Mice / Rats in attic

Golden_Anemone

I've been telling my lazy lump of a son for months that he will encourage vermin by the way he leaves food rubbish in his bedroom and unfortunately I have been proved right. I can hear a creature scrabbling in the corner of the ceiling as I type.

Obviously a major clear out and cleaning of the room is required but what next?

Do I need to bring in pest control or is there an easy DIY way of getting rid of them?

angelaloveschocolate

You can buy an eletronic plug in device which looks a bit like an air freshener. They emit a sound which humans cant hear but which is horrible to rodents, I've bought them and used them in a rented house and hey presto immediate results. The mice just clear off somewhere else, no mice traps, no poisin, nothing. Highly reccomend them, I bought them in B&Q but they were quite expensive around £30 for a pack of 4. But on the plus side you can keep them plugged in to prevent the little sods from returning. Very worth while, hope this helps

arkonite_babe

Plug in device doesn't work, don't waste your money! I had one and it was useless. Best option we found was bait blocks, you can buy them from hardware stores for a few pence each.

HTH

BigAl94

Sorry but I have found they do work, we had an infestation three years ago and since buying the plug in devices, no further problems.

Phoolgrrrl

We use the plug as well. We found it worked for a few months then they seemed to get used to it. Turned it off for a week or 2 then back on again and it worked. We got it of ebay.

We haven't had a problem since we blocked up a hole OH found behind a drain pipe. You need to find how they are getting in, we have expandable foam filling every wee hole now and it has worked. We still have the plug on too as a back up.

warmhands.coldheart

Firstly before you go spending a load of money on Pest Control, are you sure it's Mice/Rats. This time of year birds are nesting and from personal experience I thought I had this problem too but it was actually a Starling making his/her nest under one of our tiles. if the spaces between the bottom tile & the Facia/gutter is not sealed up right, they can get under the tiles. I had to get a ladder and stuff the holes with some wire mesh I got in a DIY store. Job Sorted!!

caz2703

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

This time of year birds are nesting and from personal experience I thought I had this problem too but it was actually a Starling making his/her nest under one of our tiles. if the spaces between the bottom tile & the Facia/gutter is not sealed up right, they can get under the tiles.

Are you secretly my husband posting! We have starling nesting as I speak at the corner of our roof (dormer roof) where the gutter meets the wooden facia and they've chewed through the rotten wood to get in and nest. It's all fairly quiet now so I'm guessing the babies have fledged so hubby will be dispatched at the weekend to seal it all up. If it was a starling nesting though you'd be hard pressed to mistake their constant squabbling for a mouse so I'd be inclined towards rodents.

So back on topic and we had mice in our house both in the roof space above the living room and in our kitchen. We used bait traps in the kitchen and the plug ins everywhere else. So far so good, fingers crossed. Look for any holes near that room and as above, use expanding foam on every gap you find. Not pretty but better than having mice in the house :eek:

Bigcammy

Exactly the same situation I had a few years ago. I simply baited a couple of traps with Mars Bars (works, honestly) and they were trapped within 2 days. Then you need to do as others suggest and stop up the holes where they are getting in. Even airbricks should be covered with a fine mesh so air gets in but not beasties

suki1964

As others have said - check it is mice because this time of year its usually birds

If it is mice then you not only need to bait them ( we used packets of mice poison and traps where we saw them running in the house) you need to find where they are coming in from and block the hole. Ours were coming in along the pipes from the boiler and getting in by the hot press. Holes were cemented after being filled with wire wool first