Following a large bill from an electrician, is there anything you can do to stop mice/rats chewing through your attic wiring?

Loathed to put poison or traps up there.

Traps. Why don’t you like traps?

Would you want to install a bog just for mice?

My Nan has rats in her loft. Luckily no wiring damaged but they have shredded and ruined all the loft insulation. Probably well over 100m2 of the stuff

Get traps up there ASAP

If you don’t want to trap or poisen your options are limited. You could just ask them nicely to leave.

By chewing through the wires the mice/rats may in advertantly start a fire, or they bite through a wire, you touch them to remove them and get a electric shock.

Google, rats chewing cables cause electrical fire

The key to dealing with rats is to find out where they are coming from in the first place. There will be some access hole somewhere and excluding them is always the best long term option. In the short term some form of trapping or poisoned bait will be necessary to put a stop to the rats that have decided that your attic is a nice place to go.

Traps are generally more effective for mice than they are for rats as rats are far more cautious about anything new in their environment. If its a serious problem you want to sort out quickly my advice would be to use a mixture of bait and traps, take out the trouble makers and then try to proof the area against any others gaining access. Oh yes, make sure you wear gloves when doing any work in the affected area, rats are filthy creatures.

Also Google ‘rats chew cables in attic so owner puts poison in attic, 3 weeks later bad smell stinks house out’.
I wrote that one.

‘rats chew cables in attic so owner puts poison in attic, 3 weeks later bad smell stinks house out

That has been known to happen but not as often as you would think. It is however a smell you don’t forget in a hurry. But then again so is the smell of burning house. Almost as bad is the smell of a damp house after the damn things have chewed through a water pipe; seen that a few times this year.

Do you know anyone with a particularly vicious cat? You do now. 8)

Joking apart, if you do then ask if you can borrow it for a couple of days a week. Put the cat in the attic and it will pick up the scent pretty quick. Worked for a neighbour of ours when “Button” went to visit. There was quite a bit of blood to clean up though…

Wev’e got rats at work that must come in through the drains or a narrow culvert that goes under the perimeter fence, they’ve been under the education block, poisoned & died. Now the building can’t be used cos of the smell.

esselgruntfuttock there are some fairly powerful deodorising products available to counter that sort of smell. If you’ve used a pest control company to do the baiting they will be able to provide them. I use them from time to time and they do work well.

Cheers Dave, can you email ‘No1 Governor, HMP ******** & let him know. 😉