what rodent starts up at 6PM to 7PM

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Around my house I hear a small but not tiny rodent rodent move around in my attic area around an hour after dark.

In the knee-wall space I have a few mouse snap traps with PB bait and a mouse sized Havahart trap with PB bait, and a larger squirrel sized Havahart trap with PB and squirrel bait (from Amazon). While I have caught a couple of mice and one chipmunk, this winter the smart rodent is still making noise in attic area.

Prev winter I caught flying squirrels but none recently. We have tightened up soffit areas to keep rodents out.

Any better bait? How often does the bait need to be freshened? If a rodent died in a trap, does one need to super clean the trap so a perspective rodent does not smell death?

So this is a rodent who is out at night.
 
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has to be a mouse...and clean traps can help, use disposable gloves to help eliminate human odor on trap...

i have also caught many mice on the same old trap if they are hungry enough..

i live out in the country so i have many vermin problems especially in my garage but im no expert either.
 
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The key is to have many many traps.
overly Clean traps can be shunned as much as death traps.

You can leave traps out unbaited and untriggered so they become one with the environment.
 
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A rat?

I went through this a few years ago and asked a "rodent solution" company to seal all the rodent entrances to the house up with metal mesh and concrete. It was the best $800 I've spent.

The company also told me different rodents grow up with different food sources would like different baits, and only try new things when they run out of familiar food sources. PB is nice because it last a long time and smells good, I had a few rats in my yard that are fruitarians and won't touch PB.
 
Peanut butter is useless as bait. The mice lick it off then run away. You need something that they will try to pull on which will snap the trap. I have found sun flower hearts (bird seed) to be extremely effective when jammed into the bait area. They try to pull on it or chew it which sets off the trap.
 
try different baits on different traps, cheese and chocolate have worked for me many times. and i've also caught on peanut butter-just a smidge in the hole so they have to work at it to get it. cover human scent with disposable rubber gloves.
 
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I use a mix of bird seed mixed in peanut butter in the trap , but also tie a small piece of red yarn or ribbon on the trap trip to hold the peanut butter mix. squish it in the yarn.
Works quite well.
 
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Peanut butter is useless as bait. The mice lick it off then run away. You need something that they will try to pull on which will snap the trap. I have found sun flower hearts (bird seed) to be extremely effective when jammed into the bait area. They try to pull on it or chew it which sets off the trap.


I have switched to this mouse trap and I almost never find the bait gone and trap unsnapped. Most of the mice I catch are in the basement.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004B9X...=sr_ph&sr=1
 
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Peanut butter is useless as bait. The mice lick it off then run away. You need something that they will try to pull on which will snap the trap. I have found sun flower hearts (bird seed) to be extremely effective when jammed into the bait area. They try to pull on it or chew it which sets off the trap.


I disagree; peanut butter isn't useless, you just have to have the kind of trap with small holes in the triggering platform. That way they are forced to get closer to get it out. Just a small amount is needed - if you put on too much, as you said they will eat most of it off before triggering the trap. I've caught at least 20 mice this winter with peanut butter.
 
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I've got a good mousetrap for mice in the open. It's called a cat.
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Catches mice in the basement and garage often, as well as garter snakes and a salamander. For inside the wall, I put the poison food in there.
 
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Sounds like they are doing laps around your attic or in the soffits? Squirrel....ask me how I know.

we have had them in our attic on and off over the past 17 years, despite several attempts at blocking their access points. Never had a nest, usually just one that gets in during the Winter. Funny though, I have heard more people having this problem now than any winter I remember.

I have had luck using rat traps baited with peanut butter or some nut wedged into the bait holder along with a culling of the ones I see around the house. Don't like doing it, but taking out the ones in the immediate area does seem to make a difference.
 
We had an ongoing problem of "little feet" in the attic.

Recently I rescued a kitten living on her own miles from nowhere with a badly swollen leg. As the leg healed and she started growing she became more accustomed to human contact and she took an interest in the "little feet" noises. Now we turn her loose in the attic at night. We've built her a little house up there with dry food and water. We can hear her moving around and she is becoming very effective at catching mice. In the morning we bring her down along with her dry food and water and there's usually body parts from several mice.

Every night around sundown you can find her waiting under the trap door with her tail twitching.

It's been about 6 weeks and the "little feet" can no longer be heard.

Our kitten is now more or less tame and still growing. She's appears to always be on guard and is teaching our dogs the proper way to behave around a cat. We're thinking of putting out a warning sigh, "Beware of watch kitty".
 
cats are great i've had many...

and mice will eat anything, including plastic covering from wiring on your vehicle or trailers- darn vermin!

the only thing they won't eat through that I know of is wire.

I have done the wire mesh with foam insulation(similar to the one mentioned above with cement) and this is a great way to keep them out. then bait them on the outside.
 
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Geez I never thought of putting the cat into the attic for the night. Thats a good one I'm between cats presently but I had a pair that were good mousers. . I have good luck with snap traps . I have about 10 of them. PB works great. Just a smear,rubbed into the trigger. I've reset a trap a few times before reapplying, Squirrels, I use a rat trap after failing with a Hav-Hart. The first time I set the trap , I didn't load it. 3rd time I did. It was a only an hour or 2 before I heard it snap. I also have a red tail hawk cruising the area. Steel wool works good for stopping up small holes. Pine is no trouble for a red squirrel.They need to gnaw to keep their teeth worn down.
 
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What rodent starts up at 6PM to 7 PM?

A night rat, of course -- but they're more expensive than day rats!

(Pun on "night rat"/"night rate" . . . gee, tough crowd . . . try the veal . . .)
 
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