Something's in the attic

[Kevin54]

Mrobins.......If you have one bat, you have more. You just haven't seen them yet. As cold as it is, you may want to get some gloves and spend some time in your attic. THey will be hibernating as cold as it is, so no problem getting them. OR wait it out until Spring when it gets warmer and go out at dusk and watch where they are coming out of.

Do you have end vents in your gables. If so, look those over real well as the screen may be out and that is where they can get in.

My ex inlaws had to get up in their attic for something, and there was a nest of Starlings that the nest would have been more than a whole bale of straw. I forget how many bushel baskets my FIL and I took out of there. And in the nest was all sorts of stuff, paper, straw, grass, kids bracelet, but the scariest of all was cigarette butts. And I've heard of houses burning down because of birds building nest and then carrying a live **** in to the nest.

 

[TheShrine]

I had a raccoon in my attic. Local animal control didn't have traps available but suggested the following and it worked.

Put a table lamp connected to a timer in the attic. Set the timer to turn the lamp on-off every couple hours. Connect a radio set to a talk radio station to turn on-off at different times of the day and evening.

The raccoon left after a couple days. I found it had ripped the wire mesh off the attic vent fan.

The problem with killing the animal in the attic is that you have to go get it once it is dead. That can be difficult if it dies in a place not easily accessible.

That was a stupid ****. I've never come across a stupid ****.......

 

[NUTTSGT]

I think you need a trail cam or some NVGs. I think what you have is something larger than a small rodent.









Have you noticed that your wheat thins have been randomly disappearing ? If so, I suspect that you might have a Yeti in your attic.

 

[lynnbilodeau]

I had a raccoon and a possum in my attic once, at the same time, and it was a two story house. They got in a fight one night, and I was afraid they would be coming through the ceiling.

Also had a squirrel another time.

I caught the raccoon with a live trap placed on the patio roof (lower roof). Once I figured out how they were getting in, I placed the trap with a can of cat food in the path of entry. Had the trap tied to the large tree (later removed the tree) that they were climbing for access to the roofs.
Caught him the first night at about 4 am. He wasn't happy. Called animal control to come and get him.

Repellent got the possum out and I repaired the damaged soffit vent where they were coming in.

 

[Shopteacher]

I have the same problem, but I have no way of getting into the attic to set a trap, cathedral ceilings in one room adjacent room has regular 9 foot ceilings, but no access to that part of the attic, I think I am going to have to cut an access

 

[theoldwizard1]

My bet is a raccoon (BTW, where is that Canadian raccoon ?). Females are "nesting" at this time of the year.

 

[katy]

Call.......... Billy

 

[Stevie-Ray]

"Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat".

"Well, I'm gettin close."

Fixed it for you.

 

[jims09build]

You need to call "The Turtle Man"!!!!

 

[volvo]

.
Posted not too long ago...Bat infestation on a roof.....Could as well been in attic....

http://www.videofantastica.com/view_video/111489/

 

[T-Mac]

The blitz starts tomorrow so i will see what shows up!

 

[Hobbit]

I think I just ended a 6 month ordeal with Black or also known as Roof Rats, in the second floor attic. They or rather probably one pregno female entered from an ornamental tree about six months ago. The tree is gone now and after catching nineteen adolescent and one large adult (the last one). I have had no other activity on the traps for a month now. They are able to get off of the large rat glue traps and the older wood type rat traps are useless. I found this type made by Victor to the best with an almost 100% success rate. You can also dispose of and reset these easier. The rats never made a scratching noise so rats might not your issue. I have also had gray squirrels & chipmunks in the attic in the past and they are both quite a bit noisier than the rats. For any kind of squirrels you are going to need to catch release or kill all generations that have grown up in an attic as they will always default to an attic before nesting in a tree or underground. I had to call professionals for the squirrels which turned out to be in non-accessible areas of the attic. I now shoot any rodent on my property when ever I can get a clear shot. A **** up your roof can also make a hell of a scratching noise if you can't ever find anything in the attic.

 

[lynnbilodeau]

I have the same problem, but I have no way of getting into the attic to set a trap, cathedral ceilings in one room adjacent room has regular 9 foot ceilings, but no access to that part of the attic, I think I am going to have to cut an access

You do not have to set the trap in the attic. Pests can't live on insulation. They are coming and going. Figure out their path and set the trap in that path.

