Whats in my loft? strange noises...

MrPayless

About 5 months ago we found spotted a small mouse in the house.

Its a new build and very small so it wasnt hard to locate where it had come in from so I sealed up the area with expanding foam and set a mouse trap. Next morning the little beast was dead, the temptation of peanut butter was too great for him. I put several other traps in place for extra safety. They remain and have never been activated.

So to be ultra safe, we got the pest control chap in who entered the loft and said yes lots of dropping. He laid several types of bait and mouse traps which he has inspected every month.

He is 100% certain that no mouse has walked through the loft as the traps remained untouched but I can hear a scratching/pulling sound usually very late at night and what I think are tiny feet. It happens for about 30 secs and then goes away till the next time.

Im baffled. No mice have re-entered the living area as we inspect regularly. The only thing that is different is that I often hear seaguls flying and fighting over our roof during the day (but not during the scratching noise) - it it them?? but I cant explain why I hear the noise directly on my internal ceiling and pretty much in the same spot.

Can anyone explain!!!

sandy2_2

Mouse ghost?

cheekymole

We had a rat which climbed a big tree next to the house and got into the loft, only scratched and had had parties at night, drove us mad but the rat man came and sorted Rattie out :T

mrs_baggins

I always hear noises from my loft!! I think I imagine most of them. But seriously go and sort it (or get someone else to if you are a bit of a scaredy cat like me!)

It could be a number of things (i used to work in pest control)

It could be mice

It could be squirrels

it could be birds

If its squirrels (who can jump an awful distance from the nearest tree) you nned to get it sorted as they can chew through the wiring. I guess though that they would be quite noisy.

If its mice then get some poison and put it up there- if it goes then you know its been taken. It could also be rats you know (sorry to be an alarmist) Both rats and mice can also get to the loft through the cavity walling space. There only needs to be a space as fat as a pencil for a mouse to get in and even if you block a hole up they will only get in somewhere else

If you have a bird nesting in the guttering or something there could be a small gap whereby the birds can get into the loft and have a bit of a walk.If it is a bird with a nest then there is a chance you could get an infestation of woolly bears which are easily eradicated though.

Whichever it is personally I would go into the loft, have a look for anydroppings -easier if its been boarded- clear up whats there so you can see if anything new comes along. I am sorry if I have alarmed you as to what it could be but if you are prepared for the worst then it may not happen!

David_B_2

I had a problem with birds when I first moved into a new house. Mainly because the crappy builders had left too bigger air fents where the roof met the walls. I don't hate birds but the mess they made in the loft (poo) as well as the noise at 4/5 o'clock in the morning was to much. So from the inside I blocked all the holes.

I've also had mousses in there and sounds similar to yours. Little scratching and tiny feet. I don't use traps anymore (pain to keep putting fresh bate on it) and I use the poison that you can now buy from the shops (blue pellet type). This works better because they then take it back to their nests and it kills the rest of the suckers.

A few months ago I found mouse droppings under the kitchen cupboards and set traps using fresh bacon. Not one trap was touched but the droppings came back. After a week or so I used pellets and I could see them disappearing and never found droppings again after a few days.

MrPayless

Mrs Baggins/Dave B

Thanks for the replies.

The thing that I dont understand is that the Pest Control man has been up there about 6 times and he has laid 2 different types of poison/bait which he thinks is untouched and he had put down some sticky sheets that catch mice and insects. He also put traps down and when he last inspected nothing had appeared but I heard the noise!

cheekymole

Don't they use different bait for mice and rats, I know when the guy came to us he used chocolate flavoured pasta as bait because rats LOVE chocolate

mrs_baggins

If you keep getting the noises and there are no new droppings etc then all I can think of is that somehow its a bird getting in and having a bit of a wander. see if you can have a look at the oputside with binoculars to see if you can see a nest or anything. hope this helps

Scoflo

We had a similar noise and my daughters were complaining like MAD! My youngest (16) was convinced it was a ghost! We sleep downstairs but my husband decided to investigate when the girls started to sleep together as they were scared. It was the TV arial! It was waving slightly on the apex of the building and the scraping could be heard all through the upstairs.

frankie

If you use the bait method, don't the dead little beasts start to smell as they decay?

shelovestobuystuff

frankie wrote: »

If you use the bait method, don't the dead little beasts start to smell as they decay?

OOh yes and its vile!!!The poison is supposed to be slow acting so that they get away from your house again before they die but I suppose if they are greedy they will only just manage to get far enough away to die out of sight but not far enough away that you don,t smell them.Best to use the old fashioned spring loaded traps then at least you wont have decomposing mouse bodies hidden in your home. They are far too smart for those humane traps!!!Or get a cat!!!