Rats/mice!

[jackie03]

How can I completely and permanently get rid of mice/rats? I don't know if they are rats or mice or a mixture. I think they are mice. I had tried rat food poison and mice food poison. They don't seem to have worked, or they worked temporarily. I even think I heard them running around and screeching in the loft!, or maybe its my imagination. I don't know how many either. We have a baby/toddler, and we keep the house clean. We don't know where they come in from.Pls help...

[woofgang]

Okay Jackie this is really upsetting isn't it. We had a rat or two in our garage and it was really stressful getting it sorted. Rats and mice need things to be able to survive and the way you deal with them is to get rid of those things. So ensure that they have no shelter by clearing out of your attic anywhere where they can hide and make nests...cardboard boxes, old curtains etc. Empty it as far as you can. Now stop up any access to the loft...holes round your eaves, floorboard gaps etc. Now consider food. I don't expect that you store food in the loft, but rats I know will get nourishment (or try to) from some types of plastic. Clear out anything that they could eat or that has been chewed. Keep your dustbins as far away from the house as you can and don't leave rubbish about just in a bin bag, put it in the dustbin or wheely bin and secure the lid down. Rats prefer dark corners and will run around the edges of a space, so keep the attic as airy and spacious as you can If you have a light up there, leave it on all the time for 2 or three days. We have also found the sonic rat and mouse repellers work, but only if there is no other incentive for them to stay. Finally put the poison down again if you wish. I don't think that you actually did hear then screeching in the loft but you may have heard them running around. In yellow pages there are pest control firms, but I have to say that when we got them out, he only gave the same advice as I have and put some poison down.

[Drewhound]

If they are rats you may be surprised how much poison it needs to get rid of them. If you put the heaps of poison down carefully you can see when they've fed from them and know which ones to top up. It will kill them in the end Mice are much the same but can take even longer to kill, the poison goes through their bodies very quickly. It's not a hygiene problem or a sign of a dirty house but woofgangs suggestion of cleaning up any rubbish, boxes, papers etc is worth doing

[FP]

Woofgang, They definitely DO screech in our loft! It's a horrible noise. They also jump and when they land they sound like elephants. We live in a very rural area in a very old house with uneven outside stone walls and the rats climb them and get into the loft, ugh! Unfortunately we have a field with a dyke behind our house and rats breed readily in the dyke. My partner has been known to sit in the loft with an airrifle at 2.00 in the morning. The worse thing of all is if they are poisoned their blood goes very thin and they search out somewhere warm, like beside a hot water pipe. They often die there and the stench from the rotting corpse of a rat is the worse smell in the world - indescribable. Unfortunately, it is often impossible to get to them in the areas where they die and the smell lingers on for weeks and weeks. Joys of living in the countryside!

[FP]

Sorry, I meant to say that your advice was good Woofgang regarding loft storage, dustbins, etc. I also agree that mice and rats in the loft are not a sign of a dirty house. We don't use our loft for storage at all because of the rodent problem. The rats also get between the tiles and the roofing felt and hunt the birds out whilst they are roosting.

[ridiwizzi]

Hi, The little devils don't just stay in the countryside!!I live in a large busy town and although we got rid of them for the summer by humane-trapping and sonic repellents (not enough on their own and I've got 2), hang me if they aren't back again now the weather's turned colder! I think that I may have to be much meaner this time... but the idea of rotting corpses make me hesitate... I may continue with humane-trapping and release - (but this time further away from my house)and block all gaps. If you want humane traps they sell them at Homebase - you should bait them with something like peanut butter (VERY successful) or even chocolate - yeah, mice like this stuff too. Then release them about half a mile from your house... you may have to do this a lot but at least they won't rot in your house...Also I think that the answer I saw at ivillage was good- http://www.ivillage.com/home/experts/handy/qas/0,,167098_226 783,00.html (copy and paste this link) - apparently it's because they can get IN in the first place - and they can get in through a hole the size of your little finger....

[ridiwizzi]

Just saw this electrocution gizmo for mice - http://www.martleyelectronics.co.uk/pestcontrol-rodent.html# zapper

[AndrewNicola]

OK, you have two options really....do the clearing up thing then go to the market and find sticky back sheets (usually cardboard backed)...and place them along all the runways fof the mice. Once they run over the cardboard, they stick to it and slowly die (USUALLY YOU HAVE TO FINISH THEM OFF YOURSELF!) Alternatively. if you have cash to splash then get your place totally fumigated and then ensure there are no external access points for the little blighters.

