Getting rid of rats/mice (merged threads)

Greenbowl

How do you post a picture? I'm pretty sure it's rat droppings :-(

suiko

hi all

Another rodent saga... just found a half-eaten tangerine... surely that's a lot for one tiny mouse?

Nothing else nibbled, as far as I can see, despite the fact that there are loads of open food packages in the cupboard.

Anyway, I was wondering which is better as regards humane traps - the trip-trap plastic one, or the multicatch metal one (both made by Proctor)? Any views?

Thanks

pimento

So, my mouse has been getting fat eating the cat food. When I finally realised he was there there was a mass of droppings under the fridge. The mouse was so fat that when he made a run (more of a waddle, really) for it by the time he got to the back door he was out of breath!

How to make sure he doesn't come back and move in when I have to put cat food out?

And yes, I have had a word with my two cats.

afooksy

I live with my boyfriend at his mum& dads house and for the first time in the 25 years they have lived in their house they have mice.


We have caught six so far - the first one I caught and set-free but all others have been caught by trap. We have set poison down but have dogs so have to be so careful.


We also have one of the plug-in things. I feel sick with guilt. I found one this morning with just its arm trapped, very much alive just staring at me. Its happened twice over the weekend where the trap didn't kill it how it supposed to and my Bfs Dad had to come and put it out of its misery. I just feel awful. I read about humane traps but then discovered that releasing them miles away is just as bad.


Does anyone else feel guilty?
I just hate the thought of an animal being in pain!! I do understand they are vermin etc but god its still so awful.

Spudsey

afooksy wrote: »

I live with my boyfriend at his mum& dads house and for the first time in the 25 years they have lived in their house they have mice.


We have caught six so far - the first one I caught and set-free but all others have been caught by trap. We have set poison down but have dogs so have to be so careful.


We also have one of the plug-in things. I feel sick with guilt. I found one this morning with just its arm trapped, very much alive just staring at me. Its happened twice over the weekend where the trap didn't kill it how it supposed to and my Bfs Dad had to come and put it out of its misery. I just feel awful. I read about humane traps but then discovered that releasing them miles away is just as bad.


Does anyone else feel guilty?
I just hate the thought of an animal being in pain!! I do understand they are vermin etc but god its still so awful.

Yes me! We have them in our garage. They are causing a huge amount of destruction but because I haven't been seeing them I have just put them out of my mind. Lately I have gone in the garage and found them in my hay (I have rabbits) and also the potato bag (we have an allotment and store potatoes in hessian bags in the garage). Basically they are doing all right out there given that a crumb can keep them going!


I read about different traps etc and decided to let one of my cats in the garage to hopefully scare them off. He came out with one of them in his mouth at the weekend and I felt awful. I had a grand plan of chaperoning them all out of the water butt which is where they were living (wood in butt not water), but it seems they are everywhere at the moment!

keith969

So looked out of the window yesterday and there was a rat on the bird peanut feeder and another in the bush next to it - seems they can climb rather well!

I've got the pest control man coming on Wednesday but I'm a bit worried they might have a nest in the roof. The reason being that in the small hours I've heard some scrabbling/scampering noise coming from above the upstairs ceiling. Now the house was originally a bungalow, and the loft was converted into bedrooms with dormer windows; there is no access at all to the space between the ceiling and the roof from inside. Anyone had this problem and if so what did you do?

shaun_from_Africa

There is a good chance that what you are hearing is mice and not rats. Both of the bungalows that I've live in had this problem.


Tell the pest control man (or woman) of your concerns and see what they suggest.
They may well have to take up a section of the flooring in the loft area to have a look for droppings and possibly place some traps.
They may suggest putting poison down but this isn't really a good idea as if it is rats, they may well end up dying under the floor where you can't find the bodies.
This isn't as much of a concern with mice as they are generally so small that when they die, their bodies just tend to dehydrate rather that rot and there is little if any smell. (Well, that what I found when I ended up putting poison down for my mouse problem).

nickcc

Had rats feeding from our bird feeder so bought a lockable bait box and placed near the feeder. The bait blocks were taken three times over two weeks, checked every couple of days, and the rats don't appear to have returned, this was summer last year.

PasturesNew

First of all, stop feeding them. When I had the rat catcher out the FIRST thing she rushed to look for was if I was feeding birds etc. That was her first assumption: that it must be me and I was probably feeding birds.

Remove all the food ..... if there's no food near yours they won't be interested in being there.

keith969

Good point about the food - I had assumed that a rat couldn't climb a 4ft high metal pole, how wrong I was!

As for the loft - I haven't got one! Upstairs rooms have mostly sloping ceilings with (I think) only a few inches gap between the insulation (kingspan/celotex) and the tiles, and there is no access short of taking part of the ceiling down.