Rats in the loft...

Leica Fortis 6 - Bright and powerful.
Uncle f said:
There are baits we use now that have an additive that effectively dries out the carcass so no decomposition and it works well. Pm me and I’ll sort you some out

Also in traps depending on where abouts in the country you are (Oxford I presume) then there is a shyness to certain baits. For example south London area chocolate based baits are not effective as it’s be used to death and the clever rats become aware.
So I can also sort you some provoke paste which we use in our traps it’s a professional non toxin product and work well

Good luck
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uncle f id be very interested in knowing what bait you use.
shakey
 
Squirrels are a good shout, i bait cage traps in the garden with peanuts normally catch inside 24 hours. what ever you have work out how it got in a stop it, long term much better than constant traping or baiting
 
Just last month we had the patter of little feet come to our house. I bated rat traps and had the bait taken but traps had not fired. So the logical conclusion was our issue was mice. And so it transpired: Changing to mouse traps [smaller, hair trigger] netted four rodents in 6 days. No more patter in the loft.

One tip: Once I set a trap, I use a screwdriver to push the trigger plate a mm or so lower. i.e. the trap is being held by the smallest section of the sear possible ensuring that even wiley light-footed chaps don't dodge the coup de gras.
 
But once squrrels have the idea in their head that your loft is home, there is only one thing you can do to get the idea out!

A friend had the buggers in his workshop roof. Repaired the hole, but the buggers just chewed through the felting and got in again.
At the time I was having the roof of the house redone. And he asked me to save some of the old times for him. He said it warmed his heart to heart their teeth squeaking.
I'd prefered to have shot them, but his missus wasn't up for that.
 
My mum at the age of 82, caught 3 mice alive and killed another 12 with traps. They aren't hard to deal with.
Rats put fen traps against walls make a little tunnel round then doesn't have to be permanent and drop food round the entrances, curiosity will get them to go through the tunnel. Otherwise breakback traps back to back with each other against a wall. Cheap checking a few times a day, if caught reset straight away.
 
gonzo said:
But once squrrels have the idea in their head that your loft is home, there is only one thing you can do to get the idea out!

A friend had the buggers in his workshop roof. Repaired the hole, but the buggers just chewed through the felting and got in again.
At the time I was having the roof of the house redone. And he asked me to save some of the old times for him. He said it warmed his heart to heart their teeth squeaking.
I'd prefered to have shot them, but his missus wasn't up for that.
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ive heard this so many times with a squirrel, i allways kill the locals then proof the hole normally a couple in the garden most ive caught was 21 in about six weeks
shakey
 
Cottis said:
Mice are a PITA. I live in a very old stone cottage which is part of an old row of old buildings. Lots of voids and areas where they can come in over the winter. I always used to trap them using the generic mousetraps but they are always a bit hit and miss and I would either get sprung traps and no mice or would get woken in the night to the noise of a very undead mouse dragging a trap round the skirting boards after being caught on a leg. I would get a few but suspected many were getting away with it. I did some research and watched Shawn on Mousetrap monday and made a copy of the 400yr old trap by Mascal. It is a bit excessive and a ballache to set but it has a 100% hit rate so far. If they stick their head in and chew that string, they are a goner.

It has had a couple of tweaks but is now in full swing. You will get the idea from the pictures. Yet to have a full house but it is nice to get up in the morning and see a couple of bums sticking out the end of it ha ha ha. Little beggars.

Zh3KOP8.jpg

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What do you power your Flux Capacitor with...
 
I use chocolate spread in the traps for the mices. Works well. I gave up counting after 52 mice and 1 young rat last winter. Weirdest thing is that I haven't had any in this year. The only thing difference is that I had a rotten bay window replaced.
But the chocolate spread worked really well.
 
Thought I had a couple of mice in my shed, I'm currently at 14 and counting. .

Tried baiting the traps with all manner of chocolate but found the best bait absolutely second to none was one of my daughter's strawberry chewits.

I heated it up on a spoon and moulded it onto the trap. . Once in the cold shed the chewit goes rock solid never to be chewed off without triggering the trap.

Works a treat.
 
First thing to do is stop them getting in. Not easy and takes time finding all the points of entry. Once done you may find them trapped in. Now you put the fen 4’s in and wait. Had to do this with two houses now but once done the rarely come back..... alive!
Next put fen 4’s in tunnel traps around the house at places rats would run..
Prevention is better than battling with them once in.
With this method we have not had any visitors in the roof for the past five or six years and that’s in a 250 year old thatch cottage. The traps outside do regular business however much to my Border Terriers delight.
 
My neigbour was having issues with rats getting into the roof of the bungalow.
They were found to be coming up through the gutter spout and running along the gutter to a chewed hole.
He had been trapping them, rather than baiting, exactly as had been suggested above, too many voids that he didn't want them crawling into to die.
Then he turned up at my door with an air rifle, to zero.
 
Give a bit of tainted hamburger/mince a try for rats.

I had an old farm house that had both rats and mice. Could never keep the rat traps baited with peanut butter because the mice would crawl in and lick it clean, or set the trap off without getting caught. Switched to tainted (think green, not gooey/maggotty) meat and mice left it alone and rats were "dying" to get at it.
 
Firstly. Check out if you have any proofing issues holes in the walls, services entry points etc, and open up the manholes look for any earth being dug out , or visible smear marks, rat runs or burrows, check access to the house can’t be via bushes, trees and climbing plants, if your not detached check with your neighbour as well, if you have any of these try to sort out as best as possible

Trapping - the best bait I’ve used is a mix of used cooking oil, chocolate peanut and plain crisps put them all in a bowl and mix them up into a paste, if your losing bait and catching nought, it’s probably because the trap trigger set toooo hard, you can ease that by putting graphite ( pencil lead) on the bar. ( fens are notoriously a hard set trap unless you give em a overhaul to slick em up, fine emery on the and graphite on the spring runner bar helps)
The best rat trap I’ve found is the AF by Killgerm the trigger is very light and slick, ( even mice don’t get away on the rat trap) with these the bait port is a little pouch inside the plate the rat has to stand on it to smell the bait, the slick trigger does the rest

If you can attach some soft wire to the trap and fix it to something, you won’t lose any in the event of a mis catch

If you want half a dozen AF traps let me know by pm and I’ll pop some in the post FOC. I have a box full I got free with some monitors I ordered

Good luck

Phil
 
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