[AndrewNicola]

OK, you have two options really....do the clearing up thing then go to the market and find sticky back sheets (usually cardboard backed)...and place them along all the runways fof the mice. Once they run over the cardboard, they stick to it and slowly die (USUALLY YOU HAVE TO FINISH THEM OFF YOURSELF!) Alternatively. if you have cash to splash then get your place totally fumigated and then ensure there are no external access points for the little blighters.

[AndrewNicola]

OK, you have two options really....do the clearing up thing then go to the market and find sticky back sheets (usually cardboard backed)...and place them along all the runways fof the mice. Once they run over the cardboard, they stick to it and slowly die (USUALLY YOU HAVE TO FINISH THEM OFF YOURSELF!) Alternatively. if you have cash to splash then get your place totally fumigated and then ensure there are no external access points for the little blighters.

[Newt]

Hi Jackie, You've already gotten some great advice about getting rid of the mice and rats and I agree that keeping them out is the best way. You will have to plug every possible entrance. There is something else that I want to address and that is the damage that they can do. They will eat just about anything, including the covering on wires. Once you have gotten rid of them, have every inch of electric wire in the space inspected. We have neighbors that had squirrels and mice in their attic, and 2 years after the critters were removed, the house caught on fire. Inspection showed that the wires had been chewed by the critters. The fire started in the middle of the night and it was the smoke detectors that saved their lives! Please have a thorough inspection done after you get rid of them and make sure you have a smoke detector in EVERY room just below the attic space. Change batteries every year. I change mine at Christmas time. That way I remember to do it. Good luck, Newt

[jackie03]

Thank you all. You have given such wonderful advice. Now I set to work. Also checking the links above as well. Thanks everyone for your help.

[Upforit]

Get a cat.

[paul282]

I appear to have either mice or rats scurrying between the roofing felt and roof tiles as I heard somethig moving along whilst I was in the loft this afternoon investigating signs of mice above the bedroom ceiling.  How can one get rid of them between the roof tiles and felting area or is it a question that if they are there they are almost certainly in the loft generally.

Unfortunately I have a lot of stuff including old boxes in the loft arising from 17 years of living in my place.  I did have some mice activity when I first moved in but after placing some bait down the activity seemed to cease.  I have currently put down some more bait but am thinking perhaps of a trap may be better to avoid any problem with smell.

As regards pest controls that use ultrasound or the like do they kill the pests on the spot or do they make the area less hospitable to live in and therefore they go elsewhere?

 

 

[Mee]

Using the ultrasound has been very effective as my flat has been clear of mice since June.  They returned last week (probably the change in the weather) but there are not as many of them as previously and they do tend to stay as far as possible from the ultrasound so they do work.  Regarding poison, having used it before and although effective one rather large mouse decided to die behind the fridge and was extremely smelly.  So on the whole I would prefer to use the ultrasound as they don't die they just stay away.

[shopar]

hi, I have the same problem, sorry to cut in your topic :) but just wantted some advise too. I dont have any rat problem (in the house) but between the ceiling plaster board & roof of my living room, bathroom & kitchen, this is a basement flat, i believe non of those rats that makes scratchings all night long , could find any other hole to get in to my flat. but i need to get rid of the sound, how can any one get reach their hands to set a trap or ultrasound device from the only possible way which are the spot light holes?

http://img238.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ceilings2mo.jpg

[shopar]

i have the same problem and can not figure out how can any one reach through between my livingroom and bathroom plaster board ceiling & roof. there are only spot lights holes, and I dont have mice problem in the house, only the sounds of them coming strongly from that ceiling. i once thought to get ultrasound stuff and set them paralel connected to spotlights electricty system, but it is still diffucult to get through there, here is the photos of my ceiling, any idea? thanks.

http://img238.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ceilings2mo.jpg

[Marktheharp]

I have an attic with not much stuff in it and its a very cramped space with a small access door. Rats or mice have been running around up there. I soak 4 or 5 cotton wool balls in peppermint oil (get it from a pharmacy) and distribute them around the attic by flicking them from where I can get access, and repeating that every few days for two weeks eems to keep them away. Apparently they don't like the smell of peppermint.