Problems catching mystery beast in our ceiling

[Madcowz 0]

Would like some advice please on how to catch and what it could be that is running around our ceiling with hobnail boots on.

 

It sounds very loud and runs about at night, having a chew every now and again.

 

I put a Mk IV up there and the next morning the peanut butter was gone but the trap hadn't fired. So, I thought maybe it was mice and bought two little nippers, baited and waited.

 

Next morning, both traps empty of bait, and one had been moved about a foot from where I put it.

 

I did notice that the mouse traps were a bit shoddly made and I have trimmed off some of the bar that holds the spring down. Hopefully that will make a difference, but, if the 'beast' moved the trap, I don't think it is mice.

 

Now there is a live catch cage up there and the two mouse traps. heres hoping.

 

Any ideas what this could be, rats, squirrel? I know we have starlings nesting at the other end of the house.

 

 

thanks for the advice,

 

 

/Mad

[Bagpuss 0]

I had the same problem, I knew it was a squirrel as neighbours had seen it go up the drain pipe and into the roof under the tiles.I put a squirrel trap baited with apple in the loft Nothing,

so after some advise from here I used Peanut butter and within a day or so I had a very large angry squirrel banging the cage around looking for help.I helped him on his way alright :whistle:

Hope you catch him soon....

[Guest little_lloyd]

Sounds to me like a squirrel you have knocking about up there! I would do your roof and himself a favour and take him out before all hell breaks loose.

[mole catcher 1]

I s**t you not.

 

on one tree rat in the loft job i was called to, i was amazed a few days later to have caught a shrew in the trap ( not caught as such as the trap hadnt sprung). YES A SHREW Curled up on the shredded paper in the back of the cage trap. the customer said it sounded like a rhino dancing in high heels up there at nigh. never did get a tree rat from there though, noise stopped when i released the shrew.

[Madcowz 0]

Well,

 

snipping about 3mm off the ends of the wire that holds the spring down (what is that called please?) has worked as we caught these two:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously these two are not what was causing the 'elephant in hob nailed boots sounds' every night, so there must be something much bigger up there that scares us every night No really, the sound these guys were making was amazing :-)

 

Now, can I just confirm that these are adult mice? Or am I way off and they are baby rats? I'm not very clued up here. and I take it that there will be more.

 

Also, what on earth have they been living on up there? We have not seen any signs of mice in the house, and we have two cats who would have had them ages ago. So what have they been eating.

 

thanks,

 

 

/Mad

[danielt 1]

rats

[Guest Magwitch]

Sounds like you might have some US marines in the loft with the hob nail boots i had the same a few years back try the super victor

[Ossie 11]

i've got woodmice in my roof. i thought it was rats at first, but i stuck a trap or two up in the loft, and caught mice. they make a helluva racket. i was going to try to get rid of them completely, but i'm moving out on thursday, and my landlord is a prick, so i'm leaving them all up there as a little present

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

" Rats " They're Wood Mice, Mad. Reasonably common in roof spaces. In fact the majority of mice 'up there' turn out to be Woodies.

 

What were they living on? Nothing. They were just living in. They do that. They come inside our homes for a bit of shelter and creature comfort. I guess they treat it like a huge old hollow tree.

 

I don't find they breed up and spread around like House Mice. Chances are ye've got the whole set there already then.

 

But that trap shifting a foot is interesting. What I suspect has happened there is that they've simply tried to drag it off to their little cache, which they're prone to making with things. They'll have taken a grip on the edge of the wood, see, and dragged it. As ye see, they're not tiny little things and Little Nipper's being made of very light wood anyway, it's perfectly feasable.

 

Oh, and the bit of wire ye trimmed (well done. One should always inspect that, it often as not benefits from a touch of modification ) is the Setting Bar. On a Fenn or what ever it's be more correctly termed the Tounge.

 

Nice result for ye. Let us know what happens next, if anything does. Which it may well not do

[Guest little_lloyd]

Sounds like you might have some US marines in the loft with the hob nail boots i had the same a few years back try the super victor

 

 

[Madcowz 0]

But that trap shifting a foot is interesting. What I suspect has happened there is that they've simply tried to drag it off to their little cache, which they're prone to making with things. They'll have taken a grip on the edge of the wood, see, and dragged it. As ye see, they're not tiny little things and Little Nipper's being made of very light wood anyway, it's perfectly feasable.

 

Oh, and the bit of wire ye trimmed (well done. One should always inspect that, it often as not benefits from a touch of modification ) is the Setting Bar. On a Fenn or what ever it's be more correctly termed the Tounge.

 

Thanks DS, always good to learn new things. I imagine that with the setting bar being too long, they were able to drag the whole trap away towards their lounge where they could eat in comfort. Shame I spoilt their plan the second night!

 

I will set them again tonight and see what happens. They are pretty large compared to the normal mice and shrews I see.

 

Very pleased it isn't squirrels up there, would have been pretty ironic as I have shot them pretty heavily in the local woods and if the b*ggers were hiding up my roof laughing at me I would have been a bit annoyed :-)

 

 

/Mad

[darren m 1]

if it is a squirrel watch out for your electrics , notorious fire starters

 

send a couple of stinkers up there to sort them out

 

keep us informed

[Madcowz 0]

No 4 & 5.

 

And still, they came.

 

 

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Top one looks like a well grown youngster, Mads. (I'm not going into well devloped yougsters here. Must resist the impulse! ) That suggests they've bred. However, it's apparrant age means mum and dad are likely already history. That one's likely of breeding age though. And so it goes on.

 

Not to worry unduly. They can be wiped out. How many traps are ye using? Only saturation's my answer to mice. I'd want at least half a dozen down in a typical roof space.

 

Reasoning is twofold: 1. Every trap will fire just the once. Possibly within minutes of ye setting it. Once fired, untill reset, that trap's worthless. 2. Mice tend not to go too far. Granted, Woodies, I think, range further. But the simple rule is that ye really can't have 'too many' mouse traps.

 

Finally; Whilst it may appear novel to have nailed two in one trap? Work it out. Took the combined weight of two mice to fire the thing. Take ye time. Ye not on a time sheet there. Get some good light behind the trap and Really look at what ye doing. Set them so that the staple is barely hanging onto the end of that setting bar. Good test is trying to place it and the f*cking thing thing firing as ye put it down. That starts happening, ye know ye on the right track

 

You'll ge 'em. I always do.

[john b 38]

Good test is trying to place it and the f*cking thing thing firing as ye put it down. That starts happening, ye know ye on the right track

 

 

 

So make sure your fingers are on the sides, not the top and bottom.