Mice in attic - how to get rid of?

Don't be afraid of them - they're much more afraid of you than you are of them. They run pretty fast, but usually away from you!! If you are going into a room where you think they may be, bring a sweeping brush, you can actually corner a mouse with a sweeping brush prior to whacking him with a shovel!

Forget humane traps, it's your house and you have to get rid of mice, just kill them. Mice are not an endangered species.
 
Heard a long time ago that its too easy for them to get the cheese out of the trap and that the rind of a rasher is better. Its longer and delays them getting away.
 
The humane traps I used are made by rentokill & are called trap-ease. I bought them in a local hardware shop so I'm most type of hardware shops would stock them.
Regarding normal vs humane traps - I've tried both & the humane ones were more effective in my experience.
 
All any creature needs and seeks is a warm secure place to nest and a food supply. If you don't want rats, mice or other rodents in your immediate vicinity (it might be interesting to you to know that city-dwellers are never more than 5' away from at least one rat!) then don't feed them! Be scrupulously clean and if you have a nesting mouse it will very shortly relocate.

Or alternatively KILL! KILL! KILL! .........and hope there's no truth in the idea of Karma. ;)
 
I found chocolate and bacon better than the cheese in the traps.
It doesn't really matter though - if they are hungry they will go for it.

Just make sure to only put a tiny bit in and squash it in to the little hole in the wooden traps - if its too big then they can pull it out without the trap going off.
 
just a quick update! bf checked the traps this eve and nothing so i put a bit of ham in the trap that i had the cheese in! maybe they will come out at night as we seem to hear them alot at night!
 
An aside to your squeamishness about killing them......mice are double incontinent and if they're in your attic they don't just stay there! They're bound to be running around your work surfaces - mmmm mouse wee and poo on your sandwiches...lovely. :eek:

It is unlikely that you have any tiles broken anywhere, a mouse can get in a hole the size of a pencil - I don't know how! One female mouse can have 5-10 litters a year of 3-14 young, (average 6-8) thats a lot of meeces running around your home. And who's to say that after you set them free, they don't come back in!!

We've found chocolate or bacon rind to be best thing to set the traps with, although to be honest they'll eat pretty much anything. Best of luck getting rid!
 
Well sounds as if whatever is in OP's attic will have plenty of energy for breeding from the varied delicious menu - cheese, chocolate, bacon etc., etc. - being laid out. Look forward to hearing how this one goes!
 
A few years ago I set a spring loaded trap. The mouse got 'half caught' in it, and I heard it banging around with trap attached. I had to swiftly put the poor thing out of its misery.

That was the last spring loaded trap I set. It was humane traps from then on.
 
It sounds to me like a rat. I have a relation who got rats into their house and they made their way up to the attic through the access for the hot press and water pipes. Then they started building nests or whatever it is they build using socks etc. (this is true, I saw it for myself).

They ended up catching 5 and it took them nearly a month to get them all using traps, poison and even ferrets!! Traps got some and the poison also got 1 which left a smell under the floorboards upstairs(it's how they new it was there...had to lift the carpet/floorboards etc).
They also were told to change any traps that caught a rat as it leaves it's smell and then others won't go for that trap again.

Hope this helps.
 
hi all.

Well just another update! since we put the mouse traps up there still havent caught anything and their right where we heard the noises. Actually got some sleep last night didnt hear a word. Did hear some noise this morning though like something was walking along!! :eek:
Have called pest people and there sending someone tomorrow, if not tomorrow def monday. The guy on the phone said it probably isnt a mouse as we wouldnt hear it running around as there so small..so with bird,bat,or rat!

mloc is there different traps for rats? like we just have 2wooden mouse ones.

Roll on tomorrow so can see what is up there!!:(
 
Yes the traps are a lot biger then mousetraps, you can also get rat traps with a serrated edge where the trap comes down to make sure the job gets done properly. I don't think a mouse trap will kill a rat, just give them a fright. Chances are though that if the mouse traps have not gone off then it's not a rat either (though they are very wily).
It could be a bird, common problem in attics. They get in and fooster around for a while before getting back out. I took a futon frame out of my folks attic over Christmas and it had bird poo on it but nobody had heard a bird up there so it could be this too.
It's certainly a more welcoming prospect then a rat. Have you tried sending your bf up yet with a torch to investigate?
 
hiya mloc,

haha bf he seems to be more afraid that I am!! It was hard enough to get him to put the traps in there. It was just up quickly and out quickly. We were scare in case one seen the opening and jumped down the hole! I know that whatever it is probably hid whenever it heard noise but still scared! He was also scared when checking the traps...Im telling ya il be slagging him forever over this! Yes would rather have a bird than a rat. I sleep with the torch under my pillow and the mop beside my bed just in case.
 
help-me said:
hi all.

Well just another update! since we put the mouse traps up there still havent caught anything and their right where we heard the noises. Actually got some sleep last night didnt hear a word. Did hear some noise this morning though like something was walking along!! :eek:
Have called pest people and there sending someone tomorrow, if not tomorrow def monday. The guy on the phone said it probably isnt a mouse as we wouldnt hear it running around as there so small..so with bird,bat,or rat!

mloc is there different traps for rats? like we just have 2wooden mouse ones.

Roll on tomorrow so can see what is up there!!:(
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That pest guy obviously doesn't know what he's talking about. As I said on a previous post we had mice & you wouldn't believe the noise they could make. Anyway after I caught five of them I haven't had a problem since.
And I reiterate that the humane traps are definitely more effective in my experience. Having said that - if you are both squeamish I suppose it would be difficult for you to set them free afterwards?
 
The guy on the phone said it probably isnt a mouse as we wouldnt hear it running around as there so small..so with bird,bat,or rat!
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We had mice in the cavity between the ceiling of downstairs and the floor upstairs. We could hear them moving about above the livingroom. I was convinced it was rats because the noise was so loud. In the end we caught two mice and they were small enough. They made a hell of a racket!
 
except most cats wouldn't kill a rat....my nan can remember going out her back garden and seeing her cats up a tree and the rats eating out their bowl!!! :eek: A jack russell terrier is great for catching rats........
 
i thought it was mice not rats. god rats give me the hebee gebees
 
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