Animal in attic

[GoogaICQ]

On Jul 26, 8:08*pm, GoogaICQ <google3luo...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Sorry, I didn't realize that you needed a Facebook account to see the
photos.
If you know of a good free site to post them and can't see them at
Facebook I'll do it! Let me know.

[GoogaICQ]

Well today this has taken a new twist.

At 10:10 pm again there were some scratching noises, this time in the
room at the front of the house, in the corner, in the attic.

BUT, soon after, at 10:25 pm, the noises had moved to the walls in the
same corner, right near the floor!!!

In *both walls* at the corner, at the floor.
This is the first time I heard the scratching noises in the walls!

Hmmmmm.... mice?
I hate this!

[GoogaICQ]

OK, it looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and call an
exterminator.

Anyone here have experience with them? What should I expect? How much
are we looking at for cost?

I just looked at a few websites.
None have mentioned cost yet.

One was very disconcerting.
It mentioned using bait in stations to kill mice.
But then it said:

"In about 3-5 weeks, all pests would have been eliminated having
consumed the bait. Typically, the Pests would simply cease to exist.
However, it is possible that some Pests may expire near human living
spaces. As well, they may result in bad odors. In that case, client
would have to investigate the source and remove it."

So basically they are saying, we'll kill the animals, but then you are
on your own to find them, cut through your walls attic etc. to get
them and throw them out!

Hmmmm.....

[Robert]

On Jul 27, 10:24 pm, GoogaICQ <google3luo...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Here's an idea:
Get a boa constrictor and turn it loose. It can go anywhere the
mouse can go, and will eat the mouse. Then it will crawl away.
And snakes don't make that much noise, anyway...
So you see, sometimes the solution can be very simple.... and
your mother-in-law will never visit you again.....

[bob haller]

we had a neighborhood rat problem, orkin and others wanted around 800
bucks per home for a one year contract to rid the area of
rats........

mice are easy t catch in a live trap. one most stupid moves i ever
made was feeding birds. sunflower [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] were pricey. so i bought a 100
pound sack of sunflower seeds kept it in the basement.

ended up catching and relocating 68 mice who had found the seeds and
raised familys.......

dont leave food sources around...........

harbor freight sells live traps cheap.........the mice were cute but i
didnt want them in our home!

[DerbyDad03]

bob haller <hallerb@aol.com> wrote:

My town's Animal Control office lends out free Havahart live traps. If they
are out of stock, a local [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] center is on contract to rent them for $5
- $10 a week based on size.

Once you catch the animal, Animal Control will come over, take the trap,
relocate the critter and return the trap to your house.

I trapped a raccoon that was hanging around my garage and deck.

Seeing the raccoon in my garage was what I call a "God thing". One night I
went to get something from the garage freezer and just caught a glimpse of
a tail going behind a storage cabinet. When I pulled out the cabinet I
found a hole in the cinder block next to the door jamb. As I moved more
more stuff I found more deterioration to the block in various spots which
led to a fairly lengthy repair project, including replacing a number of
blocks and the door itself.

Had I not seen the tail I would have not seen the problems until they were
much worse.

[Peter]

On 7/27/2012 11:24 PM, GoogaICQ wrote:
Get a package of cheap snap traps for mice. Bait some with peanut
butter and some with pieces of walnuts scrunched firmly into the teeth
of the bait holder. Put them in you attic where they are visible and
easily accessible from the trap door into your attic. You have the
advantage of summer heat which should increase the odor of the bait and
attract the mice. If you are lucky, the mice will smell the food, find
the bait and you'll be done in a week or less. It will be a much
smaller investment than live traps or an exterminator and worth trying
for a week or so. If you don't catch anything in the attic after a
week, move some of the traps to the basement (if you have one) and some
to your attached garage (if you have one). Obviously that may not be
feasible with snap traps if you have a pet cat or dog that may access
those spaces. (Of course, if you have a cat, you probably don't have
mice in the same space.)

Check the traps daily at an hour when you've never heard the noises.
That way, you're least likely to confront an untrapped critter. If the
traps are empty, the bait is gone, but the trap is still set, snap the
trap with a screwdriver, rebait and try again. If you have success, wear
an inverted sturdy plastic bag over the hand you use to pick up the
occupied trap. Still holding the trap, use your other hand to pull the
bulk of the bag down over your hand holding the trap. Knot the bag
snugly. After disposal, thoroughly wash your hands and forearms with
soap and warm water. You want to avoid contact between skin and mouse,
mouse droppings, or dried mouse urine. You never know what pathogens
could be involved.

Ultimately, you still should try to locate the entry point for whatever
got in and seal it up. Otherwise there is guaranteed to be a next time.

