Mice or Rats between floors !

stcatherine

we went on Holiday for a few days last week and left the dogs in kennels, the day after we got back I heard this scratching noise coming from under my bed, it has now become very evident due to regular scratching and scampering we have something in the floors/ceilings between ground and 1st floor !

naturally our first thought was to check the loft but there is absolutely no evidence of them having gotten that far, and it only seems to be in the ceiling above the kitchen ( beneath our bedroom ) I cant imagine how they got in as the only time we have ever had a problem was mice under the sink and they only visted once having found no acess into the house itself and probably the dogs frightened them off. I have checked every inch of the house and they are deffo only in that ceiling, being as they havent gotten in through the loft or under the sink that only leaves through my neigbours wall somehow .

I'm at a total loss at to how to set anything to kill them as they are inside the ceiling, I can hear them scrabbling about above me even now as I'm typing this !!

Does anyone have any idea how much rentokil charge to come have a look ??

skintiam

I've had the same problem the last few weeks. I could hear the sound of them running along the same spot - the edge of the kitchen ceiling, I looked outside and there was a pipe going into the wall at exactly that spot and there was a gap all around it where it was never filled in, I filled it in with filler and two other outside pipes that were the same.

Just before I filled it in I was woken up during the night by the horrible sound of scampering and squeaking in the attic above my bedroom, so I got some poison (storm pellets) and threw that up in the attic (stood on a ladder, opened the hatch and threw it, no way was I going up there) it went quiet for a few days then i heard more noise and put up some more and I haven't heard anything now for a week, fingers crossed.

Until I heard them in the attic though I hadnt a clue how to get rid of them, I'd put traps down in the house near where the noise was but they were untouched and I never saw sign of them in the house.

stcatherine

tricky little sods aren't they ?

This is a new build house ( 4 years old ) and all the pipes are secure, the waste pipes are fed down into the actual grates covering the holes for the gutters ( so they cut holes in the grates to fit the pipes into meaning they feed straight down through them ... all except the one from the kitchen sink .... thats the only place I can see they might have gotten in, but there is no sign of activity under the sink itself. which is why I ruled that out initially .... now I'm starting to think they just bypassed it and went straight for the ceiling space which is odd as obviously there is no food source up there !

My loft has been designed with the intention of a conversion in the future so its big, open and airy with temporary flooring and two windows so It was easy to check I was really surprised to not find any evidence up there as we also have a cluster fly problem and I thought maybe the vermin were attracted to the dead flies !

skintiam

They look for somewhere warm to nest when the weather gets colder in autumn/winter and they reproduce fast. I can understand your frustration at not being able to get at them. I'd also be interested to hear from someone who has used rentokil and how it worked out.

stcatherine

well I'm giving them a call now so will keep you posted ! lol

Honey-ec

Rentokil charge €250 and that gets you, I believe, the initial call-out and then three follow-up visits to make sure they've laid enough bait stations, etc.

I ended up not using them, mainly because they use poison which the mice bring back to their nests where it kills the entire nest. Several of the nests in our house are in the ceiling space between the ground and first floors so are completely inaccessible. Now, I don't know if you've ever smelled a dead mouse, but I have and it is absolutely unbearable. The thought of this smell, multiplied by whatever number of mice that were in the house, in an area that you can't get to to remove the bodies is what made my mind up about not using Rentokil.

We ended up absolutely saturating the garage and attic with snap-traps, and it did (eventually) seem to get rid of them. The obvious caveat to this method is that you do need to track down where they're getting in and block the access, or they will just come back.

Linguo

If you get the humane traps you can catch and release them so everyone's happy! You have to do it fast though, they breed at an incredible rate so you have to be really vigilant. Put tasty treats in the traps and they'll come down and find them within no time

Honey-ec

Linguo wrote: »

If you get the humane traps you can catch and release them so everyone's happy! You have to do it fast though, they breed at an incredible rate so you have to be really vigilant. Put tasty treats in the traps and they'll come down and find them within no time

Having tried this on several occasions, I can tell you that the little feckers are extremely adept at getting the food out of the trap without actually setting it off. You also need to release them a good mile or more away from your house to make sure they don't find their way back. Not really practical if you're trying to deal with a large infestation.

