Mouse control

Mice or rats in the loft need to be dealt with quickly

This week has seen a rapid increase in the number of rodent problems we have been called out to deal with.

The first indication most people have is the scratching and noise in the loft – usually above their beds at about 3 am! Whilst they always sound really load, it is fairly difficult to diagnose the cause of the problem without going into the loft to gather evidence of which rodent is the culprit. In some cases, its really easy to spot – large rat poos, runs and urine spots – others take  a little bit longer.

I was in a loft earlier this week and the owners had not long moved in. People are generally pretty scared of going into the loft in case they come “face to face” with a rat – but meetings like this are pretty rare. When I got in the loft, I could not smell any evidence of rodents (normally a pretty good indication of the issue is the unmistakable smell of rats).

As I went further down the loft, it was obvious that the previous owner had issues – it was like a minefield of old mouse bait stations, rat bait stations, mouse traps, rat traps and even a live catch cage. Also, they had plastered florescent  tracer powder everywhere. We use this powder to establish route, espcially entry and exit points. Basically, it is a harmless florescent powder which you lightly dust a target area with. The rodent then walks across the dust, covering its feet and tail in tracer powder and goes about its business. By using a black light torch, we can then trace the routes used – a small amount goes a long way. This also shows the best place to put baits, traps and glue boards as they like to follow the same routes.

When I switched the black light torch on, it looked like a crazy 70’s disco! A so much powder had been scattered about, everything was covered, making this technique totally useless.

I did find some new evidence of mouse activity, and duly provided a suitable treatment to deal with the problem. In most cases, the problem will be mice, however

It is important to deal with problems of mice and rats in the loft as most house fires are caused by rodents chewing through electrical cables – which they love doing.

So if you hear those things that go bump in the night, contact us now or call 01636 247192 for a fast and discrete service to deal with your rodent problems.