[GoogaICQ]

On Jul 28, 11:52*am, Peter <pk...@netzero.com> wrote:

Thanks Peter for your thorough instructions!

My first choice is for a DIY solution.

I called a few pest control companies today to find out what they
would do and charge.

Two were leaning towards mice as the culprits.
One started with mice and then shifted to squirrels. Interestingly he
doesn't do squirrels, only rodents.

All three were going to use poisonous bait. When I described my attic
(hot/insulation), they said they would just throw the bait into the
attic, they wouldn't go inside themselves.

Prices ranged from $160-$250.
Of course, none were going to retrieve any dead animals.
They were going to do a one-shot deal.

I set a couple of standard mice traps today with peanut butter at the
attic entrance. The previous live trap I had set a couple of days ago
was empty, the pellet bait, still inside.

I'm sure when I check the traps tomorrow the peanut butter will have
turned to liquid and fallen off the trap onto the insulation below it.
Temps in the attic are holding in the high 90's or more.

Which makes me wonder why would any animal want to set up shop in
there right now ???

I think the traps are too far from the mice (if it's mice). I read
that they don't wander more than a dozen or so feet from where they
nest.

You mentioned moving the traps to the basement/garage. I haven't seen
any droppings there and don't think they've been there. I believe this
is just an attic entry/walls thing.

I cut back a couple of [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] that are near the side of my house that
were giving easy access to my roof.

One potential ace I have up my sleave is that roofers will be coming
to my house in a week or so to install a new set of shingles.
Hopefully they'll be able to find the hole/access point that the
animals are using.

One thing that many here don't seem to understand is that my attic is
unfinished and very uncomfortable to enter into.
Not to mention dangerous to walk around. With cellulose insulation on
the floor it's very difficult to judge where the transverse beams are.
So just trekking to the other side of the house where the animals are,
would be a huge undertaking.

The other problem is all of the cross beams in the attic.
I don't think the pest control people would have much success trying
to throw their bait to the other side of the attic without striking
the beams.

[GoogaICQ]

Another update.

I came home a couple of nights ago to see an animal at my front
bushes.
It turned out to be a cat.
Which got me thinking...mice.
Then the next evening there was a brief chase outside the same room
where the animals noises have been heard. Sounded like the cat
possibly chasing a mouse through the bushes.

Fast forward to tonight. Same room. Same noises in the wall, in the
same corner near the floor.

The roofers called me today. They will begin work tomorrow morning at
7 am re-shingling my roof.

So here's my conundrum.

If the roofers come and the mice/squirrels haven't left the house by 7
am, then they could easily lock them into the house.
The shingle work should be over in a day or 1.5 days.

So I'll be faced with either one of these two scenarios:

1. The animals are trapped inside the attic with no escape.
2. The animals are locked out of the house and will want to/ try to re-
enter somehow, possibly creating a new hole somewhere.

I'm really stuck here.
I know one thing for sure. I don't want to go walking in the 100F
attic, not sure where the floor boards are, barely able to see, etc.
etc.

Suggestions?

[Peter]

On 7/29/2012 11:46 PM, GoogaICQ wrote:

If the roofers are applying a second layer of shingles over the existing
layer, unless they spot an obvious hole in the shingles, their work will
not change the ingress/egress status of any animal to your attic.

If they are only removing the shingles and replacing them, and they find
no defects in the sheathing under the shingles, same as I just wrote
above. If there is damage (most likely damage is from rot) to the
sheathing, and they remove that sheet of plywood to replace it, it does
give an opportunity to peek into the attic at that location. However,
they are roofers, not pest control experts and may not be interested in
doing so or knowing what to look for, may not want to stop their roofing
work, or be willing to do anything about what they might find. You can
discuss your issue with them when they arrive, but I wouldn't have high
expectations for their assistance.

Only if they find a distinct hole somewhere and close it off are you
likely to increase the risk of trapping an animal in the attic.

Don't forget, many smaller animals can enter the house on lower floors
and find their way into the attic through spaces inside the walls and
between interior floors and adjacent ceilings. They can find their way
out the same way if they haven't been poisoned.

You may just have to wait until cooler weather, get 100 feet or so of
extension cord, a reliable "trouble light", good traction footwear,
leather gloves to hold onto beams and rafters, and then carefully
explore your attic for signs of infestation.

Yeah, the mice normally may not forage far, but if they are hungry and
smell food,they might expand their feeding area. Also, if the traps
remain unsprung and the peanut butter melts, bring down a few of the
traps and scrunch some shelled peanuts or walnuts firmly under the teeth
of the bait holder and try that for bait. The nuts won't melt!

In a perverse way, the heat of the summer might be the best time to try
poison. Any dead critter in the wall will decay and mummify much faster
in the heat and any smells will dissipate in a shorter time than when
the weather is cooler! Just a thought.