Worrying noises coming from the loft...rodents!

[Cousin Jack]

Poison is the answer for mice. They are greedy buggers and readily eat it, and IME die quietly and cause no problems. Small and they desicate rather than decay.

Rats are a bigger problem, they are cautious about new food sources, and they can smell while they rot.

[Supermofo]

Poison is the answer for mice. They are greedy buggers and readily eat it, and IME die quietly and cause no problems. Small and they desicate rather than decay.

Rats are a bigger problem, they are cautious about new food sources, and they can smell while they rot.

I was a bit worried as caught a field mouse (what I have in the loft) in my garage tale end of summer and the smell was although was summer rather than winter.

Might try it though as they are fucking me off

[Count Steer]

I've used poison and traps for mice at one time or another in the loft. They both worked and never had a problem with smells. (Humane traps are a no-no for me because it's a pain getting up there to check them).

Quite often I'd find them dead inside the bait boxes. Which blocks the next critter from the bait, harrumph.

As for noise, if they gather a stash of acorns and burrow under the insulation then gnaw at them on the ceiling it sounds like they're using angle grinders.

I've also thought I'd heard them and found it was jackdaws on the roof looking for edibles under the mossy bit. (Trees + shade + damp weather = moss ).

[Sadlonelygit]

As long as it's not pine martens, you're all fine!

[Taipan]

There will always be lots of them. Use Ruby Grain poison and keep putting it down until they stop taking it.

[Sunny]

There will always be lots of them. Use Ruby Grain poison and keep putting it down until they stop taking it.

We had a ton of meeces in the kitchen loft recently and resorted to poison instead of our usual traps approach.

They got through two full Chinese takeaway tubs of the stuff in 24 hours - checked with a pest control mate who said not to put any more out as they'll have been taking it somewhere else to stash.

He also said they can take 3-10 days to cart it, so not to put any more out till after that time. Oh and one litter(is it a litter?) can be up to 14 or something like that, hence the quantities you can get.

[Supermofo]

There will always be lots of them. Use Ruby Grain poison and keep putting it down until they stop taking it.

I've got the blocks at the moment but can grab some grain if needs be. Not put it out yet as stuff on tonight but there's 10 traps in the loft so not like I'm letting em off. Found a long arsed wooden pole in the garage which I'm gonna gorilla tape the bait box to and push over where they are.
My loft will soon resemble the Atlantik Wall!

[Supermofo]

There will always be lots of them. Use Ruby Grain poison and keep putting it down until they stop taking it.

We had a ton of meeces in the kitchen loft recently and resorted to poison instead of our usual traps approach.

They got through two full Chinese takeaway tubs of the stuff in 24 hours - checked with a pest control mate who said not to put any more out as they'll have been taking it somewhere else to stash.

He also said they can take 3-10 days to cart it, so not to put any more out till after that time. Oh and one litter(is it a litter?) can be up to 14 or something like that, hence the quantities you can get.

Did it work in the end? Any smell?

[Sunny]

There will always be lots of them. Use Ruby Grain poison and keep putting it down until they stop taking it.

We had a ton of meeces in the kitchen loft recently and resorted to poison instead of our usual traps approach.

They got through two full Chinese takeaway tubs of the stuff in 24 hours - checked with a pest control mate who said not to put any more out as they'll have been taking it somewhere else to stash.

He also said they can take 3-10 days to cart it, so not to put any more out till after that time. Oh and one litter(is it a litter?) can be up to 14 or something like that, hence the quantities you can get.

Did it work in the end? Any smell?

It did. Zero smell.

We did have few sleepy flies appear, but they gathered on the window so very easy to get shot of them.

Oh, and I found one poor mouse lying near the back door, clearly on its last legs but not totally gone, so I bricked it to put it out of its misery.

[Taipan]

There will always be lots of them. Use Ruby Grain poison and keep putting it down until they stop taking it.

We had a ton of meeces in the kitchen loft recently and resorted to poison instead of our usual traps approach.

They got through two full Chinese takeaway tubs of the stuff in 24 hours - checked with a pest control mate who said not to put any more out as they'll have been taking it somewhere else to stash.

He also said they can take 3-10 days to cart it, so not to put any more out till after that time. Oh and one litter(is it a litter?) can be up to 14 or something like that, hence the quantities you can get.

They do indeed stash it. When we had mice they were coming in for the dogs dry food. We only found this out when we moved the washing machine and found a dog food mountain behind it! We stopped leaving that down overnight and left the ruby grain in a saucer under the cupboards. Took ages before the dish had the same amount in it we'd left down and we left it there for about a week more to be sure.

