Little buggers

[hifi_dave]

Since the Farmers in this area took to rooting out all the hedgerows, a few years ago, we have been inundated with rodents in the lofts. The little buggers have nowhere else to go and seeing a nice warm roof, have moved in.

I gave up with poisoning them as they just go off and die in the lofts and stink. So, I have had 4 traps in the two lofts and very effective they have been too. I check them every 4 - 5 days and usually have a Mouse in every trap and a couple of times, 2 in one. However, the past couple of months, they have been licking out the Peanut Butter without setting off the traps, which means I am now feeding them.

How do they do that and how did they learn to do it in two locations at the same time ?

All I can think of is that there are teensy, weensy Voles, Shrews or baby Mice, too small to trigger the traps.

[Made in 1968]

Rotter there is plenty of Speaker cabs you could rent out surely :eyebrows:

[hifinutt]

wow , thats horrible . a number of friends live in old terrace houses in fairly rough roads with rubbish everywhere . one often tells me he caught 5 mice in one night in his traps , actually some of them want to move because of these pests who go from one loft or property to another easily

[hifi_dave]

I've been told that Mice are often born pregnant and if left to it you will have 300 by the end of the year. If it was just one or two I might not bother but going by the number I was catching, there are dozens of the buggers in the lofts.

[struth]

a mouse can average 8 pups a litter and 10 litters a year. the pups are ready to have pups themselves in 6 weeks, so the population can grow rapidly

[hifi_dave]

Thanks for confirming my worst fears now how do I get rid of them..:eek:

[Light Dependant Resistor]

You need to block their access to the loft - blocking access is by far the best method. If you have a dog, he/she will easily find, and alert you to
where they presently are. Set traps certainly for the ones already inside, but physically deal with the way they are getting inside, as a priority.

They will invariably take the easiest path - to them, its like a highway into your loft.

[Macca]

They will invariably take the easiest path - to them, its like a highway into your loft.

but not like the M6, if it was the M6 they'd get nowhere. When you find the access no need to block it, just set up some roadworks and a couple of contraflows. They'll never get through that.

[Macca]

https://i.imgur.com/CgD8WY1.jpg

[Audio Al]

15 last year in traps
2 so far this year

[Made in 1968]

As long as they don't run after the farmer's wife.

[dave2010]

Since the Farmers in this area took to rooting out all the hedgerows, a few years ago, we have been inundated with rodents in the lofts. The little buggers have nowhere else to go and seeing a nice warm roof, have moved in.

I gave up with poisoning them as they just go off and die in the lofts and stink. So, I have had 4 traps in the two lofts and very effective they have been too. I check them every 4 - 5 days and usually have a Mouse in every trap and a couple of times, 2 in one. However, the past couple of months, they have been licking out the Peanut Butter without setting off the traps, which means I am now feeding them.

How do they do that and how did they learn to do it in two locations at the same time ?

All I can think of is that there are teensy, weensy Voles, Shrews or baby Mice, too small to trigger the traps.We have this problem too, but it doesn't sound as bad as yours. I agree about not using poison. At one point I bought a box, but didn't use it. However, the little so and sos found it anyway, and must have crawled back into the house between the rafters, and I guess close to a hot water pipe. The smell was intense for a while.

I would suggest checking every day for catches and keep loading the traps up. You could also try moving them into new areas. You really should try to keep on top of this, otherwise you could be completely overrun. You could also try other enticing food - such as chocolate, though I have found peanut butter to be the most effective generally. Some people still rate cheese, though I don't.

I have found this kind of trap to be effective - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZMXYCVB/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B07ZMXYCVB&pd_rd_w=0xr19&pf_rd_p=1055d8b2-c10c-4d7d-b50d-96300553e15d&pd_rd_wg=EoqEh&pf_rd_r=Y02AF9H2A00G9FSPGHQA&pd_rd_r=4288d327-3b30-4db4-bfbf-b331f29fea61&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFVTE1QOVpRWDJMMlMmZ W5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA3MDY0NzUzRlNWU01MRFBBUlJMJmVuY3J 5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAwNzk3MTlGOVc3Ukw3QzJaQzImd2lkZ2V0T mFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWwmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9 Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl - they can be bought in largish quantities.

