Mice and electrics

It’s happened … the furry things have shorted out one circuit, which I can live with, but at the height of Storm Bert they had a go at more wiring. Now all lighting gone, but circuits not tripped. At least hifi on a spur and working for now. I think I know where they come in, and I do control them, but this is a bite too far.

Anyone with experience of such problem?
Solutions such as feed them better are not welcome, however humorous!

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Buy a Cat ?!

:mouse: + :black_cat: = :black_cat: !

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Don’t waste any time and get a pro in to sort out as it sounds like you’re infested with them and you certainly don’t want them chewing through more electrics.

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When I occasionally get rats in the compost bin (I live in a terraced house with a small yard/garden) I’ve found that a rag soaked in white spirit or similar seems to be very effective in getting them to move on.

You may feel that’s impractical/undesirable and @AndyJ suggestion is probably the most sensible, plus of course a thorough search for points of entry.

Good luck!

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I only mention this approach as you mentioned chewing electrics that could cost you a lot more than hiring a pro. I tried bait in the past but would not use again as they learn quick and will avoid eating. It is also not a nice way to go and if you have pets then you have to be very careful. I heard an electronic device that you place near them can also work and is more humain.

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Having previously owned a thatched property, where the combed wheat reed thatch effectively provided rats with both bedding and food, I had to replace a good number of alarm cables which ran through the loft. The cables are often a target as they need to gnaw to keep teeth sharp as they grow. Poison was pretty ineffective, as were most other solutions. Glue boards were a last resort and were very successful albeit that you need to be on hand to remove the glue board and dispatch the rodent. It’s not pleasant but the risk of fire / alarm failure necessitated a radical approach.
For smaller rodents, electronic devices are far more humane and very effective. You basically put some peanut butter in the device which is powered by AA batteries. The mouse is killed instantly on entering the device. Thankfully we have not had a problem in our current house.

They have found a way in. Look at how they can get in. Any cavity, gap in fascias, soffits, broken air bricks is prevention.

Keeping food sources away from rodents. Making sure kitchen cupboards are shut. Avoiding compost bins, especially ones that you out food in.

Mouse or rat traps set up with gels to entice them.

Get pest control in if you are not confident at tackling them yourself. I have dealt with a large rat infestation before and killed about 12 rats. And have dealt with mice in current home.

If you keep any poison make sure it is stored in metal tin or some place that rats or mice can’t get to it. I left some rat poison in a cardboard box and found 3 rats who had died knawing away at poison.

I had best success with rat and mouse traps baited with gel. The electric trap was useless although I got a shock from it. Humane option of trap that doesn’t kill them is no good unless you drive several miles away and let them go. They will just find their way home.

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I have one of these plug in devices in the garage as a precaution. My Mum also has one. Neither of us have mice, but I do recall reading that they work better keeping new visitors away, and if they have already nested, they will put up with the noise and likely to stay.

I live in a very rural and remote part of North Wales with livestock around us. Living with rats and mice is a given they are just out there along with the rabbits. The dog keeps the rabbits at arms length and to a degree the rats and mice too.

However, living with rats and mice outside of the house is one thing but getting into the house is quite another. I try to take care of any maintenance that means there may be a chance of ingress to the house, prevention being the best way of keeping the critters out.

If they do get in, we had a rat get under a floor at the front of the house they get dealt with swiftly on that occasion with poison. The lighter got in through a damaged airbrick that was replaced with a more robust version.

Traps put down inside the house can be effective as long as you are not too squeamish as can poison in safe poison boxes if you have pets but it needs to be used with care to avoid issues.

If you have a lot inside the house then I would consider getting a pest control professional in. It is likely to be worth the money assuming they do a good job.

At the moment we have mice and rats outside the home it is unavoidable where we live and our lifestyle habits. They like to burrow into our x3 1-metre sq compost bays for the winter and we feed the birds which being messy eaters seed and the like gets on the ground but we do keep the bird food in clamped-down metal dustbins to keep the rodents out.

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When living in a forest, we had a rat and mice problem. I found a product named Talon to fix the issue. It causes the rat or mouse to bleed internally, thus becoming thirsty and going looking for water outside and dying there.

We stopped feeding the native bird population, and after 20 years or so of chooks (chickens), when the chooks finally passed away, our rat problem went away as well.

Any wheat arsenic-based poisons just provided a food supply as they had built up a resistance to them.

Warm regards,

Mitch in Oz.

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I can’t remember what the brand was we used but most rat poisons work in the same way.

I don’t really mind them being outside we are not overrun by them. I don’t actually see that as a problem I only see it as a problem if they succeed in coming in.

With all the far livestock around us and associated out buildings it is impossible not to have any rodents outside. It does not matter if we alter what we do they will still be there.

