On Wednesday, October 28, 2020 at 1:25:21 PM UTC, Simon T wrote:
Last year I had a couple of mice up in my loft, which I duly caught.
However I also noticed rat droppings up there.

Noticed an end tile on the roof, where it meets the brickline, was
raised up slightly, owing to the way the edge had been cemented, so
plugged the gap up wth some expanding foam. Cleared the rat droppings up
from the loft and had no more problems since.

That was until a couple of months back when I noticed a strange smell
coming from the same corner where that tile was. I noticed that the
birds had pecked a hole in the expanding foam and had been popping in
and out of the eves, so figured the mice had got back in again.

I put the traps back up, but they didn't attract anything. Until a few
weeks back, when I noticed one of them had sprung, although nothing was
in it and the bait hadn't been touched...

Then I found more rat droppings nearby.

Anyway, I plugged the hole under the tile again and this time coated it
with bitumen, to stop the birds pecking at it. Got myself a bait box,
which I set up near the corner, where I found the droppings, and put one
of those internet security cameras which would alert me if anything came
around.

Been up there about a month, the bait hasnt been touched and nothing on
the camera. Until a few days back when the camera duly recorded a rat
sniffing about near the bait box.

Sadly it didnt go inside and take the bait.

I live in a semi-detatched house. Spoke to the neighbour, who says she
also heard something in the loft scurrying about the following morning.

So, I'm now trying to work out where this blighter is getting in and out
and what it's living on? There's no food up there, no water. I don't
believe its bitten through the foam filler, although without going up my
ladder to double check, its difficult to say 100%

On the neighbours side, there's a couple of holes in the wall from when
the previous occupants had a new bathroom fitted, but didnt bother
plugging up the gaps from when they moved the sink and bath. However,
the cavities are filled with, what appears to be, loose insulation. So
could this thing be burrowing its way in and out through the insulation?




--
Best Wishes
Simon T

--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

I've caught a couple of ratty things (or big mice at any rate) with spring traps baited with peanut butter. The traps are Rentokil FR51s, got them from Homebase.

We've got an ancient house, thick rubble walls and lath and plaster and there's no way I'm putting down poison, I'd never find the corpse without a pneumatic drill and sledge hammer.