There is a rodent in my loft.....

[Nottseagull]

I have recently been living with at least two mice in my kitchen. I'm going to have to shell out £3.99 for a humane mousetrap, which claims it can catch up to four at a time. But I have discovered that you can buy mice paper - that's fly paper for mice! It's in our local pound shop (4 sheets), but I don't know how effective it would be for an adult rat who would probably just eat the paper around the stuck foot; they have been known to chew off their own leg when trapped.

 

[NMH]

All sterling advice.

I must add to this thread with some serious warnings though, I feel, Mr McKenzie;
IF you poison said creature, it will die.....inside your house.....somewhere small and tight like under the floorboards or behind a wall......and it will rot.....and get maggots.......which will become flies. And it will stench YOU out of your own dwellings with the awful odour of decomposing innerds and body!

IF you set a rat-trap that kills (i.e. a huge mousetrap device), but it gets set off and the rat escapes untrapped, it will have learnt, and won't go near that device no matter how juicy is the bait.

I humbly suggest you forgo the large expenditure of an exterminator, and plump for the 'humane trap' method. Not to be nice and gentle to Mr Rat, but to be sure to catch it, unwitting and in all its' glory.
Then, you can either give it to a pet-shop as food for a boa constrictor or something, or take it far far away beyond any hope of return - or kill it yourself.
Beware letting it go free within any small distance, especially as the rat may have a family and be willing to run tens of miles back to rejoin them.

 

[NMH]

I have recently been living with at least two mice in my kitchen. I'm going to have to shell out £3.99 for a humane mousetrap, which claims it can catch up to four at a time. But I have discovered that you can buy mice paper - that's fly paper for mice! It's in our local pound shop (4 sheets), but I don't know how effective it would be for an adult rat who would probably just eat the paper around the stuck foot; they have been known to chew off their own leg when trapped.

I once did the humane sticky-trap method, which was actually supposed to be less humane - because the shop advised I simply throw the trap away once it has a mouse stuck on it! I didn't want to throw a trapped animal in the bin to die of starvation or whatever - so I peeled every mouse I caught off the traps, and set them free in a field some miles away from my home.
Yep, you might have guessed it - they returned!

 

[Questions]

I once did the humane sticky-trap method, which was actually supposed to be less humane - because the shop advised I simply throw the trap away once it has a mouse stuck on it! I didn't want to throw a trapped animal in the bin to die of starvation or whatever - so I peeled every mouse I caught off the traps, and set them free in a field some miles away from my home.
Yep, you might have guessed it - they returned!

How did you know it was the same mice ?
Did you tag them.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I really hate rats, and I can hear it scratching about up there above my bed (for the last two nights).


I've put some poison out, but have any of you tried one of those ultrasonic rat deterrents? It'll need to be battery operated as there isn't a socket in the loft.


Any advice will be appreciated

I get that every Winter. It's deffo squirrels. They seek shelter in lofts when the temperature plummets. They go through the roof when the temperature goes through the floor, as it were.

First year it happened, I called in Rentokil. Blokey lumbered around the loft space putting down squirrel poison. Emerged rubbing hands saying 'Right that's all done, them squirrels will soon be poisoned' or somesuch. 'Good work!' exclaims THPP returning the rubbing hands thing 'when will you be back to remove the bodies?'. Rentokil bloke: 'Um, sorry, YOU have to do that'. Believe me, after the first year of lifting dead squirrels tail-first into tiny body-bags, you'll be happy to let them scurry around your loft space, then hibernate, then bugger orf for the next three-quarters of the year. Fact.

 

[Nottseagull]

How did you know it was the same mice ?

They moved very sluggishly as they had sticky feet!

 

[NMH]

How did you know it was the same mice ?
Did you tag them.

After 22 catches, you gets to RECKERNIZE the little fuckers.

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

It's probably a poltergeist. Call in a priest.

 

[Lush]

Believe me, after the first year of lifting dead squirrels tail-first into tiny body-bags, you'll be happy to let them scurry around your loft space, then hibernate, then bugger orf for the next three-quarters of the year. Fact.

And eat through your wiring? And gnaw through the joists? And lump your loft insulation into nesty-shapes? And nibble your Xmas deccies?

 

[Voice of Reason]

It'll be mice. Caught 2 of the little pests just recently with a proper 99p mouse trap. Magic. All quiet at night now.

 

[Nottseagull]

After 22 catches, you gets to RECKERNIZE the little fuckers.

Catch 22 situation, then?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Get the council rat man to visit you. It should be free of charge for a domestic property. These guys are BRILLIANT at getting rid of the buggers.

I called in the rat man last week to look at the place I work in. He's laid poison down and will come back in a couple of weeks to check how effective it's been. He was saying that there is a big increase in the number of rats in Brighton and Hove at the moment and about half of them are carrying Weil's disease. Having seen a training video about the dangers of catching Weil's disease, my advice is ... KILL THEM NOW.

