The “attic” was no problem for our cat Archie in the 60s, when we lived in a house built around 1914 (with a flat roof, in Hermosa Beach, CA; it also had a concrete-slab floor set directly on the ground.) At one point Archie would lie at a spot on the side of the house, looking at a hole in the foundation, for hours on end. Obviously he knew something we didn’t. Finally my stepfather’s nice, “Mary,” did some cleaning of the ground outside–and she found that Archie had accumulated a pile of mouse skeletons! 
He was a good mouser. Only once in five years that we lived there did a mouse appear* inside* the house–and he trotted out the front door with it in his mouth, to show it off to the other cats. He was the Big Cheese of the neighborhood.
I am holding my breath, but I may have nuked the little bastard(s) that were up there scratching at my head. Not positive yet, but it’s been 24 hours now, and no noise above me in the bedroom.
I put a few traps up there a couple of weeks ago and got one for sure, maybe two (one trap is missing. I assume it was triggered and flipped somewhere in between the joists and into the insulation. I am not going to search for it unless I have to.)
Anyway, after getting that one little mouse (and it was a small thing, thank god), i didn’t hear much for a couple of days. And then, sure enough, the scratching above my head would start at night while I was laying in bed. Two nights ago, i was awakened by the sound, and was completely freaked out. I assume it was just scratching/moving around on the thin plywood up there, or maybe it was on an exposed piece of Sheetrock that is my bedroom ceiling. In any event, it sounded a LOT closer and louder than it ever has, so I decided to go back into the attic armed to the teeth.
I set 8 traps up there, and also put a poison block inside a feeder. The mice can apparently get in there to eat the stuff, and will crawl back to their nest and die once it gets into their system. It would also seem that the mice may take a chunk back to the nest to feed any little ones, so that would solve the problem of not catching something in a trap.
I also bought stand alone poison blocks and flung them to the far reaches of my attic, especially around the edges and around the duct work, where they seem to hang out for warmth. I had twelve of those things, and i tossed them mostly above my bedroom, where I cannot physically get to because of how the roof was constructed.
I must have tossed one close, or maybe I even hit one on the head and killed it, because the noise was almost non-existent last night.
I heard one short stretch of scratching, and that was in an area of my ceiling that I have never heard anything before. So I am thinking maybe the poison was eaten, and the mouse took a death walk before dying.
Not one sound after that.
I may have finally zapped whatever was up there. I’m not bragging, because I have no idea if I did take care of the problem or not, but I am hopeful.
I am hoping that whatever was up there, if I didn’t snap his little neck with a trap, ate poison and died near the poison dispenser. If it ate one of the blocks i just threw around the attic, that would be fine, except I am afraid it might fall between the walls and stink to high heaven. If that happens, I am not sure what I will do, because I cannot get to where the mouse finally came to an end, unless I cut a hole in the ceiling or wall and go fishing.
And I am NOT going to do that.
So, bottom line is, I will keep my fingers crossed, and hope and pray that it wasn’t a large mouse, squirrel or rat that will stink for a longer period of time. A small mouse will stink, but it will decompose faster and won’t be stinking up my bedroom walls for months.
I also hope that I will not have to make another trip into the attic any time soon. I almost fell through the ceiling this time, just barely catching my balance before slipping from a beam. This summer, I will be moving small pieces of plywood up there to give it a floor that can be walked on. The opening is so small, however, that this may take quite a while. I may have to hire a contractor to get up in there and do it right, but i’m not exactly sure how he’d get anything very large up there without cutting a hole in the ceiling of our second floor and moving the plywood flooring up that way.
Thanks for the advice and help, everyone. I’ll keep you all posted if I hear those little feet above my head again. The next time, I think I will call in an exterminator and let him do his thing up there.
You keep on referring to your invader as “it”, singular. A rodent invasion is always plural. Very, very plural.
And cats have no trouble at all balancing on the edge of a 2x6. That’s literally something they can do in their sleep.
mice have families and breed like rabbits on steroids.
if you have dead ones that you don’t find each will stink a few days, not too bad.
the idea of a bait station is to force them to eat until full. if they can move the bait they may hide it with seeds in their food stash and not be poisoned. they will eat and bring the kids.
You are right. I know they are into family in a big way. But I don’t like thinking about a bunch of the little bastards running around up there. Never underestimate the power of denial.
As for a cat, i have no doubt that they can walk on the side of a 2x6. Much better than me, for sure. However, most of the beams are not visible in my attic, and are only found if you push the fluffy insulation away. Even then, if they happened to step off and try to walk onto the insulation, they would fall until they met the ceiling above me. They would survive, but they would be under at least 6 inches of fluffy insulation.
Also, and this is the biggest problem… If they went to where i suspect the mice are, i could not get the cat out on my own. It would have to come out because it wanted to. Unless i tie a leash around its neck, (which is possible, but I wouldn’t want to sit up in the attic for a long time) i would have to figure out a way to get the cat to come when it is called. I have never had success with a cat coming to me when I wanted it to. Losing a cat in my ceiling would suck just as bad, and would probably be louder than a mouse.
Well, we will see how well the bait station works. I don’t care if they use the bait station, they find the poison bricks i tossed around the attic, or they get their neck snapped by a trap. Just so long as they meet their demise.
Hell, if they simply moved to a location above the garage, i’d never know they were there. I imagine many homes have rodent families living in them, and they will remain undetected if they find a spot that has low traffic and they can’t be seen/heard.
What I find interesting is that for as long as I’ve lived in this house, i have never seen any evidence of a mouse living with us. No food has ever been found, no box has ever been ripped open and nibbled on, no droppings anywhere. I’ve lived in approximately 8 different places in my life, and every place that had mice, I’d find their calling cards in the kitchen-- In the pantry, around the dishwasher or refrigerator, or where ever. And it would only take a day or two to place a trap and snap their necks once their access point was located.
I hate rodents.
then you could say
you hate mieces to pieces.
In apartment complexes, rodent control services put out baits,
and then with a large needle they penetrate the walls and
inject deodorant into the space between the walls, where the
sick rats/mice/whatever go to die, the idea being that the
deodorant keeps the stink down . . .
Well, I once saw a squirrel casually scaling a concrete wall, but he may have been bitten by an irradiated arachnid.
If you can find sheet metal thin enough to roll up, you can maybe slip a roll or two into the attic access hole. You will need to nail the edges to the joists about every 6" to keep it taught enough to support your weight.
I have never tried this (I used 1x10x8’s slipped in almost horizontal), but it might be effective and a lot cheaper than 1x10’s nowadays.
If the plywood is thin enough to flex too much, nail its perimeter as well.
The walls should NOT be open at the top - the wall studs have headers - it is those headers upon which the ceiling joists rest. They are buried in the insulation. No worries about dead rodents falling into the walls. They may climb (there are holes for wires and pipes in the headers) into the wall, but not fall.
Will rodents eat their dead? If so, find some poison which not only kills the bastards but also renders their meat toxic.