I hear that cats are quite effective too - though I'm allergic to them, and I'm not too keen on having animals to look after, but if you are tolerant of cats that may be a way to go.

As you are presumably close to farmland I don't think this is a problem which is going to go away, but it ought to be possible to reduce it to a manageable level, with maybe only a few catches per year. Blocking holes is, I'm told, important also - and a mouse can go through a hole about the size of a pencil.

[Mikeandvan]

Buy a jack Russell and have some fun.

[CageyH]

I use a small chunk of diary milk. I drill a hole through it of a similar size to the spike on the trap, and stick it on with a drop of super glue.
It works well.

Failing that, you need to make one of those traps with a spinning rod for a walkway to a feeding platform, positioned over a bucket of water and let nature do the rest....

[CageyH]

https://youtu.be/nsoVcrFyrF8


https://youtu.be/6SIlYiiCGLI

[Ninanina]

I'd rather have mice than spiders..

[CageyH]

I am the opposite.
Spiders don’t bother me one bit, unless they are huge and hairy.

[Ninanina]

I am the opposite.
Spiders don’t bother me one bit, unless they are huge and hairy.

Spiders do very strange things to me... but I don't mind mice...

[Alex_UK]

I know they're only mice, but I think I'd prefer to splatter their heads in a trap instantly than see them suffer a pretty horrible demise drowning in a bucket. I'll let Dave answer on the mice vs. spiders debate, but I know he is not a fan of the eight legged little horrors either!

[CageyH]

As stated in the video, you don’t have to add water, but then you need to take the mice for a drive.

[struth]

If u don't want to drown, you could put poison at bottom of bucket. They will eat it and die.
These work well. A bit too well sometimes as the mouse can die in box and can be difficult to get out.
If you snap the lid tab that has it locked then just use a rubber band you can reuse.
My son got rid of a family in a week

[CageyH]

Is drowning worse than being poisoned?
From what I understand from recent articles, people don't thrash about when drowning, but slip under quietly.

[hifi_dave]

Mice can get through a hole the size of a Biro, so as the house and barn are both 15th Century buildings, there are numerous places for them to squeeze through. A couple of years ago, I went all round the barn and filled every gap I could find under the rafters with wire wool, but they still find their way in.

I have Mouse and Rat traps as in one of the posts here and they have been effective for years but now they have got the knack of licking out the Peanut Butter without firing the traps. I feel that all I am doing now is feeding them.

I don't like poison, as they crawl off, die, stink and then the clouds of Flies arrive.

Earlier this week, I bought a couple of traps which have a little box on the front for the bait. The idea is that they have to crawl in the box for the bait and fire the trap and this doesn't rely on their weight but they still manage to get the Peanut Butter.

I'll have to try gluing a bit of chocolate in place and the bucket idea but with poison inside instead of water. Something has to be done.

Thanks for the input all.

[struth]

hole size i was told was 17mm.. not every mouse of course but smaller ones

[CageyH]

If the traps don't work, I will see if I can catch one of the snakes in my garden. They seem to be very effective this year.

[hifi_dave]

Just ordered a 'walk the plank' device from E-Bay. If it works I will get a couple more.

[CageyH]

I will interested to see how you get on with that. I have not seen or heard any mice in my house this year, which is the first for a long time.

[dave2010]

Shawn Woods seems to be an expert on traps - not only that, but has videos and tests of a lot of different ones - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKyIcX6I_AQ

[CageyH]

That is who did the videos I posted earlier in the thread.

[Mikeandvan]

I love spiders, we have mutual interests.

[Pigmy Pony]

I love spiders, we have mutual interests.

What, eating flies? Be sure to cook them thoroughly, they carry all kinds of diseases :(

[dave2010]

That is who did the videos I posted earlier in the thread.I think he has an almost limitless supply of mice to bop off. I liked the rotating pole models.

[Paul-H]

I live in an old Edwardian house and at night you can hear them running about in the loft, it actuslly sounds like they are wearing hobnail boots and playing football they make so much noise, at one point it sounded like they were rolling steel balls about. So far I have tried just about every type of poison available, from grains of wheat, paste and blocks and they don't touch any of them, even the ultrasonic ones have no effect.

