Rodents in The Roof

I believe I have rats and/or mice in the roof as I'm hearing the tearing of roof glass wool batt insulation and feet movement on occasion in my roof.

In the past, I've used Ratsak blue wax blocks and bait stations which worked well previously. However, I've noticed they are no longer taking the bait and have had a professional pest control team come out to inspect the house and bait. They've come out twice and used the same type of bait used at Woolworths and Coles, and have placed bait stations in the roof, in the garage and under the air conditioners. They've said that I've done everything I need to do like seal any gaps/holes as well as properly dispose of and manage food scraps.

Unfortunately, I think the rats and/or mice have learnt to steer clear of the bait stations as I'm still hearing movements in the roof.

I'm thinking of using glue traps and a DIY bucket mouse trap (found on the internet) and baiting them with cheese and peanut butter. I also heard that ammonia soaked rags help to repel rodents, which I'm thinking of using after the glue traps and DIY bucket mouse trap has had some effect.

I'm wondering what others have done to solve a similar issue.

Comments

  • +2

    Please don't use baits. The mice eat them, then die, then wildlife such as eagles eat them, and then they die too. Plus having mice decomposing in your roof is not the nicest thing.

    I personally use bucket traps and find they do the job fine.

    I'd recommend getting a pest control company involved for longer term - look at sealing your roof space to stop them getting in.

    • +1

      Also OP, glue bait traps for rodents are illegal the state of VIC (not sure of other state laws).

      • Thank you for letting me know.

  • +3

    Have you found rodent droppings? The size of the droppings will tell you whether it's a rat/mouse/something else. This will also tell you where to place the bait / trap, and what sort of trap to use.

    • Yes, I've found droppings in the garage and under the aircon. The droppings were small, so I could assume their mice Those two spots have been baited already. I also found the skeleton of a dead mouse in the roof too.

      • But there wasnt a lot of droppings

      • +1

        Any high-pitched squeaking noises? They could be microbats. Here's what their droppings look like.

        • I have heard squeaking, but very little. It's mostly scratching, gnawing and the sound of my insulation getting torn. Like they're eating it

  • -1

    We had a mouse living in our wallspace and baits didn't work - but it turned out it was a cartoon mouse. In the end we got ourselves a cartoon cat.

    He's not very good at his job, but the accompanying soundtrack is nice. The sound effects might wake you up from time to time, but you get used to the PANG sound of a frypan hitting a face fairly quickly.

  • +1

    Are you sure it's Rodents and not Possums? They sound the same.

    Try scattering mothballs in your roofspace, if its Possums they'll leave as they hate the smell.

    • +2

      Possums sound like someone running across your roof, mice/rats sound like scritching and scratching.

      • The movement in the roof is faint but scratching can be heard.

  • +2

    I recommend you watch a few of Shawn's videos and get some ideas on how to approach your situation whether it be mice or rats
    https://www.youtube.com/c/ShawnWoodsprimitive-archer/videos

    After having one troublesome mouse that wouldn't take any bait i watched one of Shawn's videos of an Australian walk the plank style trap (PLANKY B Mouse Trap) and bought two as it comes in a twin pack the first night i caught the little bugger
    I highly recommend that trap
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LmTLmK7sbk

    • Thank you. Much appreciated.

  • +1

    What are politicians doing in your roof?!

  • +1

    get a victor mouse trap, put some peanut butter as bait

    i caught mine that way, that problem went away real quick

    • But now the roof is overrun with victors.

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