Critter in the loft - POO SIZES?

cheekymole

I have "something" in my loft. I can hear it running around all night, but every time I go up there, nothing.
There's no droppings of any kind around and as far as I can tell, no damage, but it's driving me nuts.
What can I do to find out what it is and then how do I get rid (in a humane way-preferrably)

I know you know the answer and I thank you for sharing it with me.

helenstuff

Are there squirrels near where you live as they're quite a likely candidate - but they do do damage - ate through the TV cable in my parents' cottage! Also there were signs of nuts and stuff left around. You can catch them with a trap - like a great big humane mousetrap made of wire but you probably don't want to buy one specially. I wonder whether you could borrow one from the RSPCA or local vet or something.... I expect Rentokil would do it but I imagine that would be the end of said squirrel as (grey) squirrels because as 'foreigners' it's not legal to release them back into the wild in this country. (I'm not offering a view on whether that's a good or bad thing, just thought you ought to know!).

I've had rats in my roof before (not in the UK) and they made a hell of a lot of noise. They were dealt with with traps and poison (not by me, happily!).

I've also had a mystery something that I'm pretty sure was a trapped bird in my loft (in an apartment building) and I feel the noise stopped when it died but we never managed to find it alive or dead.

It's odd that you haven't found any evidence of droppings at all - remember that for rats / mice they can be really small - like little black grains of rice, so it may be worth taking a very close look with a torch again to see whether you can determine anything.

You could always start with a humane mousetrap (you can get them pretty cheaply) to see if you get anywhere. I recommend a humane one as dealing with a spring-loaded one can be pretty traumatic (they don't always die...). :eek:

Of course the issue then is that you may then have to find and block their route in...

Having written all this I now wonder whether I've had more than my fair share of critters in the roofspace - I'd never thought about it before!

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Claudie

Our noise in the loft turned out to be a rat, not a bird as we had originally thought!

I panicked when I heard the noise going up the wall (as previously it had just been in the loft!) and called the first pest control company in the phone book but to be honest he wasn't very helpful and he was very expensive.

A few weeks later when the noise came back my neighbour suggested ringing the Council. We had a pest control officer come out and she was very helpful and explained the options etc. She was also half the price and the Council, for one fee, come back for a few visits to make sure the problem has been solved.

To add hassle for us - we were in a modern terrace property and our lofts were vented in such a way a person could never get through but a pest could! The rat lived between all four houses and only 3 out of 4 neighbours wanted to say goodbye to him. It took a while but we eventually became rat free. I didn't know until it happened to us that it is apparently quite a modern problem with new building regs and pipe sizes etc.

Good luck.

Coveredinbees!!!!

We get mice on occation as we have fields at the bottom of the garden, best thing is the good old snap traps. Try to find where Mr/s squeeky is getting in and fill in the hole. Ours were getting up the bath drain pipe under the floor and up through the airing cupboard. The trouble with mice; if they can get thier heads in a hole, the body will squeeze in too.

My brother had a rat which was piosoned and died under his floor space and it stank the house out

kittiwoz

My parents have glis-glis (doormice) in their loft. Although they are nationally endangered they are quite common in South Bucks (and I think maybe even classed as a pest there so you might be allowed to kill them but don't do it without checking) so if you live there they could be a candidate. They eat the polystyrene berries on the Christmas decorations along with other chewable things. I think squirells probably get in there too. There are quite a lot of droppings mainly concentrated in certain patches at the edges and corners of the loft space, close under the eves. I haven't got any advice for how to get rid of them though since my parents have never wanted or tried to.

If it's mice then you need to be aware that house-mice and field-mice are distinct types. The fieldmice are tiny and grey and can be caught in a humane trap and put outside. They generally live outside but will come in for food and warmth. They can be discouraged by putting food away in closed cupboards which the mice cannot gain access to. House mice on the other hand are bigger than field mice, they are brown and have more rounded ears. They actually do look a bit like Jerry from the Tom and Jerry cartoons. They are a pain in the neck to get rid of because they actually live in your house on a permanent basis and how ever clean and tidy you are they will not leave and go and live outside because that is not their habitat. If there is absolutely no food left out they will eat cardboard or soap or the stuffing in your sofa. If you catch them in a humane trap and put them out they will just come back in again.

I think the best think to do is probably to contact the local council's environmental health department and speak to the pest contollers. We have a problem with house mice here ourselves. We have put down poison (which is OK for mice because they are small and tend to dessicate when they die rather than rotting away slowly and stinking the place out like rats) and also spring traps. These have generally been quite effective at quickly killing mice but we did get one caught across it's back legs which I had to kill with a hammer. Not a pleasant job but it would have been very cruel to leave it.

I would advise contacting the local council's environmental health department and getting a pest control officer out. If they can actually get rid of the problem then I think they're bloody good value.

twink

could be bats my dd has them in her roof and they can be very noisy at night there is nothing to see in the attic think they are between slates and felt she said they sounded like mice also they are a protected species

JBsplit

i have a similar thing, i have an electric socket located near the bed and for years now i can hear something pulling at the wire that runs down to the socket,its quite scary sometimes, but there is no sign whatsoever of anything living up there.

cheekymole

Thank you all, I have bought one of those ultrasonic things today to see if that makes any difference (if not I'll take it back!)
If it comes to it, I'll contact the council and let them deal with it although if it were bats I wouldn't mind if they stayed

cheekymole

All flippin' night the noise went on. We left the light on to try and deter whatever it is. I've been up there this morning and found some poo, so my question now is, what does rat and squirrel poo look like as I now know it's not a mouse. Anyone got any pictures of such things!!!!!!!

Claudie

Ah no, no pictures. I think the poop of rat and mouse may be similar, lots of small droppings.

We were told by the council lady that a rat may be easier to get rid of as they usually travel alone and set up a single nesting place whereas mice come with a ready made family and bring relations once they find a nice place LOL

I would get onto the Council and have someone out to have a look. And don't forget to ask how much they charge and if the repeat visits are included in that cost. I think some councils have different ways of charging.

Good luck

Ken68

http://images.google.co.uk/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GEUA,GEUA:2005-36,GEUA:en&q=rat+droppings

http://images.google.co.uk/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GEUA,GEUA:2005-36,GEUA:en&q=squirrel+droppings