bsr, good evening.
Hate to say it the size of the droppings looks like rats?? It is difficult to say without a comparison, Mice and Rat droppings are generally the same shape, one, the rats being larger than the other.
Around this time of year, the rats and mice are, in effect looking for somewhere dry and warm to over winter.
I have just had an invasion of a rat or rats in the rear yard, happens from time to time. I simply place rat killer down ensuring that nothing else can get at it and once trained to eat this stuff, I simply feed more of it until the bate does not disappear, rat, or rats have gone.
Point being, you can, at a lot less cost than a pest controller, undertake a DIY eradication, the bate is cheap and easily purchased, just keep filling up the feed trays, the pest control firm will charge a load of money to do the above once a week.
If you feel able to undertake the above get some bate tomorrow, it comes in "seed" or "pasta" form each work, it just takes time, in my cast about a week. OK the commercial stuff may??? work faster??? Now for a TOP TIP?? on top of the bate add a small blob of Peanut Butter, it is irresistible to rodents, makes the bate vanish faster.
Down side of eradication inside is that during the process you may have a smell in the property [no easy way of saying this, decomposition of targets]
same thing will happen with the pest control company?
OK lets step back a bit. why are the rodents there? is there an external attractant? external to the house food source? or is there a colony of them somewhere very local to you? old property? Hens? Etc.
Consider placing bate externally?? a ring of bate around the property?
As for the roof repair?
I would start feeding your non-paying tenants and hen the bate is not touched get the roofer in to close up their main door, if you close up the access door for the rodents with some of them now trapped in the property they will be all over the place.
Ken
Little barstewards!
