Any pest experts in the house?

We seem to have Starlings. Or maybe rats.

Over the last year or so we've been hearing odd noises in the loft but
had little in the way of visual evidence of wildlife. I did spot a
bird between the felt and tiles a few months ago, but not in the loft
itself. However, during the really cold weather we've had recently the
noise has been much, much worse, though it has eased now that it's
warmer. I finally got round to having a poke around today.

There are lots of little black droppings scattered, mostly towards one
end of the loft, and a couple of likely 'tunnels' in the insulation
towards the eaves. There was also a section (about 18" square between
joists) where the insulation had been /completely/ shredded and
removed and piled against the end wall of the loft.

Most fascinating were a line of three 'igloos' between two joists
where the insulation had been humped up, each igloo having a single
entrance hole. No obvious feathers, though.

I suspect starlings, however, the droppings are dark and I thought
that birds 'urinate' white droppings. The house is about 25 years old
and detached, but possibly other mammals could get up there via ivy on
the front of the house.

Anyone know what the culprit is likely to be?

 

It's a squirrel, it's always a squirrel.

 

Squirrels.

We've got 'em, too.

 

jpeg of the shit needed, with a match or something at the side to guage
its size.
Mouse, squirrel or rat. Probably mice if the poo is really small - apple
pip size or smaller, something the size of a small jelly bean is a rat,
dont know about squirrel shit, probably a bit bigger than a rat - jelly
bean size?
Bird shit is rarely in one piece, as they dont sleep/sit on the ground
much, so it spreads out.Also, their nests will be flat, they dont build
an 'igloo' type nest. Actually, they wont build any nest in the winter,
they'll just perch somehwere sheltered.
Alan.

 

Hippies. It's always hippies. Zyklon B is the best thing to get rid of them.
Leave the light on and set up a video camera so you can see how they behave
before getting rid of them.

 

^^^^^ aaaargh

 

+1

If you've any nearby trees or branches crossing power/telephone cables
then cut them back to make access more difficult. They are destructive
and will chew through cables. Warfarin{sp} based rate poison will sort
them out if they will take the bait otherwise you can get live traps
and then kill them later. Watch out when killing the fuckers they can
bite.

 

Oh yes they like to chew on the lighting cables etc.

Little bazzards can run straight up the wall so it doesn't make much
odds once they know their way in.

Look from the inside of the loft during daylight for holes. Look from
the outside for chewed holes in the soffit. Set poison and block all of
the holes up. IME they know to stay out of the traps.

Make sure your water tank is very very covered.

 

In communiqué <1iw9yis.cqt6ip513ep6N%>,

Almost certainly.

Our place used to trap them years ago. Until a member of the public
found out how they despatched them to the great holt in the sky.

--
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| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Air rifle?

 

That'd be my weapon of choice.

Squirrels are stupid and tend to follow the same route all the time so
all you need to do is find that route then pop them with the good old
..22

I used to regularly shoot squirrels where I lived in Northampton
because it had a back garden that backed onto a spinney and the little
fuckers used to jump from one tree to my fence then run along the
fence and jump onto a different tree.

80' was about the maximum range for a guaranteed kill but I had
telescopic sights on the gun and could usually get them with a clean
head shot if they paused anywhere along the route.

 

Shredder?

 

we had a wild rat in the house a few months ago (I have pet fancy rats, so
dont hate rats) we heard scuttling along the ceiling above the bedroom, too
heavy to be a mouse but I was used the the lolloping sound a rat makes as it
runs,

I lifted a floor board above where we heard her, put a webcam with lights on
it pointing along the joists, and a yogurt drop in front of the cam, (no
rat can resist yoggie drops, wild or fancy, pets at home do em, the
vitacraft ones are liked the best, my ratties turn their nose up at the
crappy rotastack ones) ran the usb cable to the laptop running some motion
detection software,

Next day we had video of the rat, just one, a female but no signs of her
being preggers (easy to tell if you know what to look for, easy enough to
sex em on video too, males have balls the size of liquorish torpedoes
dragging along behind them)
I say that as males chew more than females, but of course the females can
have between 6 and 18 kittens every 23 days, the young can breed at 4 weeks
of age, and so the cycle starts.

I found the place she got in, air brick then up to the ceiling tunneling
through the cavity wall insulation, I scattered some of my pet rats shits
about near the exit hole in the rafters, and she soon fucked off (rats can
be territorial, so the smell of other rats in the area made her think better
of making the attic home)

Rats make some pretty elaborate nests, out of anything, but insulation is a
favored material along with polystyrene, round internally with a small
entrance hole,
rat shit is black, will be rock hard 20 minutes after being laid, have no
smell to it unless you find a still squidgy one and crush it, and be a bit
like the inside of a liquorish torpedo, in size and shape, usually they will
do a clump of 3 or 4 at once, they have a sort of holding pouch to store
shits in so they can do them all in once place, as they like to use one spot
as a toilet, but each rat might use a different spot,

Their piss glows under ultraviolet light, reason for this is rats cant see
reds, their sight is in the lower blue spectrum, so they can see their piss
trails, but rats dont piss all the time like mice do to navigate,
just mentioning this, as you could go up there with a black light, dunno if
squiggles piss glows too tho.

others know how to kill the rats, and have advised.

 

Sack and stick. Used to be an approved DEFRA method, but I'm talking 20
years ago. I *think* they advise the air rifle approach now.

Our lot stopped doing squirrel control years ago.
--
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Rats

I've had 'em too.

Bastards

--
Dan L

Too much time to think, too little to do.


http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/

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If you do catch anything in a 'humane' trap, kill the occupant by dropping
the whole thing into a bucket of water. Don't let it out - you don't want
to be bitten by a rat.

 

Angle grinder?

 

Fuckin' *superb*.

Only on ukrm would you get a posting like this: hi-tech surveillance of
rats.

 

Or even a wood chipper, assuming you refer to the little KLM incident.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, michael bothe

Ees no' rat. Ees Siberian Hamster.