I was determined to try and deal with them humanely at first, but it just wasn't possible for us in the end, there were too many of them. They're cute as feck when you spot one in the wild, but I didn't fancy having to have the house rewired because of them..

stcatherine

well I did call rentokil and someone was suppose to call me back but it hasn't happened. In the meantime I have just had a chat with my neighbour who has had persistent problems with mice and she says she tried rentokil but they never came back after the initial visit, she did however tell me they had found out there is a gap between the kitchn wall and the outside foundations and thats where they have been coming in and she suggested taking the kickbacks off the kitchen cupboards to see if if they are running along there .

Linguo

Honey-ec wrote: »

Having tried this on several occasions, I can tell you that the little feckers are extremely adept at getting the food out of the trap without actually setting it off. You also need to release them a good mile or more away from your house to make sure they don't find their way back. Not really practical if you're trying to deal with a large infestation.

I was determined to try and deal with them humanely at first, but it just wasn't possible for us in the end, there were too many of them. They're cute as feck when you spot one in the wild, but I didn't fancy having to have the house rewired because of them..

I know, just always prefer trying to release some of them if you can! We had them coming for what must have been a year a few years ago, we'd catch and release them far away (and fall in love with the cuties at the same time) and then more babies would show up, eventually some had to be poisoned when we couldn't physically get rid of them after months of trying humanely. It was horrible to do and we all hated it but literally had tried as much as we could the other way, but at least managed to rescue loads in the process.

It's a horrible situation because you don't want to have to hurt them but of course then suddenly it's risking your safety with them chewing through the wires and stuff. Of course then after poisoning some of them the smell in the house was unbearable on and off, it's really a tough situation to be in and I don't envy anyone who has to go through it.

Still, Ronan was the first one that showed up and wish I'd kept him as a pet, was hilarious:)

ted1

I use completepestcontrol.com got about 4 visits for 145. Rats are gone.

stcatherine

lol @ naming one Ronan !

well having pulled out the dishwasher there is no sign of any dropping s anywhere near back wall although there is a hole next to the waste pipe and another further up which would have given access into the wall cavity, also having examined my Airing cupboard although they havent come in there either, there are pipes going down through the floor they are scampering in so I lay bait in there and behind dishwasher just have to wait and see.

On the bright side, I did rescue 4 babies beginning of the year think mum died and they came out looking for food, lucky i spotted them or the dogs would have had em, sadly 2 died from cold but the other two were released after a warm night in an old fish tank and an assortment of fruit !

The next little guy had a damaged leg and was wandering across a road in daylight so he was brough home and given a snug bed and food for the night, sadly he also died, probably from injury to leg.

ah well

Linguo

stcatherine wrote: »

lol @ naming one Ronan !

well having pulled out the dishwasher there is no sign of any dropping s anywhere near back wall although there is a hole next to the waste pipe and another further up which would have given access into the wall cavity, also having examined my Airing cupboard although they havent come in there either, there are pipes going down through the floor they are scampering in so I lay bait in there and behind dishwasher just have to wait and see.

On the bright side, I did rescue 4 babies beginning of the year think mum died and they came out looking for food, lucky i spotted them or the dogs would have had em, sadly 2 died from cold but the other two were released after a warm night in an old fish tank and an assortment of fruit !

The next little guy had a damaged leg and was wandering across a road in daylight so he was brough home and given a snug bed and food for the night, sadly he also died, probably from injury to leg.

ah well

Ah you've been very kind to them, know it's hard to deal with! It nearly drove my mam mad because she didn't want to hurt them but the house was ruined from them.

We had to use that expanding putty stuff to clog up all the little holes in the house to stop them wandering freely, you'll be able to spot their favourite haunts when you see their droppings!

Honey-ec

Linguo wrote: »

We had to use that expanding putty stuff to clog up all the little holes in the house to stop them wandering freely, you'll be able to spot their favourite haunts when you see their droppings!

You can also often tell where they're getting in by the dirt around the edges of the hole; if it's a wet day (as it often is, we are in Ireland after all) the water will be squee-geed off them as they squeeze through the gap and it will eventually leave a visible stain.

You'd be focking amazed at how small a gap they can fit through, so don't discount any hole for being too small, OP.

kylith

I've heard mixed reports of success with the sonic things. I used one myself for years after an infestation and didn't see any mice while it was in use, whether that's just co-incidence or not I don't know.

Don't use catch and release traps as you're essentially condemning the mouse to a slow death in a strange territory. Snap traps (get ones with a good spring and tie the bait on) should kill instantly, and won't just be moving the problem to someone else's house.

ted1

sonic will keep away it would get rid of existing ones, and after awhile they get used to them.

kylith

ted1 wrote: »

sonic will keep away it would get rid of existing ones, and after awhile they get used to them.