Been trying to block all access holes, found fine wire wool to be quite effective at that, but its a big loft so dont seem to be able to find all the holes.

The little buggers even got into my bait store and demolished about 20 kilos of bait in a few months, they are either enormous or is that Enor-Mouse or there are thousands of them.

Might have to get some professional help in soon.

Paul

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Hi Paul
I can proudly say I have ,completely defeated mice and rats from entering my residence.

Some suggestions for you - the first step is to carefully observe where and how
they are entering. If for instance they are in the roof already - how did they get there ?
A dog is your best friend as a dog will tell you emphatically where they are.

So to defeat them, set traps for the ones that are there already then arrange your sleep time for a few days
from 5pm until 2 am. At 2am - 4.45am is when they are most active - see if you can see them - and gain
knowledge of where they are with your dog assisting, to show you where they are gaining access.

Then during daylight hours , do you utmost to block those holes off. You need to look outside as well. The really serious players are
rats who will do everything they can to enter a property including chewing through internal wood structures
- but they too can be defeated once you find the clever ways they are getting in.

Eventually you will only hear them trying to get inside from outside, - at that point you need to continue blocking their access
by looking very carefully at any way they can get in. Yes steel wool and blocks of wood can help to block holes

So we can appreciate the problem see if you can do a recording we can hear.

[hifi_dave]

I live in an old Edwardian house and at night you can hear them running about in the loft, it actuslly sounds like they are wearing hobnail boots and playing football they make so much noise, at one point it sounded like they were rolling steel balls about. So far I have tried just about every type of poison available, from grains of wheat, paste and blocks and they don't touch any of them, even the ultrasonic ones have no effect.

Been trying to block all access holes, found fine wire wool to be quite effective at that, but its a big loft so dont seem to be able to find all the holes.

The little buggers even got into my bait store and demolished about 20 kilos of bait in a few months, they are either enormous or is that Enor-Mouse or there are thousands of them.

Might have to get some professional help in soon.

Paul

Might be Rats. We had a Rat (or more) a few years ago and the Man from Rentokil said that they are very clever when it comes to the poisoned bait and will nibble a bit to see if they feel ill and if they do, they won't touch it again. They do make a lot of noise. Where Mice patter around the Rats stomp.

[struth]

ive birds in loft.. they wade about up there too. i can hear them. thrushes mostly. you cant see any holes but there must be at least one

[Pigmy Pony]

May even be squirrels

[dave2010]

The little buggers even got into my bait store and demolished about 20 kilos of bait in a few months, they are either enormous or is that Enor-Mouse or there are thousands of them.

Might have to get some professional help in soon.
I'm surprised you haven't screamed for help earlier. 20kgs of bait is a lot to feed the critters on. Wow!

I had a packet left in the garage once, didn't use it, but something or things found it, ate nearly all of it, then went and died against the heating pipes somewhere between floors. Very unpleaant - though the smell does go eventually.

[hifi_dave]

I'm surprised you haven't screamed for help earlier. 20kgs of bait is a lot to feed the critters on. Wow!

I had a packet left in the garage once, didn't use it, but something or things found it, ate nearly all of it, then went and died against the heating pipes somewhere between floors. Very unpleaant - though the smell does go eventually.

The smell is very unpleasant but that attracts flies and bluebottles, who lay eggs and then you have a plague of flies and bluebottles..:eek:

[nonuffin]

I have a rat in the house at the moment and it is driving me demented. Bastid thing is chewing holes in the chipboard floors and through the wood on the walls. The washing machine is out in the conservatory with the pipes going through into the kitchen and the bugger chewed through the water inlet pipe so water was pouring out, but thankfully it was only moments before I found it to turn the water off, unlike the last rat which chewed through two pipes at around 2.00am last year and both times there was at least 3 inches of freezing cold water to contend with in the middle of the night.

