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Mice or rat in attic

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,184 ✭✭✭riclad


    Snap traps will go off and kill the rat, 99 per cent of the time,
    the activate in 1 -2 seconds.
    if you buy the right type of trap.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,180 ✭✭✭mobby


    mad m wrote: »
    Without fail melt a piece of Cadbury’s chocolate on trap, it goes hard and the mice will have to gnaw it off. Just Incase it’s a rat put a screw in trap and tie piece of string to it and secure string to another screw. Don’t want the rat getting away if it gets caught in mouse trap.

    Oh the hot press is like the M50 to them. Make sure pipes are sealed top & bottom

    Got 8 mice in the attic just before christmas using the plastic traps and ferro roche chocolate. I have no idea how they got in, had a lad from rentokil in as i thought I had a rat. waste of money as i caught them all myself with the chocolate. I advise you screw down the traps.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,990 ✭✭✭greasepalm


    We had rats in the garage years ago and my mate got some bait and it had a hole in the centre for tying a coat hanger around them and securing it.They had a good feed on 4 baits and not seen again .Entrance and exit was 3 feet away under a worn sliding door.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,760 ✭✭✭Effects


    Would a bird scamper around. When I did hear it, it sounded like a scamper and kinda scratching.

    Yeah, they can hop about in the attic. It's happened to me before.

    But no harm in being safe and getting traps. I caught a mouse last year in a trap that was there over 12 months.

    Cleaning up after the fúckers is a pain in the ass.
    They had chewed through a lot of cabling in my attic and all the downlights had to be replaced.

    As mentioned, it's a good idea to screw or tie them down.
    I caught a rat in a trap where I work, and it had snapped on his foot. Looks like he pulled it about 10 metres to where I found him, dead.

    Also caught another rat, a long time ago, where the trap snapped and it ran away, leaving a blood trail to clean up!


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,083 ✭✭✭tom_tarbucket


    Thank you all for the help.
    Have heard nothing since Saturday at 4pm.
    Had a look at traps just there. No trap touched, as in no bait gone or even licked Etc, can’t see any droppings.
    Attic is about 80% timber floor, only small bit of insulation. House less than 20 years old and no record of mice before.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,690 ✭✭✭Yellow_Fern


    I find snapping traps not very effective. I got a electric trap for about 30 eur over Christmas and find it was very better and was also cleaner.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,184 ✭✭✭riclad


    The small snaptraps work well. they are made of plastic.you place them in a corner,against the wall, or underneath a floorboard.
    and they only cost 6-8 euro for a 4 pack.
    put 4 or 5 in the attic .
    they can be re used and cleaned ,.but wear plastic gloves when you handle them.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 964 ✭✭✭flanna01


    You'd often wonder what the little blighters are at... Most attics have a menu consisting of fibre glass loft insulation, and a couple of boxes of Aunt Lou's Christmas prezzies...

    Surely the pickings would be better downstairs, or out the back in insect Utopia..???

    Why the attic?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,690 ✭✭✭Yellow_Fern


    flanna01 wrote: »
    You'd often wonder what the little blighters are at... Most attics have a menu consisting of fibre glass loft insulation, and a couple of boxes of Aunt Lou's Christmas prezzies...

    Surely the pickings would be better downstairs, or out the back in insect Utopia..???

    Why the attic?

    Not just mice. I found a shrew in mine. I dont what a shrew is doing in an attic


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 18,955 ✭✭✭✭Shefwedfan


    We got a mouse a few weeks back, thought it was a rat so bought the big old fashion wooden one. Next day checked and little fecker had eaten the mars bar without setting off trap

    Went and bought the wooden old fashion mouse trap and bang

    I had the plastic ones before, came back to trap lying in middle of floor and little bloody foot prints all over kitchen, had half killed mouse and he was dragging the trap around...he got free and died somewhere in house, never found him again


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,135 ✭✭✭Better Than Christ


    After that episode, I still kept hearing scratching on the ceiling, so I purchased a pest control device. It took a month or so but eventually no more scratches whatsoever. Opinions are contrasting about such devices but it worked for me and for my parents as they had a worse problem in their garage.

    The mouse probably took one look at it and laughed himself to death. I remember my mother bought one... and from that day on, she never saw another mouse again. She swore by it. Although she bought it on the same day that I blocked all the potential entry points with steel wool, so maybe that was what prevented them from returning.

    I used to slag her about it all the time. I'd often plug it out for a minute and then pretend that all the mice were queuing at the door, ready to return.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,622 ✭✭✭Stigura


    Shefwedfan wrote: »
    We got a mouse a few weeks back, thought it was a rat so bought the big old fashion wooden one. Next day checked and little fecker had eaten the mars bar without setting off trap.


