Something Is Scratching in my Wall!!!

[arbita1]

What do I do?!?!?!?

I'm guessing it's a mouse. My wife thinks it's a mole. We never had any rodent problems before. I heard this scratching today and I wasn't sure what I was hearing. Now I came home and it's very apparent something is in there.

What do I do???

[Zeke]

If around here, it would be a rat. Best thing is the kind of poison that makes them thirsty. That way they will exit to find water before they die. And that's a good thing because a dead animal in your wall is not a fun thing.

BTDT.

[arbita1]

I think it's trapped in there and it's scratching to get out. I'm worried it's going to die in there and stink.

[sailchef]

Could be a Bat.

[tabs]

Don't bet on it being trapped more likely it is knawing on your wiring, or nesting...

[tabs]

Originally Posted by milt

If around here, it would be a rat. Best thing is the kind of poison that makes them thirsty. That way they will exit to find water before they die. And that's a good thing because a dead animal in your wall is not a fun thing.

BTDT.

So CAL is the RAT Capital of the world and no we are not talking about Liberals. The place is just temaing and crawling with Fruit, Wire, Roof Rats....They nest in attics, palm trees, Ivy and eat the fruit right off your trees..If in the attic they knaw on the electrical wiring, shred the Furnace Ducting...and can slip through a 1/2 inch hole...LUV the lil ba$t@rds...

They brought some Palm Trees to LV from S CAL and guess what there was a Rat problem for awhile...

U have to be carefull about Pets with that type of poison...a friends cat got hold of a dead Rat that was poisoned and the poor cat BLED OUT...everywhere....

Better way mix xome CEMENT with Peanut Butter...and guess what the RAT gets TERMINAL CONSTIPATION...they can't eliminate the cement....

[A930Rocket]

Squirrel I'll bet. They can scratch up a storm.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by tabs

Don't bet on it being trapped more likely it is knawing on your wiring, or nesting...

Correct, IMHO. I've seen what rats AND squirrels can do to house framing members. They will eat their way in AND out, if necessary.

[Sboxin]

From our past experiences I would guess squirrel.

Options:
1. Call Pest Control company
2. My neighbor had this and opened up the wall and put a live trap
in the room with bait and caught the critter
3. Put trap with peanut butter on bread bait in attic above wall - I did this in
Virginia and trapped a whole family nesting in the attic.

Good luck and don't wait too long,
Roy

[Evans, Marv]

I unfortunately had that type of problem for awhile with my house after construction was completed. I just didn't get around to closing up the place like I should have. I had mice, but I don't know what exactly you might have. They would start a quick paced scratching sound in the middle of the night, and wake me up with it. I completely closed up all the places where they could get in by making wood frames with quarter inch mesh to cover mostly the crawl spaces and a couple of other places. I did that everyplace I thought they could get in and didn't leave even the smallest crack where they could enter or exit. Just before I finished, I bought some rat/mouse bait packets from H.D. - the ones with the blue granules. I placed about 12 or 15 along the bases of the stem walls and up on the base plates. Right after that I didn't hear any scratching & haven't since. I did put some more bait a couple of weeks afterwards for good measure. When I've been under the house later on I've found several dead, dried mice, but there was no odor actually.

[rnln]

Critter?

Originally Posted by Sboxin

From our past experiences I would guess squirrel.

Options:
1. Call Pest Control company
2. My neighbor had this and opened up the wall and put a live trap
in the room with bait and caught the critter
3. Put trap with peanut butter on bread bait in attic above wall - I did this in
Virginia and trapped a whole family nesting in the attic.

Good luck and don't wait too long,
Roy

[RWebb]

it makes a big difference whether it is a squirrel or a rat/mouse - the former are day active and latter night active

your wall is their lair and they will be in there when not active

if you close off their opening at the wrong time, they will die inside your house and stink (with some disease risk also) until the carcass dries out -- weeks or months

I would figure out the times they are inside & see what that tells you. You can do that while looking for the tiny entrance hole.

hope they don't have breeding nest in there, BTW

[Jagshund]

Probably a pack rat. My in-laws used to have them when they lived on a plantation. They'd be working in the walls behind the bed all night (the rats, not the in-laws). I wouldn't poision them (rats again) or they may die in the wall- figure out how they're getting in and set some traps.

[RWebb]

I don't think any species of Neotoma gets further than a few miles into So. NY State.

[arbita1]

So I heard the scratching for most of the night and a little bit the next morning...then nothing. We had hoped it just moved on.

Yesterday I started to smell something bad in the vicinity of the noise. So I had to go in.

After cutting five holes in the walls, this is what I found..



It took a whole day to get the smell out of my nose.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by arbita1

What do I do?!?!?!?

I'm guessing it's a mouse. My wife thinks it's a mole. We never had any rodent problems before. I heard this scratching today and I wasn't sure what I was hearing. Now I came home and it's very apparent something is in there.

What do I do???

Mice can make an incredible racket - all out of proportion for their size. I live in the woods and we have squirrels, chipmunks, and mice. The mice are the only ones that get in the walls. Around here noise in the attic = a squirrel has breached our defenses. Noise in the wall = mice.

[vash]

matt is that a rat or a mouse?

next time, to get the smell out, burn some toast. the sooty smoke will suck out any nasty smell. the smoke clears (open your windows) and takes the offensive odor out with it.

i would seal up every crack. that rodent got in there some way.

[arbita1]

Originally Posted by vash

matt is that a rat or a mouse?

next time, to get the smell out, burn some toast. the sooty smoke will suck out any nasty smell. the smoke clears (open your windows) and takes the offensive odor out with it.

i would seal up every crack. that rodent got in there some way.

I don't know!!! It's either a big mouse or a small rat. I can't tell.

I think it may have come in through the attic and possible got into the wall through the ceiling.

[Targa Me]

Last time I heard scratching in the wall, it was one of these guys.

[crustychief]

Looking at the tail and the poor quality picture, I would discount it as a rat or mouse. I would say it was some sort of Vole, possibly a meadow Vole?