Put a new inlet pipe in and a split sleeve over it to help prevent a repeat but the bugger was trying to squeeze past it the other morning and got stuck in the hole. At 5.00am when I get up I'm not truly alert yet so rather than grab it with my bare hands and risk getting bitten, I grabbed a kitchen knife and tried to stab it. Being a carving knife with a curved tip it was deflected upwards across it's fur and actually released it from the hole. :rolleyes:

Last year I bought 2 large traps with spring doors held open by a piece of bent wire which holds the bait. It caught a mouse and number one rat which I drowned in a water butt, but this current bugger is doing a wonderful job of staying well away from it for the past 2 nights.

[dave2010]

The smell is very unpleasant but that attracts flies and bluebottles, who lay eggs and then you have a plague of flies and bluebottles..:eek:Indeed - I think we may have had that as an issue in a loft last year and maybe the year before also.

Sorry to hear about nonuffin's rat issue. That sounds a real pain. Is it in the house, or does it come in from outside? If it goes into the conservatory, is there any way you could keep it there until you find something to deal with it. Maybe construct a "rat flap". I think some dogs might do the job if you can contain it in a known area which is accessible to dogs.

If it's wandering around more or less freely inside the house, then you will need to find a way to deal with that. Are there any bait traps which would work, and keep the wretched thing inside? I think that does need to be done quite urgently - so good luck with that.

I didn't see any new bodies (mice) in the loft a couple of days ago - though I didn't check loft #2 (or 1 depending on numbering scheme!).

[nonuffin]

Sorry to hear about nonuffin's rat issue. That sounds a real pain. Is it in the house, or does it come in from outside? If it goes into the conservatory, is there any way you could keep it there until you find something to deal with it. Maybe construct a "rat flap". I think some dogs might do the job if you can contain it in a known area which is accessible to dogs.

If it's wandering around more or less freely inside the house, then you will need to find a way to deal with that. Are there any bait traps which would work, and keep the wretched thing inside? I think that does need to be done quite urgently - so good luck with that.


Underneath the house is a void around a foot tall and number one rat last year made a number of holes in the floor which I have put metal plates over. Had a power cut the other day so opened the meter cupboard to find a large hole through the floor where the wires come into the house so Mr Rat could roam freely in the conservatory if the meter cupboard door was ajar and a hole in the wall where he could get into the kitchen to roam around underneath the kitchen units and under the sink. I cannot locate the screws to remove the kick panels unfortunately, but I put an entire can of expanding foam in the meter cupboard hole to contain it in the kitchen.

Last night the missus was on the loo and it ran across her feet and out the bathroom, so I pursued it hot foot into the kitchen where it dashed in behind the cooker and back under the kitchen cabinets. Been fastidious about not leaving any food out, so am hoping the chocolate bait will lure it into the trap.

Got 2 dogs in the house and they are on a warning that if they don't help with the rat problem they are going to be homeless :lol:

[Audio Al]

RATS :eek: it's bad enough with mice , I feel for you :(

[nonuffin]

It's not funny the sheer amount of damage that rats can do.

While people are being kind to the birds by feeding them, the rats get an endless supply of free easy to get food from what the birds scatter. A couple up the road have been feeding the local badgers with bucketloads of food and they got very pissy with me when I told them they are feeding rats every bit as much as the badgers. so it pleased me no end when they started whining about the rat problems they have inside their house. Feckin do-gooders are now reaping what they sowed.

[RobbieGong]

It's not funny the sheer amount of damage that rats can do.

While people are being kind to the birds by feeding them, the rats get an endless supply of free easy to get food from what the birds scatter. A couple up the road have been feeding the local badgers with bucketloads of food and they got very pissy with me when I told them they are feeding rats every bit as much as the badgers. so it pleased me no end when they started whining about the rat problems they have inside their house. Feckin do-gooders are now reaping what they sowed.

Hope you get it sorted Dominic, do feel for you.

[dave2010]

Squirrels aren't good, either. Not quite sure whether we ever had those - though there were some things clumping around in our previous house occasionally. I think birds got in sometimes. Some people I know had a house and squirrels got in - did a lot of damage. As far as I know the only significant damage squirrels did to us was to chew through the wires connecting the solar lights in the garden. They seemed to enjoy chewing through wire. In a house that could be a real pain - though they migh electrocute themselves.