May take a few tries. As I stated above, I caught the raccoon the first night I set the trap ON THE ROOF. However, I failed to state my first attempt, when I set the trap on the patio. I caught a giant black alley cat.
Persistence and patience.

 

[Ross/Kzoo]

Here's what I used to catch about 6 or 7 ground squirrels inside and out. I think you've got ground squirrels.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YT2C36/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[White 99]

I had a black rat for awhile and from the noise he was making I was sure it was something big like a raccoon. Lots of scratching, mostly at night. I caught him in a live trap once and took him a mile or so away and released him; I think he beat me home.

 

[nicksnothereman]

For the last month or so I have been trying to trap whatever is in my attic scratching and making noise keeping me awake at night-tried mouse snap traps first-all were tripped with nothing caught-tried rat snap traps-same result-small live trap-tripped twice-turned upside down so lock latches and doors came open-nothing caught-put down large glue traps nailed onto boards in what looked like traffic areas and a medium live trap and so far no results for a week.It wakes me and the wife up at least twice during the night with regularity now scratching and moving around-anyone have any other ideas how to rid my attic of this s.o.b. so I can sleep at night-want to avoid poison if at all possible so I don't have a dead animal stinking up the house

When I lived in pa we had these things called "german yellowjackets" that bore into your house (usually wood, make holes through the drywall too). Nasty little buggers. Might be that, you could hear them "scratching" the walls.

Avoiding the whole alien issue though. Usually they're well behaved but certain crazier stuff could be attributed to them (or a segment of them). People say "it's a ghost! it's a demon!", it ain't. I won't get into it on here but something to be aware of.

 

[John Mc]

Next door neighbors had a loose ridge vent that animals were getting in, they thought it was raccoons. Live trap placed on the roof. Late in the afternoon, I hear a cat in the trap. Yup, feral cats climbing the wood siding, nesting in the attic.

 

[mrobins297aaa]

You're going "...to need a Bigger Boat..." as quoted from the movie "Jaws". I alway resort to Peanut Butter bait on anything I place to trap a mouse, rat, whatever. I don't think there is a creature on earth that doesn't like it... Good Luck!

I heard that the chief adlived that line, it wasn't even in the scrip and it became one of the most quoted lines of all time.

 

[Tarheelgarage]

Don't rule out the possibility of a poltergeist inhabiting the attic area.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poltergeist

 

[orca8589]

We had an opossum making noise in our attic for a while a few years ago. It was a rented house, so the owner had a pest control guy come out and seal up everything out side. End of fairly benign problem.

But we had a neighbor who had a worse problem at around the same time - their cat got into a fight with an opossum (later discovered to be a mother with babies) in their attic; it happened at 3am over their son's bedroom and scared the family so bad the wife kept the kids in their bedroom while dad tried to figure out what was going on. The opossum & cat got into it again around 6am, since the cat wouldn't leave it alone, and the neighbors heard it going on too. The opossum left for good as far as they knew, and their shredded tomcat ran up a couple grand in vet bills. (Apparently opossums fight like racoons.) Our neighbor was pissed to say the least. A pest guy came out and found a dead opossum baby and several entryways for critters to get in and evidence that more than one type of critter had been living in their attic.

I grew up down south, and don't recall ever hearing about an opossum fighting anything, but our neighbor's cat was nearly killed by the one in their attic.

~Chris

 

[CharlestonJoe]

Any updates T-Mac?

 

[T-Mac]

So far nothing-laid out extra traps yesterday-no noise last night though

 

[MBfreak]

In my case, it was a brace of squirrels. They climbed the brick wall up to the roof overhang and then ate their way in thru the 3/4 inch wooden roof panel, covered by tar paper and ceramic roof tiles. The roof tiles are wave shaped and let them crawl in on top of the tar paper. Must be real bastards !

They had built a nest 2*2 feet just beside the entrance hole ( 4" in dia) by ripping out glassfibre insulation. Lots of dry seeds, pine cones and other stuff piled up.

I removed part of the roof tiles and the damaged roof panel , repaired and reinstalled and added a sheet of thin aluminium plate over their entrance area to give them something to think about,

They got a bit upset and wondered what the f? and sat around watching in the beginning. I shot the whole bunch, must have been 25 of them , with a ,22 pellet gun, took 18 months to get the last one. That was 5 years ago, have not seen a single one after that.

Ola

 

[CharlestonJoe]

Any updates T-Mac?