We did try the blocks and whilst they got nibbled they seemed to mainly ignore them, where as the ruby grain was scoffed every night.

[Supermofo]

I have the blocks so will put them up there tonight, I'm ordering some grain today and will stick that up there when it arrives. The little bastards sounded like a Slipknot concert at 5.05 this morning right above where my bedroom window is.

[Supermofo]

Ordered a kg of wheat poison in 100g bags. Will stick some in a tray and lob a couple where I can't get to.

[Treadeager]

Ordered a kg of wheat poison in 100g bags. Will stick some in a tray and lob a couple where I can't get to.

Try to avoid poisoned vermin ending up where owls ( and other animals ) can't eat them . British raptors are continuing to suffer from increased " agricultural" rodenticides .

[Supermofo]

I'll do my best. If the snap traps were working I'd not be using poison at all as don't like doing it. But they seem to be sticking mainly to the edges of the loft where i can't reach. But 3rd night in a row they've woken me in the early hours. Gonna use ear plugs tonight. 10 bloody traps up there!!! And 3 mice in near 2 weeks.

This is tonight's effort. My makeshift board of death, made from an offcut of MDF from daughters units with 1 bait box and 2 snap traps gaffer taped to the end and pushed as far as I can get it above my window (wife knocking on ceiling to guide me).




To be honest I'm still not sure how much this will help. They could be in the facia boards more than the loft itself but that's all inaccessible with insulation. So just getting the traps as far towards them as I can. Was a pig getting over there on hands and knees sweating like a pig whilst cold enough to see my breath. Throat feels full of dust and horrible stuff

[Count Steer]

Ordered a kg of wheat poison in 100g bags. Will stick some in a tray and lob a couple where I can't get to.

Try to avoid poisoned vermin ending up where owls ( and other animals ) can't eat them . British raptors are continuing to suffer from increased " agricultural" rodenticides .

It's a good point. Judging by the carnage in my garage loft the first time I put poisoned grain down, soon after we moved in, mice tend not to get far (or bother moving far from a ready supply of food). It was like a mousey battlefield! (Previous occupants had cats but that didn't seem to be a deterrent).

Bigger stuff ie rats are a bit more of a problem - particularly when people poison them at stables and farms or, as often, by putting external bait boxes behind restaurants and supermarkets.

I saw a magpie pecking at something on my back lawn recently which turned out to be a dead rat (I put it in the bin) and I saw a very sick looking rat being stalked by a neighbours cat sometime ago (when there were stables and and a chicken coop nearby - but they've gone now).

[Sunny]

Try to avoid poisoned vermin ending up where owls ( and other animals ) can't eat them . British raptors are continuing to suffer from increased " agricultural" rodenticides .

That's the main reason we don't usually use poison That and it's a shitty death.

[MrLongbeard]

We use bog basic little nipper mouse traps, 6 of them around the loft hatch, you don;t have to get the traps to them, if you get the bait right they'll come to the traps.

The mice I caught at the local scout hut will form a queue to get to peanut butter, the buggers at home only seem to go for whole nuts

[Supermofo]

Been using peanut butter and its worked for 3, but wonder with it being so cold if the peanut butter isn't smelling as strong as normal

[Count Steer]

Been using peanut butter and its worked for 3, but wonder with it being so cold if the peanut butter isn't smelling as strong as normal

I heard cubes of malt loaf work pretty well if you want to offer an options menu.

I got some with chunks of chocolate orange buttons (M&S do/did king sized ones that I snapped into pieces).

[Supermofo]

Whatever is up there is sticking mainly to the facia board above my window. Little shit is even ignoring if I bang on the ceiling now, min ago was making a right racket chewing/pulling something.
Now have 10 traps, bait box and a tray of wheat poison I put up there Saturday morning. It making so much noise I've gone into the loft just to shut the fucker up. Nothings been touched of the bait/poison
Also noticed last night there was noise by the water tank and maybe 10 secs or less into the facia board. So about half the house distance, could a mouse run that fast, presumably over the insulation as under it'd have to force it's way through and over joists. I'd suspect a squirrel if the noise isn't mainly this time of night and early hours.

Anyway. What's the best way of accessing the facia boards? Crawl on my belly and pull the insulation away so I can maybe see what mess/droppings it is. Or can you access via a ladder? Neither sounds great, but really hate heights as well.