They particularly like coming indoors when it's COLD outside.

Sleep well, everyone. And don't have nightmares.

 

[Nottseagull]

Get the council rat man to visit you. It should be free of charge for a domestic property. These guys are BRILLIANT at getting rid of the buggers.

I called in the rat man last week to look at the place I work in. He's laid poison down and will come back in a couple of weeks to check how effective it's been. He was saying that there is a big increase in the number of rats in Brighton and Hove at the moment and about half of them are carrying Weil's disease. Having seen a training video about the dangers of catching Weil's disease, my advice is ... KILL THEM NOW.

They particularly like coming indoors when it's COLD outside.

Sleep well, everyone. And don't have nightmares.

I've read reports of healthy people dying within a week of contracting Weil's disease. Did he say if any other species can carry it, such as my mice?

 

[Gully]

I've read reports of healthy people dying within a week of contracting Weil's disease. Did he say if any other species can carry it, such as my mice?

Which is why I have always thought it a bit strange that people drink straight from beer bottles...which may have been stored in that nice dark cellar, where the rats run all over them and leave their oh so unpleasant mark behind...won't look so cool when you have Weils will you!

 

[Nottseagull]

Which is why I have always thought it a bit strange that people drink straight from beer bottles...which may have been stored in that nice dark cellar, where the rats run all over them and leave their oh so unpleasant mark behind...won't look so cool when you have Weils will you!

Good God Gully, I never thought of that! Is there no Hygiene Regulation saying the tops of bottles should be thoroughly cleaned/sterilised? They are, after all, being used as glasses.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I've read reports of healthy people dying within a week of contracting Weil's disease. Did he say if any other species can carry it, such as my mice?

Yep.

It's usually transmitted through the urine of an infected animal coming into contact with a small open wound, or even just a scratch. Mice and rats pee on the floors of houses. Even diluted urine can cause infection - dogs sometimes catch it from drinking from a puddle that an infected mouse or rat has peed in.

Symptoms of the disease (also called leptospirosis) include high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may include jaundice, red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and/or a rash. The symptoms in humans appear after a 4-14 day incubation period. Complications include meningitis, extreme fatigue, respiratory distress, and renal interstitial tubular necrosis, which results in renal failure and often liver failure. Cardiovascular problems are also possible.

Approximately 5-50% of severe leptospirosis cases are fatal; but don't worry ... such cases only constitute about 10% of all registered incidents.

 

[Gully]

Good God Gully, I never thought of that! Is there no Hygiene Regulation saying the tops of bottles should be thoroughly cleaned/sterilised? They are, after all, being used as glasses.

Don't think so, I think you will find that most pubs store their beer in the cellar to keep it cold, then they bring it up to the bar and fling it in the fridges...before selling it to the unsuspecting punters! The bottles will definitely be sterilised before the beer is put in them at the brewery...unlikely that the pub will repeat the process after the beer has been stored in their rat infested cellar.

 

[Nottseagull]

Yep.

It's usually transmitted through the urine of an infected animal coming into contact with a small open wound, or even just a scratch. Mice and rats pee on the floors of houses. Even diluted urine can cause infection - dogs sometimes catch it from drinking from a puddle that an infected mouse or rat has peed in.

Symptoms of the disease (also called leptospirosis) include high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may include jaundice, red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and/or a rash. The symptoms in humans appear after a 4-14 day incubation period. Complications include meningitis, extreme fatigue, respiratory distress, and renal interstitial tubular necrosis, which results in renal failure and often liver failure. Cardiovascular problems are also possible.

Approximately 5-50% of severe leptospirosis cases are fatal; but don't worry ... such cases only constitute about 10% of all registered incidents.

This is getting serious now, LB. I have an open, dried "cut" on one finger caused by eczema and I have been handling all manner of stuff in my kitchen over the last fortnight that they might have been on. I don't think they have been above floor level as I have left flour out at strategic points on my work surfaces, but there are no footprints yet. I'll keep you informed of the situation (Unless, that is, I suddenly stop posting. For good...........)

 

[Twinkle Toes]

This lil' old rodent conundrum has jogged my memory! I remember a mate of mine who had a pesky mouse loose about their hoouse - & try as they might, they just couldn't nail the wee bugger. In the end, said friend decided to write a note to the cheeky intruder: politely asking it to find alternative accommodation. And guess what? The furry funsta wasn't seen again!!

Not sure if this cunning stunt would work with loft-based Rats or Squizzers, but it's gotta be worth a go ain't it?? Although it goes without saying: best leave a torch by the note too, as your noisey chum's eyesight may not be quite 20/20 'n' that.

ps Might be an idea to write out your plea in Esperanto 'n' all - just in case your intruder don't speaka da English innit.

Good luck, & tell us how you get on!

 

[Nottseagull]

Good luck, & tell us how you get on!

Your actually being serious, aren't you.