Mice in attic - how to get rid of?

I'd need to buy a hell of a lot of foam filler!!! Think Im going to have to get a builder in, spaces are with of a plank of wood, I don't think they should have been left as they have been - something that should have been noticed when we got the house snagged.

Could anyone answer these two questions - by putting poison outside am I just attracting them to my house or are they around anyway and by putting baited chocolate spread traps in attic am I also attracting them in? Can they smell it that well!!!!:confused:
 
LLDLY said:
Just stick some poison down in the loft. The good news is that mice's bodies don't smell when they die, they just dry up. RATS are a different matter! I suspect its mice though.
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mice do smell when the die. i worked in an office with a warehouse attached. we often had mice come into the offices and die. smelt like hell after a few weeks. also had blue bottle flies with them after they died. not nice at all. go for traps they are the best.
 
Hi All,

It is obviously the time of year for the rodent visitors. Came back from being away for the weekend only to have the wife see a mouse in the en-suite. I think her scream might have given him a heart attack :D but I was called on to finish off the job.

Had the same problem last year. I have looked at the external walls for cracks / entry points and still don't understand how they are getting in (filled all obvious cracks - holes around pipes). Caught five last year (by using pre baited traps, in two different locations - under sink / hotpress). This is the first visitor this year, but if one got in, I am sure there will be more.

I have poison outside in the back garden / yard.

The house is a semi-d. The insulation in the attic is loose stuff (not sure what it's called) but not easy to detect anything up there.

We don't leave food hanging around or leave doors open. But what I would like to know is can mice climb from ground level to second floor on the outside of a building? Do they climb up drain pipes? Because I think they have originated from the en-suite.

The wife is going to contact Rentokil so will let you know how we get on.

Thanks.
 
Well our problem seems to be getting worse, over the past week we have caught 4 - far more than we ever have before, again only in the attic. A family have obviously decided to move in and have babies!!! Can't bear the thought, was fine with the idea that we had one or two but a family.........

I need adivce on this, have I done the right thing by putting the poison outside - have I just attracted them to my house??? By leaving baited traps in attic have I again attracted them in????

I don't have any idea where I'd start or what to look for in the attic with regard to holes or gaps....

My next idea is borrowing a cat for a day.

Galway5, our mice must be scaling the walls outside, as we don't have them in the house.
 
hi there,

I have mice too, so waiting to see what Rentokil do for Galway5. I have been trying to catch them for a week. I caught one the second night, but nothing since. They seem to be living between the ground and first floors but the mouse I caught was trapped in the attic (so they must go walk about at night). I left three traps in the attic since to see if the rest of the family would venture up there but no. I can hear them running about above the sitting room every evening. Perhaps the food in the traps isnt tempting enough to get them up to the attic. But I would prefer to trap them up there than pull up the floor boards on the first floor to set traps. They havent been spotted in any of the rooms nor is there evidence of them anywhere.........just the pitter patter on the ceiling every evening.

I am going to try peanut butter today as i have read it works and the smell should be stronger than the food i have been using. i have already tried bread, cereals, and chocolate.
 
We caught 7 mice this time last year - 3 in the attic, 3 in the bedrooms! & 1 in the garage, my nerves were shattered so we got a cat, he's a year old now and is worth his weight in gold - he's outside all day, comes in at night, he's caught 5 mice in the past month, i've seen them dead around the footpaths outside the house and witnessed him killing 2 of them, so i'm definitely won over on a cat as the solution!
 
Riseinmarie, try Nutella chocolate spread, my ones are lovin it - keep coming back for more....I've tried peanut butter - they ate all the chocolate ones and left peanut butter traps!!!! Tried rasher rind, boiled ham, cheese but chocolate seems to be doing the trick!!

Caught none last night in attic but did catch one outside, I too am going to wait to see what happens with Galway5 & Rentokil before I call in the professionals......
 
The area I live in had quite a lot of mice over that past couple of years. I got two kittens which are now cats and fantastic hunters. Saw a mouse on my decking in the begining of the summer, brought the cat out and had a dead mouse in less than 2 minutes. Cant recommend them highly enough. If you go into the freebe or pets section of gumtree.ie you should be able to get one. LS
 
Hi Pippi,

We had booked Rentokil to come out on Tuesday, but then I talked to an ex-employee who advised that he thought it might be a waste of money as they would not help my particular situation (which is finding out how they are getting in).

We got a friend who does final checks on new houses in the building trade to give the house the once over and spot any defects / entry points for the mice. He spotted two very wide holes at the front door (drain just outside front door for water run off). These were at ours and neighbours house. He also found a few more holes on the outside in the neighbours house which he said they could get in on ground level.