[Pigmy Pony]

Underneath the house is a void around a foot tall and number one rat last year made a number of holes in the floor which I have put metal plates over. Had a power cut the other day so opened the meter cupboard to find a large hole through the floor where the wires come into the house so Mr Rat could roam freely in the conservatory if the meter cupboard door was ajar and a hole in the wall where he could get into the kitchen to roam around underneath the kitchen units and under the sink. I cannot locate the screws to remove the kick panels unfortunately, but I put an entire can of expanding foam in the meter cupboard hole to contain it in the kitchen.

Last night the missus was on the loo and it ran across her feet and out the bathroom, so I pursued it hot foot into the kitchen where it dashed in behind the cooker and back under the kitchen cabinets. Been fastidious about not leaving any food out, so am hoping the chocolate bait will lure it into the trap.

Got 2 dogs in the house and they are on a warning that if they don't help with the rat problem they are going to be homeless :lol:

I'm probably stating the obvious, but most kitchens fitted in the last 20 years or so, the kick panels just sort of clip on to the cabinets' legs. If you can pry one off the others should come off easily.

When removing an old window yesterday a rat fell out and bounced off my shoulder - 3 inches to the left and I would have looked like Davy Crockett. Fortunately it was long dead and stiff as a board. Those buggers get everywhere.

[dave2010]

I just wondered about an update on the "bop off the mice" wars. I thought - maybe still do - that we still have a few lurking, but nothing appeared on traps lately, and last time I looked they were still set, and loaded with peanut butter, which they seem to like - for a second or two!

How are the walk the plank traps working out?

I wonder if the noises we hear from upstairs are now just birds - really not sure.

The other pest we had for a while was ants, which found their way into our kitchen. In the end I got butal with the Nippon stuff - and to my surprise after a day or two they all disappeared. The Nippon liquid sets into a sort of gel if left for long enough.

[hifi_dave]

The traps I bought with a little box the Mice have to enter to eat the bait, have remained primed with Peanut Butter in place. I did catch a couple of tiny little creatures with long noses and these were probably too light to operate the conventional trap but could still eat the bait. I was hoping to get some more of them but the traps are empty. I'm hoping, they have all gone away for now at least.

I didn't get around to fitting the walk the plank traps but they are here for when the little sods return.

Ants, I usually deter and kill with the powder in plastic tubs. Spread it around where they get in and they take it back to the nest. Couldn't find any of the Nippon gel stuff in the shops.

[JimK]

I sympathise with those here who have rats in their homes, we have had them in ours. The damage they do chewing through things is amazing, even had them get in to our gas boiler and chew through some wires in there making it stop working. Had no succes at all trying to catch them, only eventually stopped them by meticulously blocking any likely access point.
Mice are a pain but nowhere near the aggravation of rats, much easier to catch than rats too, we've found that chocolate is a good bait for mice, have had success with peanut butter too.

[Firebottle]

I did catch a couple of tiny little creatures with long noses and these were probably too light to operate the conventional trap but could still eat the bait.

Those will be shrews. Caught a few of those when we used to get mice in the loft in France.

[AJSki2fly]

Just had a read of this thread, and last 2 weeks we put and end to 6 mice in our roof. Sue heard them scampering around in the afternoon when she was recovering from her hospital visit a month or so ago. After a week now we seem to be free of them, luckily they do not seem to have done any damage. I have yet to find where they were getting in.

[Macca]

Those will be shrews.

They can be tamed.

[Macca]

Those with the mice might want to consider capturing a number of them alive apropos constructing a 'Mouse Organ' like in Monty Python

https://i.imgur.com/DS0LH3H.gif

[mad-moon]

They also make great burger meat...

[goraman]

If you have room build them a little shed, stack some wood pallets and add some straw and hay ,cut pieces large PVC pipe .
A bag of dried corn, your old vegetables will keep them in the shed area, as long as they have food and water ,safety they are not prone to wander.
Do it right and you will have lots of little friends. You don't have to kill them.

The mouse organ is a terrible idea.

