Mice in sloped roof

[Ofimerl]

Hi all

I will do a project post before too long. Have recently moved into a cottage of uncertain age (dated 1831 but likely somewhat earlier) and am experiencing all the joys of beginning to breathe some new life into it.

First though, I was wondering if anyone has come up with an effective way to deter mice from the roof gap of room-in-roof type cottage bedrooms. Our bedroom is open to the main roof beam, with plasterboard between the purlins and a space between that and the slates, possibly slightly insulated, which is open to the eaves (nicely ventilated…).

Every night we are hearing scratching of mice walking around above us. Not fun. Problem is there is nowhere to put traps/poison/deterrent because it’s in the ceiling!

Do others with a similar ceiling/roof structure have any solutions? Surely blocking the eaves is a no go given the need to ventilate the underside of the slates to avoid condensation? What else can we try?

Thanks

 

[Cubist]

Problem is there is nowhere to put traps/poison/deterrent because it’s in the ceiling!

Put a suitably baited trap(s) where you want to catch them not where they nest - they have legs and do use them to forage for food. You can also test this by leaving a chocolate biscuit on a saucer overnight. When you return in the morning the chocolate coating will be gone but the base will be left behind.

 

[noj]

I'd second @Cubist, we had a similar thing when we moved in here but multiplied since they were running around in the walls too (weatherboard externally, lath and plaster internally). No sign of mice inside but they'll be there - a few traps and a fairly feral tom cat and they were silent in about a week. Traps needed emptying every morning for a few days and didn't need much cat food!

 

[Cubist]

BTW - if the whole biscuit disappears, its the other half playing at being a mouse.

 

[Gothichome]

The other option is get a cat. When we first bought our home the mice were using the floor joists as super highways to get around the house. The place was riddled with mice. Traps and more traps did the job over time. We didn’t have a cat at that time. Once we did though, a couple times a week the cat presented us with a gift dropped in front of our feet.

 

[Ofimerl]

We have two cats! They’ve been kept inside for now and to be fair we’ve had no problems there. I imagine things will improve outside too once they go out.

I hadn’t thought about just putting traps in places other than where they are nesting though - duh! Thanks for the advice all. Will get to it.

 

[paulc]

Have a cat. The darned thing will bring mice, rats, and the occasional bird in. Sometimes, these are still alive, and he just lets them run around without killing them. A previous cat would sit in the middle of the kitchen floor and watch the mice run around. Never bothered to catch them.... Having a cat is not always a deterrent.

As for scratching sounds in a loft - Could it be birds ?
Used to have starlings nesting under my eaves until a bird comb was fitted under the edge of the tiles. No more scratching heard.

 

[Cubist]

As the First Lady would tell you, I, do not like moggies!
They are disobedient, feckless and indolent, vain and contemptuous, demanding and neglectful, always underfoot and careless of becoming a trip or mis-step hazard. And after causing the accident that kills you the little scrotes will happily munch your face until another sucker comes along cooing Ooooh isn't he/she a little darling?

I'll gladly stick to the traditional traps thanks all the same rather than invest in one of those pernickety perishers.

By the way, and as @paulc points out it may not be mice. Here we have bats in some parts of the loft, which are protected of course, families of blue tits, and occasional loners of that kind, that often take up residence under the eaves. The most annoying though is the family of nuthatches that return every year to the box the First Lady sited in the boughs of a decorative crabapple next to the house - they can, when cracking nuts seem to be as noisy as the blokes with pneumatic drills.

 

[paulc]

As the First Lady would tell you, I, do not like moggies!
They are disobedient, feckless and indolent, vain and contemptuous, demanding and neglectful, always underfoot and careless of becoming a trip or mis-step hazard. And after causing the accident that kills you the little scrotes will happily munch your face until another sucker comes along cooing Ooooh isn't he/she a little darling?

Some don't even wait until you are dead before snacking on the body. Mine will often sit on the back of the armchair licking the top of my head. At other times, chew on my fingers (usually early in the morning when I'm in bed).
As for opinions on interior decoration, he showed his dislike of my choice of wallpaper by scratching great chunks off the stairwell wall within a week or so of it going up.
On the plus side, cat does get rid of spiders very effectively when I bring an odd one or two in with the logs. Has also caught flying insects in mid-air.

 

[noj]

They're not always effective...

 

[Cubist]

And @noj offering above reminds me - earlier this year a whole garlic bulb seemed to go missing from our kitchen and was found lodged behind a cabinet in the dining hall. Given the weight of the cabinet, and wanting to protect its contents - my Single Malts collection - it took me a day or two to get around to fishing said garlic bulb out. Having initially thought it had fallen from a shopping bag on its way to the kitchen I was little surprised to find a dormouse had in fact stolen it and was doing its best to keep it from me - said dormouse, being a protected species, together with its prize, were nevertheless shown the door.

 

[Flyfisher]

As for scratching sounds in a loft - Could it be birds ?
Used to have starlings nesting under my eaves until a bird comb was fitted under the edge of the tiles. No more scratching heard.

We have swifts nesting under our pantiles every year and they can be noisy at times but we're used to it and I haven't the heart to try to prevent them nesting after they've flown all the way from Africa or wherever. Besides, it's only a for a few months of the year.

As for mice, I entirely agree with cubist, no need to worry about where they are nesting just put a baited trap in their vicinity and they'll find it during their regular 'walkabouts'. Has worked for me over the years.