Rodents in hard to reach areas?

[Sarah K.]

Our house has a scuttle attic with DEEP blown in insulation. There's a small piece of plywood near the opening, but you can't really get up and walk around up there. At night we've been hearing something- mice or squirrels, probably- scampering around up there. We can set traps if we need to, but I'm not really thrilled about the idea of getting up in the middle of the night to deal with half dead mice in a trap- you have to climb up through the ceiling of the linen closet and it's a huge pain in the butt. Is there anything lower maintenance that we can do get rid of them? I think I've heard that mothballs will also deter mice, is that so? How about putting used kitty litter up there?

Thanks,
Sarah

[stanb999]

Originally Posted by Sarah K.

Our house has a scuttle attic with DEEP blown in insulation. There's a small piece of plywood near the opening, but you can't really get up and walk around up there. At night we've been hearing something- mice or squirrels, probably- scampering around up there. We can set traps if we need to, but I'm not really thrilled about the idea of getting up in the middle of the night to deal with half dead mice in a trap- you have to climb up through the ceiling of the linen closet and it's a huge pain in the butt. Is there anything lower maintenance that we can do get rid of them? I think I've heard that mothballs will also deter mice, is that so? How about putting used kitty litter up there?

Thanks,
Sarah

I'd just take some of the bait blocks and throw them up there. The mice want to find water when the poison does it's thing so they will make their way back outside to die. Thats what we did and it worked well.

[mamita]

we put poison. no...we've never had some horrid smell from dead rodents..they just are..GONE. used kitty litter sounds kind of gross. sorry..just me. lol I agree with what stan posted.

[wy_white_wolf]

Pepperment Extract might help. They don't like the smell of it and will vacate an area that it's been sprinkled into for a month or 2. You will ahve to reapply to keep them away.

[Big Dave]

We had a snake move in. When the food supply was gone so was it.

[Toads tool]

Be sure to check the perimeter of the house for entrance points and fix them.
A hole a squirrel can fit in is spotable.

[agmantoo]

Squirrels are not nocturnal. Therefore, I would think the source of the noise is mice/rats. Provided you do not have pets or small children you can sprinkle lye around the perimeter of the home. Mice leak urine as they move around thus leaving a "trail". This scent trail permits the mice to enter and exit and can last for months. As new mice come by the scent trail they will follow the trail to where the previous mice visited. This movement assures that you will have a renewed population in the future. You need to disrupt this chain of events. That is what the lye will do.

[wyld thang]

great tips! my cats can get into my walls because there are some cupboards built into the walls that are open under the eaves(a-frame). They go in there and root around for mice, works good. They even open the cupboard doors for themselves .

[RedHairedBonnie]

I'd just put the cat up there for a night or two

[tom j]

I use to insulate homes .. and my guess is you have bats in the attic ..
the droping from bats are some what like mouse dropings .. One thing you might try is take a net bag like onions come in ,, put some moth balls in and hang it in the attic ,, belive it or not humans are the only ones dumb enough to live with mothballs around

[ronbre]

can you give your cats access? once you don't hear the noises any longer use expanding foam to seal all the cracks