Mice in ceiling

In message , Bill writes

Frank Ifield won't remember Frankie Laine singing that song.

n wrote: >> Hi, I appear to have mice in my kitchen ceiling. I've not actua lly >> seen then or seen any evidence of them (droppings etc), but every so >> often hear scurrying across the ceiling. The problem is that the >> flo or in the room above the kitchen is inaccessible due to carpet, >> bed and wardrobes etc. Any ideas how I can get rid of the mice >> please? >> >> Tha nks >> >> Alec >> > > Are they perhaps dining in your kitchen after dark? C ut off the food > supply and they (or most likely it) will move on. The hum ane traps work > pretty well IME. You certainly don't want mice dying up th ere Don't see why not. A dead mouse only smells bad for a few days or a wee k at most and it is preferable to having them in there alive and sharpening their teeth on the mains cable insulation. By all means set active traps i f you can but don't under estimate the utility of poison bait in inaccessib le zones. The only problem is if it is rats (and it could be) - they take a much longer time to dessicate and smell dreadful in the meantime. -- Regar ds, Martin Brown

I live in an old house - massive thick walls, lath and plaster and more ina ccesible nooks and crannies than you can shake a stick at, so I'm reluctant to use poisoned bait when I hear the latest (average one a year) scurry in the walls or ceiling (I tell my wife it's only mice but I know better, and I suspect she does too!) so I use neckbreakers, although the poor bugger d oesn't die easily, judging by the series of thumps I heard after it went of f in the night. I'd rather keep the damn things out in the first place, but short of hermetic sealing I don't see how it's possible.