On the one I had there was an option for fast beep or slow beep, changing from one to the other every couple of weeks stops them from getting used to it.

rubadub

Honey-ec wrote: »

You'd be focking amazed at how small a gap they can fit through, so don't discount any hole for being too small, OP.

I made a grill for a mate, I looked online and it said they could get into holes a biro could go through.

ted1 wrote: »

sonic will keep away it would get rid of existing ones, and after awhile they get used to them.

This is what I heard too. They seemed to drive them from downstairs to upstairs for me.

Another trick is chili powder, it is meant to drive them away, I have cracks in my floor boards and had a kilo of extra hot powder from a asian supermarket. I dumped it down teh cracks. I also put it in the boiler room on the side of my house where I think they come in.

After getting empty traps with eaten bait I looked up a few tips and modified my snap traps and placed them better. Mice run along walls so place the traps there, and have them pointing inwards perpendicular to the wall so they can run from either side. Have a few alongside each other so if it is curious about one it might back into the other.

This is like my trap

They were able to lick the bait off (peanut butter is good as it sticks). They did not trigger the small brass bait holder.

I simply cut out 2-ply cardboard rectangles to match the width of the trap and pushed it onto the bait holder. I then ruffled/scored up the cardboard and wiped peanut butter deep into it, just in the very centre.

So now the trap looked more like this.



So they have to get right up onto the cardboard to get to the bait so are far more likely to apply enough pressure to trigger it. If reusing them I read it is best not to wash them as they will actually be attracted to the smell of the other mice that were on it (I had heard htey would smell "death" and avoid it). Also detergents are said to repel them.

Honey-ec

Just make sure you buy decent snap-traps with a good, strong mechanism on them that will kill the mouse instantly. We had a very upsetting incident last year with one that wasn't strong enough to kill the mouse. Like I said, I don't want to have to rewire my house because of them, but I certainly don't want to inflict any suffering on the poor little feckers either.

therewillbe

Sticky strips,A lot .Chocolate buttons are a favourite .We had a rat that actually ran between my legs whilst out my back.He ran up and down the kitchen looking for a gap and he found the smallest of holes.It went in under the sink,behind the plasterboard.I rang a mate who sorts out all nasties .First we stuck down the stickies and a few large traps.Got a powder spray to make him dozy ,Left the dog snarling at the presses all night.Next morning ,He was still there .Got a air rifle and tried to shoot him :mad:Finally,!!Dont read on if you are squeamish!!!
Got a Bamboo stick and attached the longest pointed knife and after a while he was sorted.It was messy and the whole kitchen was scrubbed as the other half would not come back to the house till she smelled "Bleach"I ripped up my decking because of them breeding under it.I aint a cat lover but I always feed them when I see them passing through.

kylith

therewillbe wrote: »

Sticky strips,A lot ...

I cannot disagree more. I'm no fan of rats, but that was a horrific death. Glue traps are one of the worst things that you can possibly use. A good snap trap will do a much cleaner, and less stressful, job in a fraction of a second.

ted1

A trick I learned is to buy some lengths of pipes, cut them to 2 feet lengths and put poison in them. You place these around the outside of the house. They love pipes and will go in. It's easy to see if tbd poison is still being touched and domestic animals can't get at the poison

therewillbe

kylith wrote: »

I cannot disagree more. I'm no fan of rats, but that was a horrific death. Glue traps are one of the worst things that you can possibly use. A good snap trap will do a much cleaner, and less stressful, job in a fraction of a second.

The Rat was running behind the Plasterboard and the wall and wasnt coming out.So I had to do something as I was getting it in the ear from the good lady. I am sure there are thousands just feet away from me as I live beside some agriculture fields.:eek:

kylith

therewillbe wrote: »

The Rat was running behind the Plasterboard and the wall and wasnt coming out.So I had to do something as I was getting it in the ear from the good lady. I am sure there are thousands just feet away from me as I live beside some agriculture fields.:eek:

I understand what you're saying, but to be glued in one place for hours, drugged, shot and then stabbed?!

You'd probably have gotten it with less stress and mess if you'd removed the dog, put down a good snap trap and left it for a night.

star-pants

therewillbe wrote: »

...

Unnecessary practise - we do not advocate cruelty in the forum. We do allow discussing of reducing vermin but not in cruel manners.