[dave2010]

Ants, I usually deter and kill with the powder in plastic tubs. Spread it around where they get in and they take it back to the nest. Couldn't find any of the Nippon gel stuff in the shops.I was able to source the Nippon stuff quite easly via Amazon. Of course shortly after the new tube arrived I found the one we've had stored away for a while.

[nonuffin]

A little update on my rat problem.

Every single night we would get at least two rats inside the house and as fast as I was putting steel plates over the holes that I found they were making new ones. I canot tell you how anxious and stressed I was getting hearing them gnawing away night after night. I woke one night at 3.00am and saw one scampering down the back of the fridge (6ft tall no less), another ran across the sitting room and hid behind the settee, then another in my listening room behind the rack. Went back to bed feeling utterly despondent.

The next day the boiler stopped working so I called a plumber out and found the little shits had chewed through most of the wiring of our new boiler. Bill for nearly £200 to contend with. How, I don't know but they had even chewed through the cables that feed the under cabinet lights - the 12volt lines worse luck. Time to get serious about getting rid of them while I still had a house and my sanity left.

Went through each room with a keen eye and found several hidden holes which were covered over with plates. Then I went around the outside of the house with cans and cans of expanding foam squirted into every likely looking gap. Next, I went underneath the house and reinforced the foam inside with 13mm chicken wire folded double for good measure, then added more foam onto that. Where the wood floors were softened from water damage and where they were gnawing the most, that got a triple layer of chicken wire to protect it.

I had bought some poison blocks off ebay which are a reddish colour and although they were being carried away there were no dead rats as a reward. I then bought a large bag of blue BIG CHEESE blocks which got two of them into the traps and a day or two later the unmistakeable stink of corpses, a nice tally of four big males.

Having gone the belt and braces route, I read up that rats cannot abide the smell of peppermint oil, citronella and Bay Leaves, so there is a dose of each next to existing holes. It also said that rats love eating onions but it is fatal to them so a pile of that chopped into quarters is also under the house too.

As I type this it is now 10 days since a rat has been inside the house, although we have seen them out in the garden once or twice. I am perfectly happy for them to run around in the garden although a stone lobbed at them may give the hint this eaterie is now off limits.

I don't relish the thought of killing these animals but they are far too destructive and carry too many diseases to be allowed into my home.

[Sherwood]

A little update on my rat problem.

Every single night we would get at least two rats inside the house and as fast as I was putting steel plates over the holes that I found they were making new ones. I canot tell you how anxious and stressed I was getting hearing them gnawing away night after night. I woke one night at 3.00am and saw one scampering down the back of the fridge (6ft tall no less), another ran across the sitting room and hid behind the settee, then another in my listening room behind the rack. Went back to bed feeling utterly despondent.

The next day the boiler stopped working so I called a plumber out and found the little shits had chewed through most of the wiring of our new boiler. Bill for nearly £200 to contend with. How, I don't know but they had even chewed through the cables that feed the under cabinet lights - the 12volt lines worse luck. Time to get serious about getting rid of them while I still had a house and my sanity left.

Went through each room with a keen eye and found several hidden holes which were covered over with plates. Then I went around the outside of the house with cans and cans of expanding foam squirted into every likely looking gap. Next, I went underneath the house and reinforced the foam inside with 13mm chicken wire folded double for good measure, then added more foam onto that. Where the wood floors were softened from water damage and where they were gnawing the most, that got a triple layer of chicken wire to protect it.

I had bought some poison blocks off ebay which are a reddish colour and although they were being carried away there were no dead rats as a reward. I then bought a large bag of blue BIG CHEESE blocks which got two of them into the traps and a day or two later the unmistakeable stink of corpses, a nice tally of four big males.

Having gone the belt and braces route, I read up that rats cannot abide the smell of peppermint oil, citronella and Bay Leaves, so there is a dose of each next to existing holes. It also said that rats love eating onions but it is fatal to them so a pile of that chopped into quarters is also under the house too.

As I type this it is now 10 days since a rat has been inside the house, although we have seen them out in the garden once or twice. I am perfectly happy for them to run around in the garden although a stone lobbed at them may give the hint this eaterie is now off limits.

I don't relish the thought of killing these animals but they are far too destructive and carry too many diseases to be allowed into my home.

