hearing noises in the attic at night, anyone dealt with this before?

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Apprehensive-Cry1165@reddit

To avoid that kind of issue, I installed 2 cheap camera so I can see what is going on in my attic. It's trigger by movement so each spider crawling around trigger it but at least I know I don't have rodents issue. The pair of camera cost me $35 and are just plugged on a 120v outlet and connected to the wifi. I am definitely happy with my investment.

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Extreme_Valuable_203@reddit

Start with bait stations outside your house. It sounds like mice. The bait stations aren't expensive

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D3nt0n_G33k@reddit

When this happened to me, it was a bird that came in through dryer vent.

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MsOpheliaBeverhousen@reddit

Definitely an unhomed person using your attic like the lady in home alone 2 used the symphony attic

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crazypaintinglady@reddit

Hey ! Yeah that’s always unnerving! It’s either rats or squirrels. Do get it checked out ASAP. I know a couple of people who let it go on for WAY too long.. and it cost so much money to get all the poop etc cleaned up. I’m in Irving. If I was physically in better shape I honestly would come help you. One couple was quoted over $10,000 to get it cleaned up.. not trying to freak you out. I’m just old and know things 💕🤓😊

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The_Mrs_Jones@reddit

Our issue was rats - and lots of them before we really started hearing them. Get a pest service out before they start chewing through wiring and other important things

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sonosink1113@reddit

What did the pest control people end up doing for you? I have them in my attic, and I’ve set traps to no avail, and the pest control people who have come out have suggested putting up a $7k mesh barrier around the outside of my home as the next step :(

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Priest_Andretti@reddit

What Twin Home Experts on YouTube. You def need to go around and seal holes. But you could have a cracked pipe or something that could also be letting them in.

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SaltyCurrent4975@reddit

Poison will kill them. It was a last resort for me though. It was either kill them or burn the fucking house down. Having one JUMP ON THE BED with me at night, was the last straw!

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YaGetSkeeted0n@reddit

Having one JUMP ON THE BED with me at night

man i would've grabbed my cats, hopped in the car and called in a napalm strike like it was Apocalypse Now if that shit happened

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sonosink1113@reddit

I’ve definitely never had anything like that or even seen them inside the main area of the house, only attic and I can sometime hear them walking around on the pipes in the wall (but that’s rare). Either way, I’ve been cautioned against using poison, since they could die inside, and it might smell. However, I’d probably rather it smell for 2-3 months than have $5k+ in damage from them chewing through the wrong thing.

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SaltyCurrent4975@reddit

I ended up hiring an exterminator, but the attic traps didn’t work at all (you’re completely right about them getting used to new things).

Since my home was built in the 1950s, there were lots of small openings that made it easy for them to come and go. Eventually, they sealed everything up with metal plates, cement, and a hardening foam.

I tried to avoid using poison at first because I was worried about animals dying in the walls, decomposing, or being eaten by other wildlife like owls. In the end, though, I didn’t have much choice—they had already chewed through electrical wires (a huge fire hazard) and even damaged the HVAC ducts in the attic 😭

The whole process cost about $800, though I negotiated quite a bit—and my house is only around 1,100 square feet.

You really have to stay on top of it. Otherwise, they’ll keep coming back, bring others with them, or start nesting and having babies.

It’s such an awful experience to go through. And the mess they leave… they get into everything—silverware drawers, storage boxes—you name it.

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The_Mrs_Jones@reddit

Mesh, closed any entry points, traps in attic and garage, poison bait in attic and around perimeter of house with weekly visits to check and refill boxes for around $1k. It took about 2 months to stop hearing and finding them in the traps.

$7k seems excessive, maybe get more quotes or you have a huge house?

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ackerus@reddit

Find a better pest control person, your probably going to have to poison them. It sucks but it is what it is. Or maybe they could put down sticky traps. It’s not going to be pleasant but rats can do so much damage and the problem just grows exponentially. My buddy who is an exterminator laughs at the idea of a barrier that could keep rats out.

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BigBirdLaw69420@reddit

Roof Rats

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lovelylotuseater@reddit

Yup, fucking rats. There was an old pipe in the wall with a crack and they were coming up from it and hanging out in our walls at night, the little jerks.

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Dale_Gurnhardt@reddit

This is seriously good advice. Had rats chew through water lines in all 3 of our bathrooms in a matter of 2 months. Went nuclear on their bitch asses after that

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DCJustSomeone@reddit

They’re destructive little bastards. We had some chew a water line to our standing shower. Cutting the tile, fixing the line then repairing the wall was not fun at all.

