<p>We are in the end unit of a row of 6 townhouses, and the next-door neighbor and the family on his other side have spoken of creatures that winter in their attics. They had thought the animals were squirrels, but recently have found rats instead. As of yesterday we had heard nothing in our attic. However we were awakened this morning by what might have been clawing, chewing, or scraping something against something else. It sounded rather like when the ice-maker tips out the ice in the freezer, but went on for longer. A brief investigation of the attic at about 7:00 a.m. revealed no living things, or any obvious evidence of wildlife. </p>
<p>What should we be looking for and how should we deal with these animals if we find them?</p>
<p>Run, do not walk, to the telephone and call an exterminator ASAP. Don’t look for the critters yourselves, don’t try to find them, don’t try to deal with them. Could be rats, or raccoons, or squirrels, or bats, or…you get the picture! There is NO REASON for this to be a DIY job.</p>
<p>It is most likely squirrels but could be mice. They shred cardboard, wood, walls, rugs, to make nests. We got rid of our squirrels with #110 conibear traps and chunks of feed corn as bait. Very quick and effective. Make sure you tie the trap to something sturdy so you don’t have to go hunting for it.</p>
<p>I just went through this and posted about it a few months ago. We set up a squirrel trap and the peanut butter disappeared, but the trap didn’t spring. Next we tried a mouse trap and voila, caught a mouse. I couldn’t believe a mouse could make that much noise.</p>
<p>Just went through this ourselves. We got a recommendation for a professional. He determined what needed to be caught, set traps and caught critters. He came three separate times over a week or so - resetting traps each time - and then sealed any spaces that could let something squeeze into the house. He then came several days after he sealed the house to check traps and plans to do so a couple more times before he removes traps. Not cheap, but well worth the expense.</p>
<p>Like ignatius, we had a professional critter catcher service come take care of our critters a few years ago. After catching the squirrels and noticing dropping for roof rats, most likely from a previous squatter, the house was sealed with a one way escape route for the critters, but they could not return. All was well until a week ago when I heard the noise again in the attic. I need to call them to come back out as the work is warrantied and these critters can cause a great deal of damage!</p>
<p>When we moved into our home 24 years ago we discovered a colony of bats was living in the attic wall. They would leave at night (or the males would anyway) to hunt for insects and we could see them flying out of the wall of our house at dusk. During the day we could hear them squeaking and chattering in the wall. It was a long process to get rid of them because the are a protected species and cannot be exterminated. We had to wait until winter and then close off all small holes in the walls so that they could not come back in.</p>
<p>Another year, we had a mother squirrel give birth to a litter in the wall of my baby daughter’s room. I would be sitting in the rocking chair nursing her at night and hear them inside the wall. A carpenter had to open the wall when the mother was out and remove the nest. Unfortunately he left one baby behind. That mother squirrel screamed and screamed and them chewed the corner off the house trim to get back in to retrieve the baby.</p>
<p>^^This. If the next-door townhomes had rats, chances are very high that you have the nasties, too. I’d call a pro, because unlike mice or squirrels, rats are smart, inventive and elusive.</p>
<p>We encountered a bat in our finished basement in our last house. It was so weird. All sealed windows down there, no idea how it got in. Our terrier adored it. The call of the wild . . . I think the kids and the dog traumatized the bat enough to make its way up the stairs and out of the house.</p>
<p>This is my worst nightmare–I have had mice and a bat, and something (raccoon?) under my porch.</p>
<p>The mice are a big problem where I live. Because I cannot stand to see even one, alive or dead, I use a service that places bait-filled canisters around the perimeter of my house. The best thing about it is that THE MICE LEAVE TO GET THE FOOD AND DIE OUTSIDE. I am not sure what the process is or what poison he uses but it works. It is kind of expensive, but I have been traumatized by the sight of these creatures and cannot bear to see another one.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that a mouse in the house can sound like a much larger animal. If it is coming into the living spaces you will see a trail of disgusting droppings before long–maybe in the pantry or basement or wherever he is traveling. Yuck.</p>
<p>I’m having someone come out for our critter. I suspect that it’s a bat, H found one in the basement a couple of weeks ago. Only hear it when it warms up. Sigh. Unfortunately they can only relocate them in August. They put tubes in and the bats fly out and can’t get in. So I guess I have to live with this for oh…7 more months :(</p>
<p>For years when D1 was little she would tell me that a mountain lion was on our flat roof at night. We looked- nothing. Then in a few days you could smell a dead chipmunk/mouse in the wall in her closet. Finally we figured out that the mice (deer mice and house mice) were coming into the house through the fan vents in both bathrooms, with some getting caught in the wall. After 2 screens each- later put on the outside by our pest control guy, that problem was solved. The sound from the mouse was so loud it did sound like a large animal!
Then the mice decided to come in by the dryer vent. After being unable to be able routinely clean the vent if a removable screen was used (23 feet up the wall) I decided to vent the electric dryer indoors. Finally, after 10 years we have no dead mice smell in the walls.</p>
<p>Roof rats seems likely. Like most nocturnal animals they are repelled by light and wary of motion. I put an inexpensive strobe light in our attic that I could plug in using a long extension cord and that has been working for several years. However if you have thick insulation they won’t be bothered by the light. I first tried using one of those plastic owls they sell at Home Depot and I could hear the rats laughing all night long.</p>
<p>After some tree removal in the natural area near our subdivision, it seemed every critter in the woods decided to take up residence in many of my neighbors homes! In one week I counted at least 5 different critter companies coming to homes here. I found it interested how many different companies there were and how busy they all must be. </p>
<p>My son’s home had a raccoon in the attic when we bought the home; ate a hole right through the roof! Later he had bats which I totally forgot about; we never did anything about them as we were waiting until the time of year they would leave and then seal up the openings. I am hoping they left for good!</p>
<p>In a previous home I started hearing scratching above my head when I went to bed at night. H told me it was just squirrels running across the roof. Really? Every night, precisely when I went to bed? And why did it sound like scratching, and not running?</p>
<p>We called in a critter company. Had an oversize raccoon making a home in the attic over our bedroom. They removed him and sealed the place in the chimney where he was coming in and exiting. Really glad he didn’t fall through the ceiling and join us in bed!</p>