Aaaargh unwelcome house guests

[FionaH]

its the people under the stairs whooooooooooohoooooooooo! they will come to get you later when u sleep lol x

You are soooooo evil AL

Edible dormouse! Pest in some houses, treasured rare wildlife in some others. Not so much in Lincs - more in Herts and Bucks.

So when she catches them she can cook them?

[bubblewrap]

its the people under the stairs whooooooooooohoooooooooo! they will come to get you later when u sleep lol x

The Borrowers?

[Jax]

I dont know where they are getting in I think Ill just call someone out to deal with it. I tried calling my dad but he was very unsympathetic teehee Im a big girls blouse hehe. My husband isnt great with that sort of thing either.

[weekendwellies]

If your gerbils are jumpy its probably either rats or owls or snakes.
Mice wouldn't bother them as a gerbil will kill a mouse in a fight.

[Jax]

HOLD ON SNAKES!!!!! Deep breath and count to ten

Im fairly sure its not snakes as they dont really jump as far as I know. Could be owls in the attic but, Im not an expertbut, Im assuming they wouldnt be in the floor boards.

[Jax]

I wouldnt mind borrowers, wouldnt notice the stuff going missing as I loose everything anyways.

So we are pretty much looking at rats. Are there no rarer animals that arent so horrible that could have set up residence. Not bats as the house is too new and had the bat people check and confirm last year.

[Glutton4...]

We had 'Rolands' in the loft of our last house. Blimmin things climbed up the Sky cable attached to the outside wall! We knew this as it had started to stretch and come away from the wall between the fixing points.

Turns out, when the roof was replaced a couple of years earlier, the roofers forgot to put some boards back, thus leaving a gap for the little chuffers to get in. I put the cat in the loft once, and she immediately went rigid and her tail fluffed out like a Squirrel!

Sometimes I'd be woken at stoopid o'clock by what sounded like the England Rugby Team in the loft (It wasn't )

[sewer rat]

Could be squirrels ?

[FionaH]

Sometimes I'd be woken at stoopid o'clock by what sounded like the England Rugby Team in the loft (It wasn't )

Shame that

[vikkib]

Could be squirrels ?

I was thinking possibly squirrels.

Friends of ours had a run of bad luck a couple of years ago. They had a problem with mice and 6 months after a problem with squirrels... the consensus was the squirrels were the worst... a lot more destructive.

Never thought I'd say it but fingers crossed it's mice!

[Incy]

Hmm..we have something munching inside our cavity wall..tis either rats/mice or stone martins....they really sound like they are munching on beams and not nuts

Nicos get it checked out! My Dad lives a little further south than you and they found deathwatch beetle recently. He's been having to take the whole ceiling down and replace all the beams.

[bluemoon]

This reminds me of some wealthy great aunts, neither of whom married and who lived together in a huge, old, rambling house until they both passed away in their 90s. They were of the generation which didn't trust banks. A note to my gran told her where to find the cash, but unfortunately the mice had found it first, stuffed under the floorboards, and had used it for bedding. There were apparently white fivers under there as well as more recent currency. All of it shredded and useless.

[SlugLobber]

It does sound like rats, sorry. A friend of mine has an ongoing problem as the neighbour doesn't give diddly squat, so they're onto a loser dealing with them as it's a semi-detached. They rarely squeak, only when they're dying apparently (they have poison in the cavity walls). They make a right racket when they're running around in between the floors. Said friend is currently having the ground floor laid with concrete, to see if it helps, but I don't hold much hope for him.

If it were only the loft, I'd go with squirrels, but floorboards and scuttling, that's rats. Mice are much quieter and less elephantile. I have experience of both, having been round my friend's house when the rats are 'playing out'!

[organic]

I'm sorry to say, if it's mice or rats you'll have a tough time getting rid.

It's not your problem, it's your STREET's problem.

My aunt had mice recently, the council were less than useless for a good while... eventually they started putting poison down which was only a short term solution as the neighbours weren't all on the same page. Some simply didn't think they were a problem and wanted them left alone, others were dumb enough to actually FEED the things. (Apparently the fact they are incontinent and dribble urine everywhere they go didn't bother some of them).

A while after they finally got the problem sorted out... rats started showing up. Again it didn't matter how tidy and anti-rat some neighbours were, the ones who didn't care and left habitat and food for them (intentionally or otherwise) kept the problem going.


Back to the OP though...
...have you seen anything that looks like small, black grains of rice? If so you've probably got mice. In the case of mice there are a few bits of advice.
1> Keep all food covered well (preferably away completely in cupboards mice could not get into).
2> Use disinfectant cleaners on work surfaces before doing any sort of food preparation.
3> Talk to your neighbours about the problem and get them to take appropriate steps too.
4> Put down a thin layer of talc by skirting boards, holes and so on. If there are mice about you'll see small footprints in the mornings.
5> Keep in mind that if you can insert a pencil into a hole or crack, the chances are a mouse could squeeze through it (their ability to flatten themselves through seemingly impossible gaps is quite astounding).

Good luck sorting it out.

[Eco-Chic]

I heard something line dancing in the loft night after night and it was driving me crazy. Upon investigation I noticed a cardboard box had been chewed at the corners and found some grains of black 'rice'. I scooped it into an envelope and called the pest control people. Didn't believe the first two on the telephone that it was unlikely to be mice or rats but was probably squirrels. I believed the 3rd and they had a look round and advised it was squirrel poo but probably only one (noisy boogger). My neighbour and I had to fill all the gaps under the roof where they could enter with wire wool and chicken wire and fill all the gaps in the shared walls to stop toing and froing if they got in again. Not been troubled since.

I wonder if those plug in ultrasonic pulse thingwees work on squirrels? I have two which have worked on mice and most crawlies and should work on rats. They emit a pulsed sound which gives the critters a headache and makes them want to leave the scene of the noise and puts them off bonking