280special

Living in the country we have had some nasty experiences with Rats.One got into the house thanks to an incompetant plumber who bored a 6" hole for 1" pipe and didnt bother filling it in !The rat entered the house and took up residence in the attic.

The solution was one of the sonic devices and a very knowledgable shop assistant. He predicted that it would take X number of days , I would hear the rat running around the cealing and then it would disappear. And he was spot on ! This device worked for approx 6 or 7 years, we then added another different one and dont seem to have any problems...at the moment !

Storm is a very effective product, I used it in two ways.Firstly I placed some in a metal rat trap which worked quite well. I also placed some in empty 5 gallon drums with small openings, The rats were that keen they chewed some of the plastic away around the entrance. Once poisoned they can end up anywhere in the search for water so it might be an idea to make sure that any attic watertanks are sealed. We found they had chewed the car windscreen wiper bottles.

Be warned that the smell of these dead vermin can be vile and takes ages to go away !

PS. one thing we have been told, and it appears to be true, is that if your have mice you dont have rats....

therewillbe

No,He didnt get glued,Smoke had no effect .Dog did keep him in place so I had to do what I did.Cruelty! I did what I had to .I am an Animal lover but when it does come to Pests ,Well ,whatever it takes.Sorry if I offended anyone but hey when you live in semi rural area sometimes it gets messy.

stcatherine

Having listened ( almost crying in despair might I add ) to one of the little sods knawing and chewing on my wall above my kitchen boiler 2 days running I am now considering that they may have climbed the downpipe into the gutter and gained acess somewhere up there ... this would explain why they are between those floors and no where else !

waiting for it to stop raining so I can climb a ladder and investigate outside.:rolleyes:

We also live in rural area and we do have a lot of mice and rats in the area but they have never gotten into our house. I had a rats nest under my compost bin last year a whole family of them, so I had to move the bin further away and buried wire around the base.

My dogs are both Staffordshire bull terriers and so come with the 'kill on sight anything that moves' mentality, and I mean ANYTHING Flies, wasps, spiders ( they always get treats for that one ) I always know if theres a rat running accross the garden as these guys are on high alert and will go nuts straight away, strangely they havent barked or whined once since we got back.

I have had to lock the door to the airing cupboard where I put the bait to make sure they can't get accidentally poisioned.

I can't abide cruelty myself but I can completely understand that sometimes circumstances force us into situations.
I still have no confirmation if it's Rats or mice and still no evidence of droppings in the house or outside ( yes I have taken to walking the perimeter every morning just to see if I can find any clue or hint )

there is def evidence of Mice in the compost but of course thats to be expected.

therewillbe

Put some Storm Poison in cling film and place them ALL over.Count the quanity and remember where they are.Check them twice a day.Re Gutters,If you can cover them with chicken wire,It wont stop them per say but it cuts the chance of entry.Dont place in places were your Dogs can get them.Get the Sticky pads,They do work .

jamescc

just being reading the forum. some good advice and some not so good.
So far today I have caught 14 mice, now granted most of being of the back porch, where I have been catching them.
We do have some in the house.(defo mice not rats) I put two traps in the airing cupboard and they keep taking the food of the traps with out the traps going off.
I cut the ends of the long metal bit to shorten it .I do know where they are getting in. Does the expanding foam do the job or is there something else, that would work better.

rubadub

jamescc wrote: »

I cut the ends of the long metal bit to shorten it .

Are you talking about the bit with the coin on it below?

if so you are probably better off making it longer rather than shorter, like a lever


The longer the lever the less weight needed on the end to trigger it so put the bait on the very end. You can test this yourself by setting a trap and tipping it with a pencil or something, do it at the end and up nearer the spring.

I explained how I increased mine with cardboard so the mouse would have to get up and put more weight on the entire bait trigger.

I imagine you were thinking of the fact that if it is moved say 1mm downwards at the end it might not trigger, but if you cut a bit off then 1mm downwards movement might be enough to trigger it, but it will need more force to move it 1mm on the shorter lever.

The longer lever also makes it easier to set, you can move it downwards so it is just on the very verge of being triggered.

Also I put peanut butter on so they really have to work at it to get it off. Another one I made is a mixture of cornflour and peanut butter, this dries off and makes a crust which sticks very well to the metal/cardboard so they cannot just lick or knock it off. Some recommend putting "nesting material" on it, like tie some dental floss on it so they pull at it.