Mice between floors or gone?

cerastes

I was doing a bit of DIY work today, investigating where a small leak/stain on the kitchen ceiling appeared and was checking it up to see if there was any leaks present by drilling some inspection holes through the floor of the hotpress.

I could see what appears to be very small droppings.
The house has a concrete groundfloor (laminate covered) and there has never been a sign of mice in the lived in areas (been here years).

Im wondering if the droppings might have been there years? how can I tell if I had or have mice? I cant see anyway they can get in as there are no small holes around the base of the house, so either they are (or were) climbing the walls and coming in via a room vent and making their way up to between the floors? I dont know if it was temporary, or if they are still around?

Years ago a friend staying said he could hear scratching in the attic, I went and had a good look and I am up there every now and again still and I have seen no sign of mice droppings before or any kind of knawing at cardboard or the like.
At that time and occasionally since I would hear birds on the tiles above and their claws made a scratching sound so I put it down to that, there is also a noticeable bulge in the bitumen felt near the chimney side and I had noticed a tile that was never seated right since I moved in, so I took this as a nest as at one point it sounded like there were chicks squaking in there, as it wasnt leaking, it has been left be as it will be a bit of a job to get tiles removed and the felt straightened, but Ive not heard any of the scratching sounds in years which I put down to the nest or what I thought was a nest and I never suspected mice at all, Im wondering was it mice or did they move in at one point? At the moment it seems vacant, so maybe the avian occupants accidentally blocked access to it or simply left, I hear no noise from it at all in recent years.
Ive never heard scratching above the ceiling when downstairs.

The thing is I cant see how they made their way to between the floors, and are not noticeable in the attic.

For the last 4 years I have had a dog which is in the backgarden during the day when here, I thought her scent might put off vermin, but also we have a cat and he regularily marks the garden permimeter, I also feed some stray female cats (there are plenty around) with the view to deterring vermin as at one point I saw a few rats in succession and I considered a terrier but thought Id feed the stray cats a bit more with the idea their scent might deter vermin, so maybe any possible mice are dead or vacated.

On one occasion (years ago) a nearby rented house had their backgarden filled with black bins full of rubbish, I went to speak to them about it as I noticed a smell and when I looked was horrified to see the extent of it, but at that point they were already clearing it, the occuoant cleaning up admitted that rodents bolted everywhere when they lifted bags and that he regularily had cat visitors which he thought were looking for food scraps in the bins, I dont know if what he saw were baby rats or just mice as I have seen a few rats on occasion but not recently, I have seen their droppings in the drain when I dispose of the dogs leavings, whenever I spray with bleach, that seems to deter that kind of visitor or maybe they cant smell things as easily when bleach is sprayed and rinsed down the foul drain?

The pictures are not very clear, but some of the debris is from the chipboard floor as I cut through, its more regular in shape and lighter.
Ive resealed the holes, partly to finish the job I was doing but also to close the doorway to their world, which seems to have been the space between my ceiling and upper floor.

Can any of these be identified as mouse droppings? I know the pictures are a bit blurry, camera not great plus lighting it up by torch from another hole.

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Kevwoody

I think if you had mice between floors you would definitely know about it. The noise they make on the plasterboard ceiling is unreal!
I had this problem a few years ago, spent ages figuring out how they were getting in. I had reason to move my outdoor boiler and low and behold, the holes where the pipes were going into the house were twice the size they should have been. There was also a small heap of insulation outside so we figured they were climbing up the cavity.

So what I done was lifted a small square of floor in the hotpress, dropped in some poison and left the hole open. Then I closed the door and sealed it off with duct tape. Opened it a week later to see 5 dead mice and an almighty smell.
Very important to leave them an escape as they will go straight for water as soon as they eat the poison

cerastes

Thanks for the reply.
I know the pictures aren't great, but looking a it firsthand they do look like tiny poos, its about 6 items, which thinking about it doesn't seem like much, maybe it was at the time of construction? Or I've misidentified the supposed mouse poo
I hope I'm wrong and dont start hearing scampering noises now that I noticed what look like poop.
About 2 years ago the neighbouring house did massive renovations, I'd wondered when seeing the items that looked like poo did they have mice and the disruption scare them away to my side, no access for them between the houses though except possibly via the attic I think where right at the eaves the only separation is by tightly squashed fibre insulation between the gaps in the concrete wall.

That said, no noises or reports of noise by the wife to suggest mice and no sightings of any.

navyddr713

I was away from my house for several months, upon my return the house was full of mice droppings. What I did was buy two ( I don't know the name of these things ) you plug it into a wall outlet and it gives off a high pitch sound. You can hear this sound but the mice and it drives them mad. I got it in Woodies in Galway.

cerastes

navyddr713 wrote: »

I was away from my house for several months, upon my return the house was full of mice droppings. What I did was buy two ( I don't know the name of these things ) you plug it into a wall outlet and it gives off a high pitch sound. You can hear this sound but the mice and it drives them mad. I got it in Woodies in Galway.

Ive read where some people have said these are ineffective?
If I was more completely convinced these high frequency sound devices worked or in all circumstances, Id buy a few but dont want to just waste money on them. I know someone that had some and they still seemed to have mice, although they thought they helped reduce their numbers even though they were killing some mice using traps, which I think was the reason.

the amount of droppings Ive found is very small, I have only been away no more than a few days at a go and infrequently.
I am sure they are some kind of droppings as they look like tiny poo, and given the size of them they could be only mice waste (Ive seen rat waste in the foul drains here from time to time). The poos dont look fresh, not dark or moist looking, quite dried up.

I did used to wonder about some drains around the base of my front and back doors, holes about the diameter of a pencil, someone has told me mice may be able to get into these?? I know mice are small but I didnt think they'd squeeze in through these, other than that I can think of no access, but if such tiny holes are viable as an access, I'll have to block them up and search for any other cracks where they might fit, at the least, I'll be able to see if any effort has been made to chew a way in or out? I think If I do it before it gets colder then I might have an opportunity to prevent any potential new visitors.

I saw our own cat playing with a mouse once, I thought he was useless, and as there are so many cats around I thought mice would be scarce, but these cats all seem to be looking for food all the time, I feed them to encourage them around but I dont want to feed them so much that a mouse isnt an easy meal or that they arent hungry enough.

It may be time for an indoor cat, a female this time I think, or one thats been raised by its mother and not taken away before its had a chance to learn.