Do you know what's living in my loft (merged threads)

Bossyboots

economiser wrote:

Either mousetraps (the humane ones we tried never caught anything - what make was yours Bossyboots? I'd like to give it a try) or earplugs.

My OH built our trap himself. It was a box with three wooden sides. The top was perspex and the front was a glass plate that could be raised up. It was quite long, so the mice had to go a long way in to get the food at the other end. Other traps I have seen don't make the mice go in far enough so they can nip out again. There was a sensor and when they went past a certain point the glass door dropped and they couldn't get back out. There were holes in the perspex so they had air and a little bed of newspaper for comfort during the night. We knew each time a mouse had been caught as we heard the glass door thump down.

We let them go over the local field which we subsequently found out was probably cruel as that was not their native area but I couldn't have killed them and neither could we risk them dying under the floorboards in the loft.

becky004

Had exactly the same problem in March, scrabbling starting late at night. Was the biggest RAT you ever did see!!!!!!!!!!

conradmum

Thanks for all the replies so far. I'm rather sad to hear that it can't be bats because they'd be hibernating. Bats were the top of the preference list. If it's rats or mice, how could they have got up there? (We're in a detached house.) And why is there no sign of them elsewhere in the house? And what are they living off? I think I'll put my wildlife unfriendly cat up there and see what she turns up.

tomstickland

Rats can climb up gutters/drain pipes and then into the eaves.

Badgers, its Badgers I'll tell thee.

https://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com

russ_c

we had a rat in our loft apprently they can also climb up the walls though the cavity wall insulation. I used poison, no way was i trying to catch it in a trap

crankup

Sounds like a mouse. They can get in the smallest of cracks etc to find somewhere warm. If you go in the attic I doubt if you will spot it though.

Grab a wooden "Little Nipper" mousetrap from your mongers (about a £1 each) and set it with a peanut secured to it. Set it at right-angle to a main rafter or wall, mice like to run along with their bums rubbing against something!

I bet its more than 1! If you catch one, reset the trap and buy a bag of them and set em all over the attic.

Try and work out how they are getting in too, before the party starts!


I'd avoid poison - who knows where they will go to die?

owey

russ_c wrote:

we had a rat in our loft apprently they can also climb up the walls though the cavity wall insulation. I used poison, no way was i trying to catch it in a trap

The only problem with poison is when the rat dies if you cann't get at it, what a smell _pale_

flossy_splodge

You are a horrid lot with your scare stories! Mice are vermin and a health hazard so I personally have no problem killing them. Our local council offer an excellent FREE service and even do follow up visits to check for signs of the bait having been nibbled so they know if they are on the right track (so to speak!). If its anything else they will tell you. Beware if it's squirrels - have a friend has just had a quote from her council to evict them for £150!! Good luck. BTW I have used humane traps inside the house in the past and was successful but in the loft you need to be careful things don't get out of control and you get overrun. Seriuosly.x

Dora_the_Explorer_5

Some councils charge private householders for removal of vermin. I would still recommend going up there and having a look around - mice weigh only a few grams and if you have loft insulation and you can hear sounds it may be either a horde of them or something heavier.
If it is mice I've learned the hard way the old fashioned mousetraps work best and the most successful bait is Cadbury's fruit and nut. Humane traps work but the mice will not survive if you release them some distance away from their 'territory', so they're only humane in that you don't see them dead!

Bossyboots

Dora_the_Explorer wrote:

Humane traps work but the mice will not survive if you release them some distance away from their 'territory', so they're only humane in that you don't see them dead!

Unfortunately we didn't know this at the time we had mice and thought we were doing the right thing. It seemed silly to release them back into our garden, just for them to get back in the loft. Even though they are vermin I don't think I could just kill them outright though.