And if anyone gets mice in their loft, I’d suggest avoiding the use of the below – they really are for larger rodents/squirrels. IME, they don’t get set off by mice. I heard the metal being interfered with and awaited the clang only to discover later the peanut butter on toast had been removed without setting it off (and it was hair-sprung).
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Have used bait traps outside on the obvious rodent tracks in the garden with some success. In the house, spring traps with peanut butter always works. Haven’t had a mouse in the house for years though, not after sealing the gaps between the door stoops and the foundations with expandable foam insulation (the mice don not like it so do not chew through it I have found).
Had an issue with Norway rats (they displaced the field mice) when the municipal government was upgrading the water and sewer lines in the area; necessitated bigger traps for the garden as the Norway rats were big and bold; no issue now.
Have resorted to storing the bird seed in small galvanized steel trash cans with tight fitting/lockable lids. Mice weren’t the issue here, it was the chipmunks and squirrels that would chew through the heavy plastic bins I used before. Now they are content to collect the seed that the birds knock from the feeders to the ground.
As fall approaches, the skunks are the problem now. They tend to like the bulb plants and hence dig up the garden. A larger, solar powered, electronic device seems effective keeping them away at present (that and a rather pungent rodent spray that seems to be mostly pepper).
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Yep just caught 4…little blighters…
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I came here for the hifi ….but stay for the Rodents.
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We have two Border Terriers, never had a problem with anything furry in our house or garden. The cat does the stuff but only if he can be bothered, the Terrierists are always “enthusiastic”.
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I suppose we’re lucky we don’t have skunks and chipmunks in the UK! At least not commonly in the wild…
Perhaps we need a ‘league table’ 
I used to buy Thorntons a lot until Mrs AC and latterly the kids with Easter Eggs told me they didn’t like it! Not sure if the recipes changed at some stage, but how they can consume Cadbury’s Dairy Milk these days is beyond me.
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Bait for traps - Turkish Delight - the chocolate variety in the purplish wrapper. It doesn’t go off!
Only this very morning I have been placing traps after harvest, living in a stone built house parts of which are four hundred years old, next to fields.
Plenty of opportunity for a winter home, loft in two parts. Cleaned the traps - plastic type from the R company (avoid cheap imitations unless you want finger damage.)
A number of traps in the lofts and some in garage and outbuildings. Lawn seed in sealed containers or hanging in shed. No intruders seen in the kitchen.
Car currently with dealer for a manufacturers recall, its well out of warranty but big job.
Revealed a small amount of damage at one point in electrical wiring, deep in the engine, despite traps nearby when parked in my garage.
As a long time dog owner, I have never had a cat, think you enjoy one or the other.
My current lab will catch young birds and play with them, but I have yet to see him with a mouse.
Dead pigeons and on one occasion a dead squirrel, well rotted and lying in the salt marshes up on the coast. Fortunately he hadn’t managed to swallow all of it.
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Chocolate spread…seems to do nicely…
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Yes, hopefully the gloopy old Nutella will do the trick, but I can barely smell it so may need a pot of something new. Had a bit of success with bits of cheese in the traps but as it dessicates it seems to be an instantly removable little parcel of food for the mice if they don’t set the trap off. Hopefully nutella/chocolate spread will be a bit more tacky.
Possibly true, cat person here, never had a dog but largely due to not being at home most of the time (until recent years) when working - you can just put a cat out and let it entertain itself, I’d be concerned doing so with a dog which might bark and annoy neighbours, perhaps I should reconsider?
Both would be great!
Always had cats but will get a dog as well when I retire… may. E a while though, I really need to stop buying expensive HiFi😉
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Another really good one is peanut butter…
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Yes, unfortunately trying to bait a trap with fresh peanut butter some years ago was how I discovered a family member had a severe peanut allergy 
Love peanuts myself too but never buy them these days.
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Re traps……wear garden gloves and bait trap with half a peanut secured down with a little bluetac or similar… works a treat.
No scent of human and I’ve found the bluetac keeps the nut secure long enough in order for the little blighters to trip the trap.
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Didn’t see your last reply before my post but principal still stands could try a piece of walnut
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One big warning if you are using poison 
and have a bird table .
Only use bird seed that has NO sweetcorn , the sweetcorn acts as an antidote .
So far forty blocks of poison gone in ten days…
The joys of country life are a sparrow hawk in the garden 
on Thursday and a grain field behind the house and a much larger field 150 metres to the south.
If you have dispensed that much poison and they are still coming it might be time to admit nature is winning 
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Possibly not for long, poisoned animals often make easy targets for birds of prey and other predators who are in turn poisoned.