Eviction!

[Stonehopper]

Mice that is, under the bonnet. Little devils are in there even after a couple of days parked on the drive. Problem is, we are surrounded by fields and hedges, and the spare wheel with a rag in for cushioning the jack and oil bottles make an ideal nest for lodgers! Cute little devils, and cheeky with it, but they're not house/car trained and pee on the bulkhead. Strong smell.

Disinfected and removed soft items. See what they think of that. Might bait them, but not keen on traps - caught one by its back leg once and it suffered. The GS sat on its haunches makes for easy access from beneath.

[CitroJim]

They've now gone to seek asylum in a Renault somewhere....

I've seen the damage mice can do and it can be very extensive...

[Peter.N.]

I had an XM parked up for a while outside the garage and opened the bonnet one day to see a pile of hazelnuts in the scuttle box.

We also live in the middle of nowhere and the other day we left half a packet of liquorice allsorts in the 406, the next day the packet was empty and there were several holes in the front seat where I think the grandchildren had dropped bits of sweets, or wiped their hands. Mice.

We have a perennial problem with mice in the house, they can get through such tiny holes you can't keep them out, they don't usually cause any problems and we have got used to them moving about above the ceiling, but we now have a serious problem with rats getting into the kitchen, I have blocked up every hole I can find and put all food in containers, I think we will have to get the pest controller in.

Peter

[Stickyfinger]

I had an XM parked up for a while outside the garage and opened the bonnet one day to see a pile of hazelnuts in the scuttle box.

We also live in the middle of nowhere and the other day we left half a packet of liquorice allsorts in the 406, the next day the packet was empty and there were several holes in the front seat where I think the grandchildren had dropped bits of sweets, or wiped their hands. Mice.

We have a perennial problem with mice in the house, they can get through such tiny holes you can't keep them out, they don't usually cause any problems and we have got used to them moving about above the ceiling, but we now have a serious problem with rats getting into the kitchen, I have blocked up every hole I can find and put all food in containers, I think we will have to get the pest controller in.

Peter

Rats:
just go get (from a Farming Suppliers) a box of "Rat-Packs".....Put these into some short 3 inch pipe or wire then to a metal tray so as to force them to eat it where they find it.
10 days and they will be gone.

Mice:
Spring (old school) Mice traps with raisins on them....they are stupid animals and will keep coming back to the same spot. 1st 3rd 5th etc nights just bait it, the next day bait and set it.

[DickieG]

I've found chocolate works a "treat" with mice.

[CitroJim]

I've found chocolate works a "treat" with mice.

Nobody can resist chocolate Richard!

Little known fact. Mice don't actually like cheese...

[Stickyfinger]

I've found chocolate works a "treat" with mice.

But it is bad for them

[Peter.N.]

Thanks for the tips. I have set a couple of traps in the kitchen on their known route but if this doesn't work I will try the 'rat packs' I don't think chocolate would hurt for their last meal.

The mice are not to much of a problem, as we are in the middle of a farm we have learn't to coexist with them, some of them are dear little things.

Peter

[Stonehopper]

Bad for me too - but still I eat it!

The best chocolate bait is Snickers - they can't resists the peanut/chocolate combination. Peanut butter is a favourite too, but despite smearing it on blocks like 'Jaguar', they (rats that is) keep coming back for more. The types of rat bait recently used are the blue powder (forgotten the name), Neosorexia a sort of blue/green granular stuff, Jade grain and Ruby grain. Ruby grain has had the most effect, all the others seem to act as food only. Though it has to be said that the activity has reduced since I started baiting a couple of years ago. Our back patch of grass was criss-crossed with rat runs like a road map of the West End! Given the blue stuff and their droppings were blue all over the shop. Back then it was nothing to see five at a time scoffing the bird food in broad daylight, and if you see one on the surface there'll be seven more underground. Lately we don't see much boldness, just the odd one now and then - but nothing has eradicated them completely. But with acres of rough pasture all around, and a large pond ringed with saplings and scrub, there will always be rats about. One spark suggested a gun, but being mostly nocturnal, and needing to be sat ready for what might be days if not hours for a shot it's a non-starter. Our previous neighbours had dogs which were good ratters, but their antics in digging holes after the rats was almost as big a problem as the rats themselves!! None in the house thank heavens - concrete and screed floors, though they undermine footings, aprons and any patio slabs.

Prattling again, but one of my former occupations was on the Council attached to the public health department as Rodent Operative, their official title of a rat catcher. We used to mix our own bait, grain with a food rated oil and warfarin. Mostly worked, but only mostly. No rats and we were out of a job! If the infestation was very bad the team would go out with gas, though only used on sites like sewage farms. We'd see evidence of some chewing through mortar and poor concrete. A very resilient and artful creature.

[elma]

Go to an animal shelter and ask for a cat that hates people and kills everything. Rodents seem to move out enthusiastically when killer cats move in.

[CitroJim]

I had a cat like that once... Hateful bloody thing....

[Peter.N.]

We have two cats and a German shepherd, I think they just look at them, the cats are 19 and 17 years old so I suppose that's an excuse. Perhaps we need a younger one. Our sons got one that kills everything, perhaps we should borrow that, don't know that it would get on with the dog though.

Peter

[CitroJim]

Yes, the younger the cat the better mouser they are Peter...

[Stonehopper]

Ah - cats. We had one who would see off German Shepherds. We had neighbours whose two GSD's would go 'ape' when seeing our cat, who would parade teasingly along their boundary. After two weeks, the cat - Morgan Pugwash (we lived afloat then), had not only entered their sanctuary, but had evicted them from their bed and taken residence while the dogs sat back in astonishment at such affront. Impotent, defeated. Wonderful cat. RIP.

[myglaren]

Passed on some of this info to my daughter - she had a puddle in the kitchen, blamed the dog until it reappeared a couple of times.
Mice eaten through the waste hose from the dishwasher.
They have tried poison but when they checked the mice had eaten it and brought their own Snickers and Roses chocolates for dessert.