ghost or rats or raccoons?

April 4, 2015 5:48 PM

Recently, I've heard noise in my attic only near the wall in the bedroom. It sounded kinda like marbles at first but when i moved closer it sounded a bit like scurrying but hard to tell. It was only from about 4-6am. No noise before midnight when I go to sleep or after 6. In the past, I've heard some thumps in that area outside the house like something jumping down but it could be just something outside. No visible openings on the side of the house. Anyone have a clue what animal it could be?
posted by gyroscope to Home & Garden (14 answers total)

Sounds a lot like the mice I had a few years back. Call an exterminator. It's worth it.
posted by Etrigan at 5:50 PM on April 4, 2015

Best answer: Mice or rats, def. Put a few traps in the attic, and a few in the basement/crawlspace if you have them. If you dawdle, you may end up with a hideous invasion of biting mites that live on rats. Ask me how I know.
posted by BlahLaLa at 6:04 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

Is you house covered in stucco? This is exactly what it sounds like when two squirrels chase each other up the exterior walls of our house.
posted by saradarlin at 6:12 PM on April 4, 2015

You're in CA, maybe possum?
posted by jbenben at 8:12 PM on April 4, 2015

I had a squirrel in the attic of a house I lived in once. Could be that.
posted by amro at 8:30 PM on April 4, 2015

In my experience that's pretty early for a squirrel. I have them thundering across my roof almost every day but they don't get going until daylight.
posted by HotToddy at 8:51 PM on April 4, 2015

That is about the proper "in time" for raccoons. They forage all night and sleep all day.
posted by Oyéah at 9:51 PM on April 4, 2015

Best answer: The chance that it's rats is high enough that you should get someone out to lay traps before the critters get into your garage/home and start shredding your stuff and pooping everywhere.

Not that I would know.

(Sigh.)
posted by wintersweet at 10:09 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

If you have gutters and live someplace with squirrels, it could be squirrels-in-the-gutters syndrome. We get squirrels foraging in our gutters for maple seeds and acorns and that's pretty much what it sounds like. You would swear the sound was coming from inside the house.
posted by drlith at 4:40 AM on April 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

It could also be bats. When I was younger at my family home we got an infestation of bats in the attic and they got in my bedroom wall. They made all kinds of scurrying and thumping sounds. My parents eventually had to hire someone to get them out and figure out how they got in and seal that up. Since it could be mice or rats too you may want to consider getting a professional opinion. Good luck!
posted by FireFountain at 8:07 AM on April 5, 2015

Sounds to me like squirrels. My neighbor had them in his attic, and kept trapping and releasing them elsewhere. Or it could be bats. Racoons are pretty big and you would see where they got in.
posted by mermayd at 10:15 AM on April 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

wildlife excluders
posted by H21 at 1:26 PM on April 5, 2015

Best answer: Them's rats, son. Hide yo kids, hide yo wife etc. And call the exterminator.
posted by fingersandtoes at 3:13 PM on April 5, 2015

Response by poster: Rats it was. Problem fixed (well on the way to fixed). Thanks everyone.
posted by gyroscope at 10:30 PM on April 9, 2015