Getting rid of rats/mice (merged threads)

MD07

About 6 months ago I found out I had a Rat (!!!!) in my attic! Heard it gnawing away and running about in the eaves! Got the Council Pest Control out and they laid bait. It ate most of it then didnt hear it again after a week so hoped it died (though didnt smell anything so maybe died in neighbours attic ).

Until....2 days ago! In middle of night heard well loud gnawing (eaves above my bedroom) - absolutely sh4t myself when i heard it - literally like this smiley > :eek: !

So last night painting up in attic heard the beast again gnawing like mad! Went to Homebase and got one of the Ultrasound and Electromagnetic device things (Lentex one). Plugged it in, right next to where it seems to be residing in my attic, and didnt hear it last night. Hoping for immediate results.

Though when readin reviews and stuff on these things today most ppl say they dont work! Waste of money!

Found this link: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/08/lentek.shtm

Just hope Im as lucky as Pam seems to have been with it. Time will tell!

fad1211

well, as far as these electronic device goes, when I blocked holes on Monday night upstairs, that night my husband heard loud scratching behind the skirting board. Next day, plugged in the B&Q device in the plug socket nearest to the scratching noise and since then have not heard a thing, so maybe it does work.

Seen no droppings today so again maybe they do work!!

cs95aam

Okay I've had my Pest Stop device from Primrose plugged in since the night of the 30th August 2007 and I saw droppings this morning.

I just hope this starts to work soon!

sillyvixen

electronic devices are no good if you have rodent type pets eg hampsters.

As for cats we used to have a big rodent problem when we had a cat!! my cat was stupid and used to catch mice on local scrubland, bring them through the cat flap and loose them in the house. we used to catch mice in a number of humane traps and take them back to scubland, only to have cat bring them back and loose them again. Unfortunatly my cat got very sick and died, but there has never been a mouse problem in that property since. the cat would often bring in mice to order if he felt visitors had outstayed their welcome, worked every time, a mouse dropped at the feet of a visitor late at night would make everyone go home and myself trying to catch the mouse.

A word to the wise, a humane mousetrap is only so if you check it at least 3 times a day, a mouse left in a humane trap for 8 hours has a hell of a stressfull time and suffers more than decapitation of the conventional trap.

mice do prefer chocolate to cheese if available, but dont we alll!!

Brutus_Beefcake

I thought we had birds nesting in the loft area until this morning I looked through a gap with the torch and saw what I think was a rat looking at me !
Looks like the council charges £50 for its sub-contractor to look into the problem. If I lay poison and the rat dies up there how long is it before the body stops smelling ? It is going under floorboards so I don't know how to find the body if I kill it.

dithedancer

in our shed i found that if i sprinkled flour around i could see where they where coming in then blocked the hole with brick,rubble and concrete.i then put a rat trap with a piece of mars bar (i used mars bar because it's sticky and ratty has to pull at it). hey presto 4 rats caught in 6 days then no more problems. they say that if you have a cat you'll not have a problem but i've got 2 and found that they have brought rats and mice in alive to play with and then let them go in the house.

Yasmin02

Hello

A friend of mine has mice in her ground floor flat she has noticed rat droppings. Does anyone know how to get rid of the mice and where they could be coming from?

Thanks in adance

Yasmin

Fizog

A mouse can get through a crack in a skirting board or a small hole the size of the end of a biro, they will also munch through plaster quite happily... your friends problems are if she has rat droppings they bring disease..(mice are incontinent and wee and poo at will). Rat droppings are larger than mice droppings. If there has been building work going on nearby that could account for the sudden appearance of them.
Best bet is to contact your local council to come in and lay poison in traps around the flat, or you can lay your own bait bought from a local hardware store. Mice are quite predictable and follow close to skirting boards or around the edge of work surfaces so that is where you lay the poison.
If you lay a tradition trap mice need chocolate not cheese!

Lorian

You can get poison bate boxes for mice from most DIYs. If it's rats you want a bigger rat-tube and bait. You might get a loan one from the council, depends what they are like.

My favourite is a CAT, I know that's not always possible in a flat, and not a good ideal if you she doesn't like the idea of finding the discarded bits.....

xcom

.22 Air rifle