Rodents in roof...Help!

[Keithmac]

Easiest and most humane way to kill any rats that are trapped but not dead is to drown them in cold water.

£1000 fine for doing that!, either quick dispatch around the head or a shot are the only prescribed methods.

If you've got rats Fenn Mk4's in cages are best bet..

 

[Kevin55]

Kill on night 3 aswell so 5 in total.

Last night/this morning 0 kills.

Thanks all for input - been a great help.

Will keep on it till weekend.

 

[Keithmac]

I think they leave a scent trail that others follow so just be on the lookout for round 2.

 

[Kevin55]

I was planning on continuing the traps until the end of the week and then doing a full clean all around the property with bleach/water mix (leaving an area untouched for them to get out.

Also to add to my last post, loft camera has not detected any motion since the first day traps were laid.

 

[Kevin55]

So one trap has gone missing ove le night. First time I decided not to tie them down with string.

I have had a look around and cannot locate it.
Possibility a fox, cat or bird has gone off with it?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Quite possibly it had a dead rat in it

 

[Stivino]

Possibility a fox, cat or bird has gone off with it?

Or, as I've had in the past, the animal wasn't killed and it walked off with trap using its back legs only.
Once upon a time when checking mouse traps in my attic, I couldn't see one of the traps but, I could hear a scraping noise. The poor wee mouse was alive and trying to get away with trap across his back. After that, I had a re-think about how I laid mouse traps.

 

[Kevin55]

I am leaning towards the theory that the trap triggered and caught a mouse or rat.

It has either walked off or has been picked off by another animal.

The trap was in the rear of my property. Which is enclosed.
I am hoping it would be a very low chance it could have got back into my property considering it would have had a trap attached!

Annoying as all other nights I had them secured with a string.

 

[Steveb21]

Will I need to replace insulation as I guess it will be infected with waste.

 

[Keithmac]

You'll probably have a couple of nest sites (will have poo in/ next to them).

Ideal have a look round and pull out all the disgusting bits!.

 

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

I've used electronic devices successfully in the past. More to keep the rodents away than to cure a 'resident' population.
If you have a socket in the loft, just plug it in there and forget it. But they are supposed to keep the whole house as a deterrent, plugged in anywhere in the house.

 

[Kevin55]

So 13 days with no activity on the loft camera it triggered movement early this morning between 12-4.

Picked up from what I can ID as the largest rodent so far (unless it just seems bigger on the recording!)

1 of the 3 traps has triggered and caught a rodent - I need to check the other 2!

I had been using a lower number of traps for the past 2 weeks hoping that I got rid of the problem.

Will set them all back out again for this evening.

I understand it may be scent and trails others are following however I recall on one of my recordings a month back there was a larger rodent - all the ones caught in the traps were what I would say small.

Maybe this one has just been avoiding the traps? The weather temp has dropped and it’s been raining after 2 weeks of heat and humidity.

Knew it wouldn’t be this easy... here goes again!

 

[Keithmac]

We had it 3 years in a row, keep going with the traps!.