Therefore I think this has been worth a lot more than what Rentokil would have done. We were told that they would come out and put down something (gel) in certain areas so that they could track where the mice were coming in. Then they would come back a while later and sort that out (fill up the area / advise where should be filled). They would also put down poison in the house and areas they think the mice might be to get rid.

But we have traps down all over the house and have poison outside the house (and I think anyone can do that).

Three days after finding the first one and we are mouse free, after blocking up the other points of entry. I still think there may be one or two in the attic, but we'll get them too if they are there.

My main concern which I feel more confident about is that we have stopped them coming in. However in a semi-d if the neighbour leaves the back door open (which she is prone to doing) that will let them get into her house and from there they can get into her attic and then our house, don't know whether this is your problem?

Hope this helps - rentokil were going to charge us €240. From talking to the ex-employee, it is about call volume and not necessarily about finding the mice!

All the best.:)
 
I am going to look for entry points this weekend and block them all. I think I might put traps outside too to try and stop them before they get it in.

I have just reset three humaine traps with peanut butter, two in the attic and one in the bathroom.....so I will have to wait and see if it works. If it doesnt I will try nutella as suggested by pippi.

hopefully I will catch the blighters this time. I dont want to have to resort to murder, but I will if necessary.!
 
Forget about fries and cheese . Buy poison - I believe storm is best brand .
It may be rats , so best advice is move quickly and contact a hardware store assistant .
 
Speaking from experience, poison is fine outside but if you put poison in your attic and the feckers eat it and die up there the smell is terrible - gasy, toxic smell that most definitely doesn't disappear in one or two days. It's a dreadful job trying to find the dead mouse in the attic and there's the possibility it could get into the cavity in the walls - then look at the job you have on your hands!!!!!!
 
Hey All

just got rid of mouse number 11 in 2 weeks. its murder on rodents! started off all humane with the mouse friendly traps but I got paramoid that the guys I was relaesing were coming back in so had to get tough, as it sounded like there was a mouse rave going on upstairs in the attic and after spending 2 or 3 nights with one casually strolling across my office floor.

basically, I would say act fast. If you hear / see/think you have one, its literally anmatter of days beore theres 10 plus babies and the task becomes even harder. cheese on sprung wooden traps seemed to do the trick.

would advise against the posion option alos, as I remeber back in college when we were in a student hovel, we put doen poison, mouse/ or plural ate and died and the place stank for about a year after from under the floorboards.


its not their fault - just seeking some nice warm attics / houses, and they are exceptionally

good luck
 
hi

I had the same problem with mice in my attic. I used 'Blue Blocks' They proved to be very good. The mice will think that its food and take them to their nests usually outside of the house. Once taken the poison will kill them. I then got the plug in devices that give off a piercing noise which doesnt effect the human ear but will rid any mice or other small creatures. I havent had a problem since.
 
galway5,

Forgot to say thanks in that last post, great words of advice...am going to do a thorough check of everygap outside at the weekend.

Thanks again.
 
Galway5 said:
But we have traps down all over the house and have poison outside the house (and I think anyone can do that).
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Birds will eat rodent poison. Make sure birds cant get at it (especially the seed based poisons)
 
does anybody think the mice / rats could get in through the air vents in the soffits...well probably not a rat but a mouse and that would bring them into the attic..?
 
We have mice (hope they're not rats) up in the ceiling of the sunroom. Can hear them running around by night. Some days the smell in the room is unbearable. Its like urine, Has anyone else had this? Took down the downlighters last week and put some poison up there, And put down a few traps outside and still nothing. I also noticed a cat hanging around our back garden the last few days. I'm thinking of pulling down the ceiling if the smell doesn't go away!
 
Take a mineral bottle, cut off the top one-third and place this upside down in the main section of the bottle. Smear cooking oil in the inside of the bottle and place poison along with burnt cheese (smells stronger) inside. Angle the bottle so that when the mouse enters, he can't get back out a) because of angle, b) because of slippery oil and c) because the entrance into bottle (upside-down bottle top) is too awkward to get out
 
My meeces were everywhere! uggggh. Anyway, checked around and blocked up outside piping with expanding foam. Waited, and they were still there.
Next thing they were in the hot press. Oh my God, so I got my expanding foam and filled in all the piping holes in the said hot press. Nothing since touch wood. That is where they were getting up and down the whole house.
Neighbours put in an attic conversion, and I think that was the start.
Anyway, I just LOVE expanding foam, did the trick for me anyway.
 
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