That's a tall rat! Should be easy to find how it is getting in. My guess is the front door!

[walpurgis]

A shotgun is rather effective against rats. The only snag is the devastated woodwork and plaster. :D

[Pigmy Pony]

A shotgun is rather effective against rats. The only snag is the devastated woodwork and plaster. :D

I got one in next door's garden a couple of years ago with my air rifle. I think I hit it in the arse, and even though the rifle (Weirhauch) has the maximum legal clout, the rat just jumped vertically about 2 feet before running under the greenhouse. Tough little buggers they are.

[Sherwood]

When I lived in Malawi I had a problem with rats from the adjacent fields. This one evaded capture until it unwisely decided to chew into a mains cable. Quite the explosion!



27744

[walpurgis]

the rifle (Weirhauch) has the maximum legal clout

They say that, but I had the Weirauch HW35 and found the BSA Mercury noticeably more powerful.

[Pigmy Pony]

They say that, but I had the Weirauch HW35 and found the BSA Mercury noticeably more powerful.

Mine is a HW97K carbine length underlever, which wasn't cheap but has more clout than my BSA Gold Star, which itself has quite a bit of clout. it really is death on a stick, at 11.6 ft/lbs. I think it'll send its .22 pellets about 700fps. I think a 1910 Colt .45 (I think that's what they're called) does about 800fps, although their slugs are a big old thing.

[Light Dependant Resistor]

When I lived in Malawi I had a problem with rats from the adjacent fields. This one evaded capture until it unwisely decided to chew into a mains cable. Quite the explosion!



27744

What color cable ? from my observations when i had issues with mice, they always preferred black, but never seemed to go near white cables. Safety measures for those reading are to always have power points connected to a suitable sized circuit breaker , so it disconnects power quickly, rather than having any opportunity of starting a electrical fire.

[Sherwood]

What color cable ? from my observations when i had issues with mice, they always preferred black, but never seemed to go near white cables. Safety measures for those reading are to always have power points connected to a suitable sized circuit breaker , so it disconnects power quickly, rather than having any opportunity of starting a electrical fire.

It was a black heavy duty mains cable. It had taken a few chunks out of it before it hit the metal. Yes, circuit breakers are a good idea and my house here in the UK has ELCB's. However, this was Malawi. Getting any power was rather hit and miss with frequent power outs for long periods. I suspect with all the power surges and voltage swings that ELCB's would be constantly triggered.

[Barry]

The power supplies in Cameroon are also a bit hit and miss. It has been known for blackouts to last for five days! Some people have an UPS backup generator.

[Sherwood]

The power supplies in Cameroon are also a bit hit and miss. It has been known for blackouts to last for five days! Some people have an UPS backup generator.

I have lived in many countries with erratic power supplies. For a couple of years I lived in Cao Bang in Northern Vietnam close to the Chinese border. Due to rapid development, electricity demand often outstripped supply and the power could go out for several days. Annoyingly, it seemed to happen most at the weekend. I ended up by buying several 12v SLA motorcycle batteries in the local market and kept them trickle charged for power outages. Fortunately I had a good quality tripath amp and a pair of highly efficient single driver Omega floorstanding speakers. Using my phone, tablet and music walkman I was able to enjoy music for several days without mains power.

In Bangladesh, my apartment had a large (fridge size) battery backup that fed the lights and a couple of mains sockets in the lounge. Unfortunately, it was not able to keep the ac going so that in the monsoon season the apartment would rapidly become like a sauna when the power went out.

[Barry]

Did you use an inverter to convert 240V DC to AC?

A frequent problem in Cameroon is voltage variation: often as much as 50V or more. Sensitive items such as TVs are fed from a mains conditioner.

[Sherwood]

Did you use an inverter to convert 240V DC to AC?

A frequent problem in Cameroon is voltage variation: often as much as 50V or more. Sensitive items such as TVs are fed from a mains conditioner.

In Bangladesh, the battery was part of a complete system and maintained by the British High Commission (I was running a project for DFID there). I do recall that they sent out a couple of guys at least once a month to make sure the unit was functioning properly and to top up the fluids. I know that it supplied 220v ac at the connected wall sockets.