vermin, spiders etc this winter

[shobo]

Hi

I've had a bit of a mouse problem in my thatched loft recently this winter, and a large number of spiders generally in the house (a very old and leaky one) on both levels.
Anyone similar this winter ?

 

[Feltwell]

Same as usual for us. No meeces, lots of spiders. But then I quite like the spiders, although the cobwebs are a bit of a pain.

 

[Flyfisher]

Nothing out of the ordinary here. We only saw a one mouse in the kitchen and trapped it the following day. Spiders are ever-present but we're happy to live with them.

 

[88v8]

Perpetual mice in one attic of our thatched, none in the other. That I know of. But I only put a trap in one attic so they could be in both.
They used to appear in the kitchen cupboards, but have been evicted.
Spiders... those with the little round bodies and long legs that twirl like a Dervish when disturbed... dozens.
Kinda goes with the territory.

Ivor

 

[pineapple]

I'm kinda spider phobic. Seriously I feel ill if I see one. Telling me they can't harm me doesn't help. You can get spider catchers. Mine is a long tube with gentle battery operated suction. You can just hoover them up (without getting too close) and deposit them unhurt outside. But the crueller (and more effective) option is sticky spider traps. Rentokil do them and possibly other manufacturers. I got mine on Amazon. Lifesaver.

 

[Tc345]

We've had something scuttling up the lath and plaster wall cavities and in the loft, suspect its a mouse but cant be sure its not a rat. Poison is out but it's hard to tell if they've taken it. Althougth I haven't heard scuttling for a while now...

In one of our outbuildings there are rats helping themselves to the boxes of apples I've been storing through winter. Turns out apples are tastier than poison and the one rat I saw was a fat one!

 

[Abi Cott]

I'm a bit more urban than most I think.

Spiders have been unnoticeable if they are here.

Rats and mice have definitely been more of an issue than previous years. Exterior rodents don't bother me. Interior rodents die unless they are domesticated and live in a nice roomy cage.

Based on the three properties I spend time at 5 rodents have met their maker (one rat, two house mice and two probable field mice) that's 5 more than in the previous 3 years at the same properties

 

[worms]

Surprisingly vermin-free winter for us. Very few spiders around, only a couple of the big guys last autumn. One rodent-scrabbling incident but it disappeared...or bought slippers!

 

[noj]

Less than usual inside this winter except a few mice imported by the cat, lots of rats in the various compost bins though.

I brutally reduced the squirrel population a year ago (1 tube trap, a few bags of penuts and 127 disposed of) and while you see them passing through the garden, they're not in the kitcken ceiling anymore...

There are some clusters of overwintering ladybirds in the loft, but unfortunately less than previous years.