that day on, she never saw another mouse again. She swore by it. Although she bought it on the same day that I blocked all the potential entry points with steel wool, so maybe that was what prevented them from returning.

I used to slag her about it all the time. I'd often plug it out for a minute and then pretend that all the mice were queuing at the door, ready to return.

Stigura

Shefwedfan wrote: »

We got a mouse a few weeks back, thought it was a rat so bought the big old fashion wooden one. Next day checked and little fecker had eaten the mars bar without setting off trap.

Used properly, the mars bar could have saved ye the trouble.

tom_tarbucket

Been off here for a few weeks. All was quiet, not a thing and then started again

We have verified it’s birds now. Building nests I presume , making an awful racket.

They are getting in via eaves and then up under roof etc. Hard to see as it’s a 2 storey so will get ladder today and have a closer look. What is the best way to deal with this? Seal where they get it, any ideas how?

I don’t think baby birds have arrived yet so want to get done before this.

also want to seal it when the birds are out as don’t want to lock them in either. Are there times during the day when birds are out etc?

Shefwedfan

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Been off here for a few weeks. All was quiet, not a thing and then started again

We have verified it’s birds now. Building nests I presume , making an awful racket.

They are getting in via eaves and then up under roof etc. Hard to see as it’s a 2 storey so will get ladder today and have a closer look. What is the best way to deal with this? Seal where they get it, any ideas how?

I don’t think baby birds have arrived yet so want to get done before this.

also want to seal it when the birds are out as don’t want to lock them in either. Are there times during the day when birds are out etc?

If they are nesting already I think it is illegal to moe them.



You will need to wait and then fix after

Paulzx

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Been off here for a few weeks. All was quiet, not a thing and then started again

We have verified it’s birds now. Building nests I presume , making an awful racket.

They are getting in via eaves and then up under roof etc. Hard to see as it’s a 2 storey so will get ladder today and have a closer look. What is the best way to deal with this? Seal where they get it, any ideas how?

I don’t think baby birds have arrived yet so want to get done before this.

also want to seal it when the birds are out as don’t want to lock them in either. Are there times during the day when birds are out etc?

Its normally starlings. If you think they're noisy now wait until the eggs hatch!:eek: The chicks will start crying for food from first light. Every time the adult comes back to the nest the scrum will start. Its like UFC:D

I had them above my bedroom a few years ago for a couple of summers. Didn't really bother me but eventually i sealed the hole in the ridge tile they were getting in after the nest emptied.

The final straw was when a magpie tried to get in the hole to get the chicks and during the mass panic some of the chicks ended up in the attic. Trying to recover the half dead chicks in the attic was a nuisance.

Just put up with it for this Spring and then seal up the hole

Shefwedfan

Paulzx wrote: »

Its normally starlings. If you think they're noisy now wait until the eggs hatch!:eek: The chicks will start crying for food from first light. Every time the adult comes back to the nest the scrum will start. Its like UFC:D

I had them above my bedroom a few years ago for a couple of summers. Didn't really bother me but eventually i sealed the hole in the ridge tile they were getting in after the nest emptied.

The final straw was when a magpie tried to get in the hole to get the chicks and during the mass panic some of the chicks ended up in the attic. Trying to recover the half dead chicks in the attic was a nuisance.

Just put up with it for this Spring and then seal up the hole

I have them, 4-5 places around the house. Tried to stop the f**kers but they always got back in. A guy was supposed to come out and never did


To be honest I dont mind them, hardly ever hear them. They are in beside the extractor fan in one bathroom so when kids are having bath they can hear the chicks and love them :P:P


Havent even bothered this year, I can see them already moving back into nests from last year. Not really that loud, in our bedroom, we have good insulation, can never hear them

The little mouse in attic was a hell of a lot louder

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Just found this is my uncles house. Possible that the bag came home from the grocery shop like that? He said he hadn’t heard any rodent activity, and I can’t see any other signs, but it doesn’t look good.

Shefwedfan

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy wrote: »

Just found this is my uncles house. Possible that the bag came home from the grocery shop like that? He said he hadn’t heard any rodent activity, and I can’t see any other signs, but it doesn’t look good.

It ain't a mouse :mad:


Looks like bits of the potato around it? so something was eating at it where the bag is?


But a google and suggestion is raw potato has something in it that is harmful to rats

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Shefwedfan wrote: »

It ain't a mouse :mad:


Looks like bits of the potato around it? so something was eating at it where the bag is?

Not necessarily. I moved a chair which knocked over the bag and it all rolled out.

There’s no other telltale signs anywhere, droppings etc. Surely there’d be SOMETHING else? I’m gonna bring home a UV light from work tomorrow to check for urine.

New Home

SelfBuildMeath wrote: »

U can get sticky traps

Those are illegal.