Critters in my ceiling/walls...

Hi All,

I have a finished room (bedroom) above my garage that is connected to the main house. My wife and I occasionally hear scurrying noises from the ceiling and walls of this bedroom. We suspect that we have field mice or perhaps even hibernating chipmunks are in the ceilling and walls.

Here's the problem, because the room is a finished room over the garge, it does not have an attic area and I do not have any access to the air spaces above the ceiling or behind the walls. I've placed mouse traps in our basement and in the attic of the main part of the house and caught a couple of mice in each area, but I haven't been able to vanquish the little critters from this finished room above the garage.

I've also tried placing mouse traps and mouse poison bait stations in the walls of the garage below the finished bedroom. The previous owner had cut a few spots of dry wall out in the garage along the top of the wall (near the ceiling) so he could wire some outdoor lights by the garage doors. I have placed the traps along the 2x4 plank that runs along the ceiling of the garage, but haven't caught any critters yet or seen any evidence of the critters eating any of the bait yet.

I think I somehow need to set traps inside the air spaces of my finished bedroom.

Any professional or DIY exterminators out there who can give me some advice on how to proceed? It seems like I am able to catch and clear out the vermin in the main house by placing traps in the attic and basement, but I'm not sure how to get the suckers in this extra room.

I was thinking about cutting some holes in the drywall to gain access to the rafters and air gaps in the walls, but I was wondering if there is a less destructive way to locate and trap/kill the critters. Also, I imagine that next fall I will have to deal with these critters again, so what are some good strategies to capture these guys before they settle down in the walls of this finished room?

Last thing - I have young children in the house. I'm not against using poison, but I do have to be careful about prevent access to the poison by the young ones.

Any ideas on what to do?

Thanks in advance!

 

The first order of business is rodent proofing

Any hole the size of a dime must be sealed.
Go around the outside of the house and look for any holes, look at door sweeps anything and everything that you can put the tip of your little finger in is a possible mouse entry.

I would not use poisoins for an infestation that you believe to be inside the house because of the possibility of an inexcessible carcass.

If the attic butts up to the gargae go upthere and seal any holes that allow mice to access the crawl from the attic.

Aggressively trap with glue boards baited with small dabs of peanut butter and eliminate any other food source

Use poison bait boxes on the outside.

If they can't get in you have solved the problem

If they are trapped inside they will be forced to search out food If the only food source available is on those traps you will eventually catch them

When you think you have caught them all because they are not showing up in your glue traps anymore switch to live catch or snap traps, they may have just become trap shy

If they can't get out

 

Hi ocoee,

Thanks for the tips. I have a few follow up questions....

Regarding rodent proofing - should I only plug up the holes near the ground, or do I also have to plug up holes that are more than a few feet off the ground? Can a rodent scurry up an exterior (wood clapboard) wall?

What do you recommend for plugging the holes? Foam sealant or something like that?

Regarding the glue traps, do these work well in the cold weather (I live in NH). I've used glue traps in the past and I've noticed that there success seems to decline in the colder weather. I'm wondering if it's because the glue is less sticky when it's cold.

How do you rodent proof a door sweep?

thanks!