    :confused: Used properly, the mars bar could have saved ye the trouble.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,083 ✭✭✭tom_tarbucket


    Been off here for a few weeks. All was quiet, not a thing and then started again

    We have verified it’s birds now. Building nests I presume , making an awful racket.

    They are getting in via eaves and then up under roof etc. Hard to see as it’s a 2 storey so will get ladder today and have a closer look. What is the best way to deal with this? Seal where they get it, any ideas how?

    I don’t think baby birds have arrived yet so want to get done before this.

    also want to seal it when the birds are out as don’t want to lock them in either. Are there times during the day when birds are out etc?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 18,955 ✭✭✭✭Shefwedfan


    Been off here for a few weeks. All was quiet, not a thing and then started again

    We have verified it’s birds now. Building nests I presume , making an awful racket.

    They are getting in via eaves and then up under roof etc. Hard to see as it’s a 2 storey so will get ladder today and have a closer look. What is the best way to deal with this? Seal where they get it, any ideas how?

    I don’t think baby birds have arrived yet so want to get done before this.

    also want to seal it when the birds are out as don’t want to lock them in either. Are there times during the day when birds are out etc?


    If they are nesting already I think it is illegal to moe them.



    You will need to wait and then fix after


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,013 ✭✭✭Paulzx


    Been off here for a few weeks. All was quiet, not a thing and then started again

    We have verified it’s birds now. Building nests I presume , making an awful racket.

    They are getting in via eaves and then up under roof etc. Hard to see as it’s a 2 storey so will get ladder today and have a closer look. What is the best way to deal with this? Seal where they get it, any ideas how?

    I don’t think baby birds have arrived yet so want to get done before this.

    also want to seal it when the birds are out as don’t want to lock them in either. Are there times during the day when birds are out etc?

    Its normally starlings. If you think they're noisy now wait until the eggs hatch!:eek: The chicks will start crying for food from first light. Every time the adult comes back to the nest the scrum will start. Its like UFC:D

    I had them above my bedroom a few years ago for a couple of summers. Didn't really bother me but eventually i sealed the hole in the ridge tile they were getting in after the nest emptied.

    The final straw was when a magpie tried to get in the hole to get the chicks and during the mass panic some of the chicks ended up in the attic. Trying to recover the half dead chicks in the attic was a nuisance.

    Just put up with it for this Spring and then seal up the hole


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 18,955 ✭✭✭✭Shefwedfan


    Paulzx wrote: »
    Its normally starlings. If you think they're noisy now wait until the eggs hatch!:eek: The chicks will start crying for food from first light. Every time the adult comes back to the nest the scrum will start. Its like UFC:D

    I had them above my bedroom a few years ago for a couple of summers. Didn't really bother me but eventually i sealed the hole in the ridge tile they were getting in after the nest emptied.

    The final straw was when a magpie tried to get in the hole to get the chicks and during the mass panic some of the chicks ended up in the attic. Trying to recover the half dead chicks in the attic was a nuisance.

    Just put up with it for this Spring and then seal up the hole


    I have them, 4-5 places around the house. Tried to stop the f**kers but they always got back in. A guy was supposed to come out and never did


    To be honest I dont mind them, hardly ever hear them. They are in beside the extractor fan in one bathroom so when kids are having bath they can hear the chicks and love them :P:P


    Havent even bothered this year, I can see them already moving back into nests from last year. Not really that loud, in our bedroom, we have good insulation, can never hear them

    The little mouse in attic was a hell of a lot louder


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,634 ✭✭✭Aint Eazy Being Cheezy


    Just found this is my uncles house. Possible that the bag came home from the grocery shop like that? He said he hadn’t heard any rodent activity, and I can’t see any other signs, but it doesn’t look good.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 18,955 ✭✭✭✭Shefwedfan


    Just found this is my uncles house. Possible that the bag came home from the grocery shop like that? He said he hadn’t heard any rodent activity, and I can’t see any other signs, but it doesn’t look good.




    It ain't a mouse :mad:


    Looks like bits of the potato around it? so something was eating at it where the bag is?


    But a google and suggestion is raw potato has something in it that is harmful to rats


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,634 ✭✭✭Aint Eazy Being Cheezy


    Shefwedfan wrote: »
    It ain't a mouse :mad:


    Looks like bits of the potato around it? so something was eating at it where the bag is?

    Not necessarily. I moved a chair which knocked over the bag and it all rolled out.

    There’s no other telltale signs anywhere, droppings etc. Surely there’d be SOMETHING else? I’m gonna bring home a UV light from work tomorrow to check for urine.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 78,321 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    U can get sticky traps

    Those are illegal.


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