Mice in attic ! Help

aquarius10 · 27-10-2014 2:50pm #1

We built our 2 storey house in the countryside and moved in June 2013 and last Monday night after going to bed we heard mice in the attic overhead our bed which is along a gable wall.

Husband baited 2 traps with peanut butter and we have caught 6 mice in the last 6 days in the attic. Most of the attic is floored, there is no food or water up there, only few Xmas decorations and left over tiles. We bought 6 more traps today and baited them with Nutella as they seem to be getting smarter - they won't eat peanut butter now but we can hear them overhead around 4am ? We had no problems with mice until now and I don't see any traces of them anywhere else in the house - I'm checking daily !

If we can't get rid of them I don't know what next ? We cannot understand or see how they got in, it's a totally sealed new house, we only have trickle vents in the windows and even walking around outside there is black plastic sealing the roof with tiny vents for air to the attic. Could they get in the cavity and climb to the attic thru the cavity which is filled with insulation ? I'll upload a pic of roofline.

There are no trees overhanging the house, we live in the country so they are outside but can't understand how they got up into the attic - those we have caught are small so thankfully they are not rats. Can they climb a 2 storey plastered wall ?

We can keep trapping but we need to find out how they got in to stop them in future ? Please help

NufcNavan · 27-10-2014 2:53pm

Mice can climb anything, eat anything and can fit in any hole that is as small as their nose. Around this time of year is high time for mice indoors.

Just keep setting traps is all I'll say. Mars bar worked as a good bait for me. I caught 10 of them in my attic bedroom last year. Chances are you've a few more to go.

kylith · 27-10-2014 2:55pm

Hot buttered toast works well as bait. I've had good results with a sonic repeller, but YMMV.

aquarius10 · 27-10-2014 3:01pm

Has anyone had success with the sonic plug ins? We have a dog & someone said they can annoy the dog more than the mice ?

NufcNavan · 27-10-2014 3:10pm

aquarius10 wrote: »

Has anyone had success with the sonic plug ins? We have a dog & someone said they can annoy the dog more than the mice ?

I used it during and after putting down traps and the mice did not come back. It may have been just a placebo effect. Hard to tell how effective they are.

michael.dublin · 27-10-2014 3:21pm

ham in the traps works as well

kylith · 27-10-2014 4:24pm

aquarius10 wrote: »

Has anyone had success with the sonic plug ins? We have a dog & someone said they can annoy the dog more than the mice ?

The one I had didn't seem to bother the dogs at all. I didn't see any mice while I was using it either.

dave1982 · 27-10-2014 5:35pm

yes the sonic things work we had mice, tried traps was catching them but the sonic thing better.plus there no bodies

Galway K9 · 27-10-2014 5:38pm

I laugh at people that claim they love animals and killing mice . Just all possible passages into house blocked, use sonic things even to just get them out. I'm not comparing mice to a dog or anything but if not necessary to kill them, don't.

bitemeluis · 27-10-2014 5:41pm

Galway K9 wrote: »

I laugh at people that claim they love animals and killing mice . Just all possible passages into house blocked, use sonic things even to just get them out. I'm not comparing mice to a dog or anything but if not necessary to kill them, don't.

yes, build them a nice little clear path and kindly request they leave

mice aka rodents

Pretzill · 27-10-2014 6:29pm

When you live rural mice come to stay - they are particularly friendly this time of the year and normally invite the entire family. How you deal with them is a constant struggle of blocking up the tiniest of entry ways - little gaps around piping - making sure you close doors - checking fascia boards - dry lining etc.

In my opinion those plug in things attract mice! Keep any food stored tightly away - and don't lay poison - it's bloody dangerous and can circulate through the food chain - also damaging anything that preys on rodents. Humane traps need to be checked regularly and mice returned outdoors a good distance away - not always successful - my only argument for dispatching is that little teeth can do damage and there is a possibility of them shorting or worse still causing an electrical fire.

If you think you have a bad infestation I would call in the professionals.

But dissuading rodents should start in the early summer when you have light and time to check for easy entry ways and block them off. Also bear in mind that bins and composting bins, keeping fowl etc will encourage the mice around your property. Also having outhouses and sheds. I think it's like spiders coming in - they just see the house particularly the attic as another dry place to live - in the mices case a warm place to raise the family.

NufcNavan · 27-10-2014 6:43pm

Galway K9 wrote: »

I laugh at people that claim they love animals and killing mice . Just all possible passages into house blocked, use sonic things even to just get them out. I'm not comparing mice to a dog or anything but if not necessary to kill them, don't.

I think that is a bit of a pointless exercise. So you trap them in a box then go for a little car ride down the road and let them free in a big green field? They will come back, they carry disease and are a huge fire hazard due to their ability to chew through wires.

The sonic devise is only useful as a preventative tool. It is useless once they are in the house. It will annoy them but not enough to make them pack up and leave.

Galway K9 · 27-10-2014 8:49pm

NufcNavan wrote: »

I think that is a bit of a pointless exercise. So you trap them in a box then go for a little car ride down the road and let them free in a big green field? They will come back, they carry disease and are a huge fire hazard due to their ability to chew through wires.

The sonic devise is only useful as a preventative tool. It is useless once they are in the house. It will annoy them but not enough to make them pack up and leave.

I don't mean sound extremist or bleeding heart. Just trap them , let them go, block all passages into house and use sonic. Prob sorted without killing them? Just an idea. I closed up my grills and no mice since. It could bring you good karma.

NufcNavan · 27-10-2014 9:02pm

Galway K9 wrote: »

I don't mean sound extremist or bleeding heart. Just trap them , let them go, block all passages into house and use sonic. Prob sorted without killing them? Just an idea. I closed up my grills and no mice since. It could bring you good karma.

All well in theory, but I had loads of the f*ckers in my attic bedroom. I wasn't going to wait around and hope they'd leave. I set traps, caught on average 1-2 a night and reset. After two weeks, they were gone. They are vermin at the end of the day.

I lived in an attic bedroom in an old terraced house in Dublin. The floors were carpeted and there was a press for the boiler and insulation etc. so covering all potential entries in an old place like that was impossible. Best plan was to kill, reset and prevent through sonar.

Besides, all you are doing by releasing the mice is letting them breed even more and cause further problems for households in your area. Not what a good neighbour would do.

pawrick · 27-10-2014 9:11pm

If you have parrots would those sonic devices be a bad idea? I have no mice yet but have see them about the shed so only a matter of time I reckon. I bought a couple of the humane traps in b&q and they seem very flimsy and prone to setting off.

DBB · 27-10-2014 9:44pm

OP, I think you've got the best advice you're going to get thus far.
We will, one of these days, actually get around to implementing some new changes we plan to make to the charter, the major change will be that this forum will no longer host threads about killing mice, rats, or any other species deemed by some to be vermin.
It's just not the right forum for the topic.
So, on that note, and because I've a feeling in my waters that this thread is teetering on the brink of going down the same slippery slope that all of these threads go in this forum, I'm closing this thread now.
Thanks,
DBB

Mice in attic ! Help

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