mice in roof

[AnotherCerealNameChanger]

We have recently moved house and have a lovely extension which has a pitched roof with no 'roofspace' as such. There are tiles then boards then insulation then pine boards. Anyway. We have mice in the space and they are driving me batty.

We have tried traps but we can't get to where the runs are. I am very concerned that they have moved into the space over the kitchen (also an extension) and that they will get into the main house.

What do I do? Thank you

We just contacted a local pest control expert. It was £75 for traps and clearance. £110 to cover you for the whole year.

You can also get sonic things that you plug in on Amazon, but they seem to get mixed reviews. But they migt be worth a try if you don't think they will take the bait in traps.

Poison. Put down in small trays (lids of jars do very well) all along the walls up there as they run along the sides of spaces. Replenish the poison every time it is empty. You don't need poison in the actual house so don't need to worry about children etc, also it is manufactured to taste disgusting to humans. They will be gone in about 2/3 days. Keep an eye on the poison trays and keep full. Same again in autumn every year. You can't keep them out easily in an old building but you can kill them. Ours are all gone after forgetting this year and it sounded like we had a small elephant in the walls.

We put traps in our garage as they were going in and out somewhere and into the loft and it worked. Also laid poisoned 'food'.

Thank for advice

We have now got a bigger problem as the little fuckers are in the kitchen, I can see droppings all behind the cupboards. I am livid with DH as he was meant to be sorting them but in fact has stuck two old
style mousetraps outside the back door and reckons that is sufficient.

With a small toddler that licks and chews everything I am a bit wary about poison but I think it's time to get pest control in.

mice are much smaller than toddlers, so you can put the poison in places that only mice can get to.

I use those little plastic saucers for small flower pots (I use red ones) with the grains in each. You can put them underneath kitchen cabinets, right back next to the wall. It is best to put lots of saucers down at intervals. You can also put them under and behind heavy things like cookers and fridges. Whenever they get empty, fill them up again, until they stay full.

You will be emptying out your kitchen cabinets anyway to clean them and throw away all your flour, biscuits, raisins etc. Put all the new stuff in biscuit tins or similar.

Meantime look for the holes the mice are getting in. If they get into cavity walls they can roam around the house. Look for cracks or holes in the walls near the ground, especially around pipes that should be blocked with mortar.

If you have an integral or attached garage they could get in there when the doors are open, or through gaps.

mice are much smaller than toddlers ooooo that gave me a giggle!

Well. We have got rid of one mouse as DH finally put the traps inside last night, and if he puts them back baited tonight I reckon we'll have a couple more. We have pest control coming in early next week to deal with the roof space.

I have also realised that where the solid wooden floor is in the kitchen someone has at some point cut out holes for the heating pipes but not filled the gaps, I bet they are coming up there.

As for emptying kitchen cupboards I can happily say the little feckers have not been able to get into our food stores as we have high cupboards, and I also keep everything in tins after growing up in a mouse house and also an infestation at uni (it was so bad we found the mice in the gas cooker keeping warm).

Use peanut butter on the traps as bait