Do I Have Mice In My Attic

We probably all know someone that has had some sort of pest in their attic. Most common is mice. But how do we know they’re there? Depending on how long the mice have been present will depend on the signs of their activity. 

Probably the first sign of mice in the attic would be noise. Although small, mice can make a tremendous amount of noise whilst scampering around your loft and rummaging through your belongings. You’ll most likely hear the mice as they walk above you at night. You may also hear the odd squeak if two mice have a disagreement. 

So, what if you don’t hear any noise from mice? The next sign that mice are in your attic would be droppings. Mouse dropping are small, black and shaped like a small grain of rice. Mice don’t control when and where they mess. This means you will find dropping everywhere the mice have been. Depending how long the mice have been in your loft will depend if there is a smell. Mice also urinate on the move and if they have gone undetected for sometime the smell can be very strong. 

If the first two to signs have can unnoticed then the next would be your belongings being chewed. Mice will chew on soft items such as clothing, suitcases are paper to make bedding. They will also chew to keep their teeth in check which sees them chew are harder things such as cables. This can do hundreds of pounds worth of damage and can even cause house fires. 

So, you’ve found mice. What next?

Mice will be in your attic for one of three things – food, water or shelter. It’s highly likely that the mice are there for the shelter. Its most common for mice to be found in the attic in the winter. Keeping your items in the attic stored in hard plastic containers will be a great help. Mice will find it hard to chew into anything and are unlikely to stay for the winter. However, if you do find that mice have set up their home in your attic then it may be time for a trapping programme. You have two choices when it comes to traps – live capture or lethal. Live trapping sounds pleasant, but it often causes great amounts of stress on the animal and when released into an unknown territory it can cause fights that will often end in the captured house dying anyway. A lethal trap avoids stress on the animal, but it does mean you will have to access your loft on a regular basis to check your traps. If you are looking to trap mice in your attic then have a look around at what trap may best suit you. 

How can I prevent mice entering my attic again? 

Mice are incredible climbers and think nothing of scaling heights to get to what they want. It’s most likely that mice would have accessed your attic via overhanging trees that touch your roof. A good trim of any limbs that overhang your house or an attached neighbours house should stop mice having easy access to your attic. It’s also worth leaving a low maintenance trap in your attic to catch any mice that try to re-enter your attic again.