It can be very entertaining to see a rat trying to climb a bird feeder and wing on it to get at the food.

No idea if this is of use to you, but when I moved into my present house I found wires hanging under the floor, lying on the subsurface (ceiling plasterboard and soil beneath ground floor). Many well gnawed to expose bare conductors. I rewired the house, in so doing clipping all cables to joists so none hang down to within reach of surface below. I also sought out and sealed all possible access holes (N.B not a certain process), then used traps underfloor until nothing caught over a period of 3 months, and for several years put traps out in garage every winter until no more mice caught,

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When i moved in here over 20 years ago there was a mouse epidemic in the neighbourhood, i noticed droppings in the loft area situated above the airing cupboard, and was obviously where they found warm cosy shelter over the worse of winter. Apparently mice have no difficulty with vertically scaling a brick wall, and can fit though the tiniest of gaps in soffit boards. They don’t even need ropes or grappling hooks.

When upgrading the electric shower, the 6mm cable was routinely uprated to 10mm, the old 6mm showed signs of rodent damage so just as well it got replaced, no other cable damage found fortunately.

However there is something to be said for cats; the two that moved here with me delighted themselves with their vocation, and within a couple of months the mouse epidemic was history.

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Living in the country, at the edge of a village, next to an arable field mice are an issue which needs to be regularly addressed. As @Debs rightly says, mice will find their way in regardless, if they are looking for a warm abode. Clearly important to address the likely issues as @Dan_M has described. Nevertheless there is no full proof way to keep tiny rodents out. Issue here has always been in one of two lofts (diving wall from long ago built extension).
Genuine mouse traps from the likes of Rentokil (beware of imitations from the big river) baited with turkish delight (purple wrapper), has the advantage that it takes a good while to break down (unlike say cheese), work well in my experience.
Simple case of monitoring traps and three in each loft and several more in garage and brick outbuildings - no food in these. Rare to get more than two.
As far as electric cable is concerned, only one short upstairs underfloor run has been targeted, and damage fairly minimal so shrink tape dealt with that issue. Mice do seem to like pipe lagging and it is worth noting, that plastic water pipes can be targeted - not seen that here.
Any rodent issue and exposed electric cables in loft, possible option is to place wires in snap top trunking, available in different sizes. Or use split flexible conduit, insert cables while open and then use cables ties along the length to cover the cables.

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Update: electrician can’t get here until later in week.
I’ve lived here 20 years; it was rewired 10 years ago, had rats once, but they now prefer the shed. Mice control effective with farm quality bait, but they do like my cellar, which I suspect is where they gain ingress.

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Haven’t had mice for years, but did previously get a lot living in a small rural town.

I knew when I had them as my Jack Russell Terriers would alert me and the only places that I got were in the loft and under the sink kitchen cabinet.

It was interesting to see the dogs in action, the first one, Angus would sit on the landing looking up at the loft hatch and Betsy, the second one would sit in the kitchen staring at the plinth under the kitchen cabinets.

Easily sorted, good modern mouse trap with a small cup, which we put Peanut Butter in.

Modern version of the traditional wooden mouse trap, but easier to use and handle.

After one day and emptying the traps, the mice were gone.

DG…

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@Camphuw . You could always try this.

We used to have a solid mice problem 10 years ago. Then I ordered about six of these electronic rodent repellers from Amazon and plugged them in to a variety of areas where the mouse droppings were. For the last 10 years now, we haven’t had any more problems or had to set any traps. We will still see the odd bit of droppings where they come in and then take off because they can’t take the sound, but they don’t stick around.
The mouse issue was only ever in the basement, something you don’t have in England, and occasionally one will get trapped up in the basement ceiling somewhere by the sound and smell for a bit while it dries out. At that point, I turned on a fan and direct it into an opening into the ceiling and it dries out in about a week, but that hasn’t happened for a couple years now.
So, still some issues, but not with them running around chewing wires and eating food in the pantry and such.
I didn’t think for a second that the electronic devices would work when I bought them and was pleasantly surprised when they did. They also seem to work on certain insects as we used to have a lot of centipedes and spiders in the basement and don’t anymore. I have mentioned these devices to friends who have the same issue, but no one believes that they actually work, so they won’t spend the $50 that it costs for six of these devices just to try it.

And as @Gigantor suggests, don’t feed the birds. About 5 years ago, we had to stop feeding the birds to keep the rats away when they started coming to feed below our bird feeder, double digits at a time.
We are reduced at this point to enjoying watching the birds use our bird bath.
Hope this helps.

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Those are good traps.

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They can also work on teenagers. My daughter would have to turn it off when she went in the garage

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Hi @Camphuw
I was just thinking that a better name for this thread might be “Of Mice and Electrics”. :grin:

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