mice in the ivy

geordief

I was clearing the thick ivy under the guttering and came upon an abandoned nest .

I got that awful ratty smell from it. Would it have been a mouse's nest up above the ground like that?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

geordief wrote: »

I was clearing the thick ivy under the guttering and came upon an abandoned nest .

I got that awful ratty smell from it. Would it have been a mouse's nest up above the ground like that?

Most unlikely.

geordief

Isabela Scary Scenery wrote: »

Most unlikely.

Could there be a smell I could confuse with a ratty smell? I think it may have been ratty pissy smell.Perhaps they have hangouts in addition to nests per se.

Do they store things in out of the way places perhaps?

savagethegoat

If you smell a rat, you probably have rats

geordief

savagethegoat wrote: »

If you smell a rat, you probably have rats

Indeed. Actually I know I have rats around the house but I am just curious to know if they would set up camp in the top of the ivy (which I why I thought perhaps it might be smaller rodents).

Srameen thinks that is also unlikely.

But as you say a rat smell is pretty distinctive and quite nauseating.

savagethegoat

they are great climbers apparently

recedite

I've seen them run up the side of a grippy wall even without ivy. Ivy is like having an escalator installed for them. The problem is, they may have been accessing your attic via gaps in the soffit/fascia boards.

geordief

recedite wrote: »

I've seen them run up the side of a grippy wall even without ivy. Ivy is like having an escalator installed for them. The problem is, they may have been accessing your attic via gaps in the soffit/fascia boards.

I am resigned to that .If they get in we can normally hear them and round them up

No I was just intrigued as to whether they might actually make something like a nest high up in the ivy. It would seem a little "unrodentlike" but who knows ,if they get good shelter in the thick ivy might they do it?

I definitely got a nasty smell and there was some kind of a construction .

If it had been an old bird's nest there would only have been a mild fusty smell. This was a nasty nauseous smell and it smelt "ratty" to me.

recedite

Possibly some sort of territorial thing, like a sentry box, marking the entrance to their (your) attic? A "foreign" rat wandering in would be very reluctant to pass anywhere near this construction.

geordief

Wow ,is that just a guess? Do you have any other examples where this sort of behaviour might or does happen?

Those rodents would have a cunning on a level with old Bony

recedite

Just a guess. But they are known to be territorial, and members of one colony will kill members of a different colony that come snooping around.

geordief

recedite wrote: »

Just a guess. But they are known to be territorial, and members of one colony will kill members of a different colony that come snooping around.

I am liking them less and less:)

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

While I've seen mice in Ivy many times and have seen many nests in Ivy over the years, I have never come across a rodent nest in Ivy.