JohnRoss Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Not that I would want to but having started some electrical work, see posts in Renovations section, I have come across further evidence of these blighters nesting in the interwall space in our house. The previous owner had rebuilt this place erecting internal walls and placing thick sheets of flammable polystyrene in the interwall spaces as he did so. The loir have chewed this up making nests for themselves which is fine except my fear is that they will decide to chew the electrical cables in this space. Now we have had loir caught in humane traps baited with apple every year for the last 11 years. Each one caught gets a free ride to the woods to be released several kilometers away. We have also caught the odd mouse and one very large brown rat on one occasion. In the first few years we were catching more than 20 loir (large grey edible dormouse) each year and have got the number now down to about 5 a year. All humane efforts to deter them have failed to eliminate the problem. Ultra sound has had little effect so what does one do? The guy in Bricomarché indicated in no uncertain terms that poison for loir was no longer allowed as they were now a protected species. I have seen poison for loir in Bricomarché and Le Clercs in previous years but not now. I would not really want to put poison down for several reasons. Apart from it being plain wrong to kill these creatures I worry that our cats might catch and eat one that had been at poison bait and die as well. Owls that sit on the beams in our barn and other birds of prey that eat loir would also be at risk. If you put poison down for mice and rats might not loir eat it as well. It is difficult to know what to do for the best. One hears of stories of house fires being started by such nibblers........................JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 I have deterred them by using mothballs (boules de naphtaline / boules antimites) but the old-fashioned ones, not the lavender-scented version!We scattered a handful of them near the entry/exit points and they didn't come back. The latent smell was a small price to pay!I had to buy them from a quincaillerie, and they came from behind the counter as they can't put them on the shelves (glue-sniffers love them, so I was told.)Looking at old forum threads, they seem to be worth a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerdesal Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 I tried mothballs for Fouine following a comment in the past - they don't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnRoss Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 Thanks for the suggestion but we too tried some mothballs some years ago. I think all these things, like disinfectant spray, ultra sound, mothballs, which we also tried, may put them off a bit in that they move to some other part of the house. I have tried to find points of entry and block them but as they have tunneled into the cellar and then into the inter-wall spaces I don't think you could ever keep them out. I have also seen them creeping through gaps in the roof tiles. One local firend has had their roof covered in wire mesh and the tiles put back on top and claims success but I am not that convinced! I am really concerned that they or their mouse brothers may chew a cable and cause a fire! Our three cats are not that interested and they cannot get into the inter-wall spaces anyway. They, the cats, brought in a snake the other day however and left us to play with it!......................JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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