 

[James E]

James say it ain't so?, I was just in my attice last week running a wire for my portable generator and I have one spot over my kitchen where two roofs come together that a have a small leak so i went over there to check it out and in the procees i pulled back some of the ceiling insulation and there was a bat under there sleeping /humbernateing.........I just left him there because i didn't have any gloves on and i'd been in that attic most of the day and had enough.............should i be worried about him?

Yeah, bats are tough to get out. They are social animals so if you have one, you have alot of them. They also **** all over the place and their guano is a breeding ground for a toxin that causes histoplasmosis. When you're up in your attic trying to get them out, you stir up the fungus in the guano and breathe it in, making yourself sick.

They are also very persistent. Once they're in your house, they consider it their house--as do all of their relatives.

 

[Scott H in Wheaton]

Once they're in your house, they consider it their house--as do all of their relatives.

Sounds like some of my relatives

 

[WVBrady]

Sounds like some of my relatives

My thoughts exactly!

 

[wdrumheller]

Waiting with baited breath..... for the news about the traps! Did you catch anything?

 

[T-Mac]

nothing yet-will have to cut a hole in bedroom wall to get at where the noise is most often-traps all over the attic and still nothing-maybe this weekend hopefully!

 

[Ross/Kzoo]

nothing yet-will have to cut a hole in bedroom wall to get at where the noise is most often-traps all over the attic and still nothing-maybe this weekend hopefully!

Let's just hope that your house doesn't wind up looking like Swiss cheese.

 

[notch4u]

i have taken out over 18 flying squirrels from my attic. what i did is 3 rat traps screwed down to a 2x3 foot piece of ply using plywood as bait.


flying squirrels are about the softest thing tho lol

 

[T-Mac]

Plywood as bait?One more try with the traps and next is the poison-any recommendations?I have heard that flybait and coke kills them quick or the butter coated D-con suggested earlier. I just dread having a rotting corpse stinking up the house somehere I cant get to

 

[excavator]

I had 4 squirrels in mine. I caught them climbing the brick fireplace chimney and they had a hole in soffet. I set up trap outside on a table next to chimney with toast and PButter and got one at a time then fixed hole. They had a race track in attic on the insullation. Nibbled at the romex wire as well.

 

[lostmind]

A squirrel won't stink much or long. Drill a hole in the wall , use a funnel and pour rat poison ( Decon ) in the hole. Worked for me . Never noticed a smell.

 

[tube_guy]

We had some bats in our attic and it took me a few years to get them out. At first I thought it was flying squirrels, but I climbed up into the attic and found a few of them sleeping one time. I tried all sorts of things to get rid of them, but the only thing that ended up working was excluding them from the house. I video taped our house at sundown over a few nights and found where they were coming and going. It turned out to be an incredibly small 1/8" wide gap a few inches long on the end of a soffit. I closed up that gap after they had left for the year and they never came back.

 

[Autorotica]

I think the trail camera is fantastic idea. One other thing you could do is get one of those point and shoot temp guns (or borrow a thermal imager from a buddy at the fire house) and see where you might learn.

As far as the bats go. I heard they aren't that difficult to get rid of with the following technique. Video to determine their come and go times, wait til they are out, close up the opening and put a spotlight on where it was. The constant brightness will make them go elsewhere (along with the access being blocked).

Chris

 

[Jetfixr320]

Had Raccoon getting in my attic, figured it out after putting poison and a rat trap that was tripped once. Saw a small raccoon limping through my yard. Blocked off any spot's that I thought it may have been using to enter the house.
It either died from poison or couldn't get back in?

 

[T-Mac]

A squirrel won't stink much or long. Drill a hole in the wall , use a funnel and pour rat poison ( Decon ) in the hole. Worked for me . Never noticed a smell.

Drilled the hole and poured in the dcon Friday night-could hear it crunching and munching through the night-funneled another tray into the wall Saturday to make sure it got enough delicious poison-still heard noise last night-add more dcon or should it die soon?

 

[bazzz]

I am a little late to the party, but had a buddy put a very bright strobe light in his attic to chase out the critters. It didn't take long to drive them out and have the neighbors ask what was going on up there.


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I had a similar problem waking up hearing a scratching sound. Ended up being bats that came in under the shingles at the eave and then crawled under the insulation. Good luck as they get in any opening the size of a postage stamp. Traps won't wont work with them but the exterminator will and if you are lucky your insurance will cover it. Good luck.