Posted on 01/26/2019 7:07:07 PM PST by EinNYC
For the past few weeks, usually in the middle of the night, I have been hearing some kind of animal running around, scratching, etc. in my attic. I asked the maintenance guys to go up into the attic to have a look for damage, points of entry, etc. They went up there and reported no holes. They had put a small Havahart trap up there baited with peanut butter, but nothing was caught in there. I told them to remove that, as I didn't want anything getting trapped and then starving. I threw a bunch of bags of mothballs up there when they left.
This afternoon, at 5 p.m., I was sitting in my living room when my Maine Coon cat alerted. She jumped up onto the top shelf of her cat tower and then stood on her hind legs, allowing her to dab her paws against the ceiling. She heard something! A moment later, I heard a big THUNK! and then the sound of an animal dropping to the floor, in the attic. I banged around everywhere with the end of a broom handle, and then I didn't hear it any more.
Is this a raccoon or a squirrel? I have written emails to the management, urging them to get professional wildlife removal, but so far, they have not acted. I certainly don't want this thing having a litter of babies up there, as I know breeding season is just about here. A look around while standing on the ground has not revealed any holes, but there are solar panels all over the roof, and if the animal has chewed an entry hole under those, you wouldn't be able to see them just walking around outside.
Some decades ago I put my cat into a detached garage to flush some unknown wildlife out from beneath the plethora of vehicles in there.
Turned out to be a Badger...
The cat came out unscathed.
We had flying squirrels in our attic at our previous home. Nocturnal bastards that would wake us up at 3am. Pest controlwildlife services took care of them
Our current home we just moved into has mice. They scratch and run around also. Dont know if they’re able to knock anything over in the attic to make that thump but could be that too.
I think the pest co trolls guys put them up there to maintain business. Hmmm.
The people who live here are owners, not tenants, so we don’t have a landlord. This is a co-op. There is an administrator who obviously would rather pocket our money under the table than hire a professional animal control person. I have sent 2 emails to the office about this, in the span of about 3 weeks. They will serve as documentation that they were notified and did nothing if the problem is not fixed soon. I will then send copies to the management company and the city. I don’t want a litter of squirrels, raccoons, or whatever stuck up in my attic!
No, but it was dark!
By the way — not to alarm you, but squirrels chew wiring and can create serious fire hazards.
I apologize for my choice of words.
I checked your profile page and your posting history to found out what proper pronouns you would prefer.
Had no clue.
Bats. Make a lot of noise and can come in a small hole
roof rats. Squirrels hibernate. Racoons need a bigger hole.
Could be mice. At midnight when it’s quiet mice sound like German Shepard’s.
One time I had thought I sealed my mom’s house up tight. It was closed up for the season. I went back about four weeks later to find a red squirrel face down in the toilet bowl.
So...I guess he got caught in the house. I bet he got thirsty.
To me that sounds more like a rat, squirrels are typically not very active at night and they make gnawing sounds more than scurrying sounds. We live in an area with a lot of rats and a lot of squirrels. The rats are the ones who have made this type of noise like this at night.
Flying squirrels are noctural.
Moth balls are harmful to cats. Avoid that route.
So, how many times has this happened? Is this a one-off, or a nightly visitor?
I vote rat.
Hahahahahahahaha!
I remember reading something once about a guy who had a pet raccoon, and would feed it sugar cubes, which vanished as it washed it in the water dish! The thing would end up looking at its hands like Hamlet!
Only mice with a death wish would come into my home (not talking about the attic). My little Zizu, a formerly feral kitty, would tear those things up into little pieces. My former rescue cat Kefira (Hebrew for "little lioness") was named for her ferocious attacks on mice, when I lived in an apartment with an infestation. At the ripe old age of 4 months, she ripped a mouse into little pieces during the night. I had her quarantined in the kitchen, and came in to find her carnage. She killed dozens of the darn things before I was able to move. I had stuffed industrial steel wool into all the openings I found in the walls and plastered them over. They just chewed new holes in. I kept all my food and cat food in Tupperware, so who knows what they found to eat. Kefira was "da bomb" as a mouser!! Even her predecessor Jester, also a rescued formerly feral kitty, was wiping out mice there at 16 years old. Boy, I was glad to move out of the Rodent Palace. The whole building was infested, you could hear them inside the walls.
... OK ... it’s funny.
We do not have any flying squirrels where we live. It is fascinating that they are active at night.
Based on the sounds it’s making, I’d say it’s probably a shark.
It’s the bats in your belfry I’d worry about :)
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