We live in the country and as soon as the weather drops cold we get mice in the loft, with no way of blocking all the gaps to stop them coming in we have to trap or poison them to stop our house getting infested.
If we poison them we get smells in the house,I was reading the forum and someone mentioned the council were going to spray an infested block of flats with RODENTICIDE.Has anyone used this product?and do you think it would be suitable for use in my roof to prevent them coming in for the winter?Please help as I am terrified they will come in the house.

That sounds like an option that should only be used by an experienced professional for an industrial-sized problem (and would you really want your house sprayed with lethal fumigants?)

Have you rung the pest control officer at the council? Some (most?) councils offer free or low cost treatment for rodent infestations, and if not will be able to put you in touch with someone else who can help. The council's website should give details of what is on offer.

Why not adopt a former stray cat... give it a home, and make the loft its favourite space... he will soon clear the place of any unwelcome intruders...

Ary.

Not sure you'd get much sleep with a cat thundering around overhead chasing mice all night

--and you might end up with the cat hiding the dead mice in the house anyway!

It may not be possible, but if all else fails, is there any way you could attach a continuous strip on the outside of the house somewhere below roof access level , that has a right angle profile and juts out a 4to 5 ins of very smooth surface so the mice couldnt climb across the horizontal undersurface to access above it? --Ive never seen this, its just an idea if you get desperate.

I think you're right cypriana, something has to be done to block their access. Otherwise the problem will recur every year and it will just be a question of which method you choose to 'manage' it (i.e. kill them off).

Thanks for all your advice but we are going to stick to getting someone in every couple of mths to top up poison and check traps so far so good they have not come in the house.(When the time is right we are going to sell)next time we buy we will be doing checks on roof space for droppings,Good advice for anyone buying thats V V V scared of mice.Expensive mistake!!!!

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4to 5 ins of very smooth surface so the mice couldnt climb across the horizontal undersurface to access above it?

now you're just being mean

don't they do sonic repellers?

Have you tried installing those sonic devices that are meant to scare away insects and small animals - worth a try (unless you have a pet!)

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Originally posted by N E Juan:
Have you tried installing those sonic devices that are meant to scare away insects and small animals - worth a try (unless you have a pet!)

Don't bother - numerous tests have shown that they don't work. As soon as one is pressurised by trading standards to withdraw from the market it's replaced by another. Nor do they transmit, as claimed by one recently heavily advertised product, "digital force fields" through your wiring and walls. If you can't physically bar them from getting in then it's back to the bait and traps.

And RODENTICIDE is not a particular product - it just means rodent killer.

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Originally posted by acousticengineer:

Don't bother - numerous tests have shown that they don't work.

thanks for that, you live and learn. Glad i only said are meant to work, didn't actually say they did

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Originally posted by N E Juan:

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Originally posted by acousticengineer:

Don't bother - numerous tests have shown that they don't work.

thanks for that, you live and learn. Glad i only said are meant to work, didn't actually say they did

We have 2 in our house and we haven't had a mouse since we plugged them in.

We have none, and no mice either! Anecdotal evidence is what these sort of product rely on - but when proper tests are carried out the mice, rats, mossies etc just ignore them. There is some evidence for very short term repulsion, but this lasts less than a day and the creatures just get used to them. It's the old Elephant Powder again.

oh maybe our mice are wearing slippers then

Believe me, they have gone.

After 6 years I've just got rid of the mice in our loft. I had been putting traps downs and emptying them once per week. Also tried poison but as you predicted the smell of rotting mouse was over powering.

In then end I was tackling condensation in the loft by adding extra air bricks, and noticed a few finger sized holes adjacent to them or where the brick meets the wood on which the roof is supported. After filling those in with a little cement - no more mice!

My advice to you would be to check your eves with a long ladder.