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Priest_Andretti@reddit

Probably rats. Whatch Twine Home Experts on YouTube

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grand305@reddit

Wild life game camera, or a camera that has good low light. You might be able to spot whatever is up there, I assume it’s a rodent. they want some place warm to nest.

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sugamantha@reddit

All I know is that you absolutely should not watch the show Phrogging: Hider in My House. It’s a true‑crime series about people secretly living in attics, crawlspaces, and inside other people’s homes.

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FiredupChile@reddit

Roof rats 😭

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StRemedius@reddit

(And to add: if you have a slab foundation, don't worry about this part, but if you have a pier-and-beam foundation, get anyone investigating the attic to investigate the foundation, too. My fiance and I hired a crew last year to fix a soft spot in our living room, and they discovered when they went under the house that a family of opossums had been living underneath for at least the last two years. One was dead and skeletal, but the crew discovered that they brought in a slew of fleas, which all emerged from their pupal cases at once and came after the guy in front. Spraying for fleas and sealing the gap where they were getting in just added to the construction fun.)

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StRemedius@reddit

"Seven meters...SIX."

"That can't be! That's inside the room!"

"It's readin' right, man! LOOK!"

(Look up in the attic to see an opossum big enough to block out the sun if it were outside)

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Federal_Draft_6039@reddit

I hear women’s heels walking above my place sometimes but I’m on the top floor of a complex

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Dfwmom@reddit

raccoons

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Historical-Cicada939@reddit

It was squirrels for us

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Wholenchilada@reddit

Rats for sure.

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Ambitious_Ad_9637@reddit

I wonder if rats and raccoons ask their parents what the noises coming from under the floor are.

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mikemflash@reddit

I just went through this recently. It's probably either a raccoon or a squirrel. You've got to locate where they are going in and out and get it sealed up. Before they nest and have babies. :>)

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Grand_Soupa@reddit

Are you sure it's not ON your roof? We had some squirrels BASE jumping off a tree onto our roof at night

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SimpleVegetable5715@reddit

My squirrels are making more squirrels, it’s been super loud. Sounds like when my fat cats run around upstairs. 😂

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Such_Veterinarian682@reddit

Squirrels will also get IN your roof. They chewed a hole in my roof a day before a massive thunderstorm. I got to pay my deductible in full because the water managed to run into the roof, into the walls and under my wood floor.

I killed a lot of squirrels after that. A lot of them.

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beardlesswonder@reddit

I found cat shit on my roof. The level of disrespect was off the charts.

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ladybump82@reddit

I was about to say, I’ve got cats in my area that travel via roof

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Grannypanie@reddit

Noticed that here. The squirts launch themselves and run like hell. Sounds like an elephant.

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Brilliant-Course2492@reddit

could be roof too, mine was actually possums doing parkour up there lol

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SimpleVegetable5715@reddit

They’re squirrels doing squirrel things.

My neighbor hired some guy, and he sucked their babies up with a Shop Vac, which you know, killed them in an inhumane way. If you do hire someone to remove them, please make sure they treat the animals humanely. There’s plenty of animal sanctuaries around DFW who will take displaced squirrels and other wildlife.

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Prettykitty12345@reddit

I've had a possum family in the attic before. And once there was a dead possum in our attic and God did It stink

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jsboftx1983@reddit

Unpaid review from me: I had rats in 2018 and ABC Pest Control helped me solve the problem with traps. They also solve the problem of unseen holes the rats created from the outside of the house. They did minor handyman work in order to tear out the nest and other preventative measures. In the 1990s, my childhood home obtained termites. In either case, ABC Pest Control remedied the problem from damage and helped prevent future infestations. Expensive but extraordinarily helpful. When I need pests gone, they historically are my go-to pest control service.

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JBoneTX@reddit

ABC is the best. Been a customer going on 10 years.

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mypd1991@reddit

Ghosts for sure

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misscrankypants@reddit

It can be squirrels running on the roof of your house even if it sounds like it is in the attic.

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GravitationalEddie@reddit

Do a search for 'dog barking' on YT and crank it up. That's worked for me pretty well for me.

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DaveMcElfatrick@reddit

Is it scratching and knocking things over? Rats. We had the same thing once. Caught a dirty big bugger in a trap.

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ekimmd24@reddit

Yeah found out it was racoons

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OneMoreRoundForMe@reddit

Poltergeist

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SuccessfulIntern8884@reddit

You need a priest.

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Tricky-Order1637@reddit

Squirrels is a good bet. They probably have a nest in the attic especially if any of your trees are within like 5 ft of your roof

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SaltyCurrent4975@reddit

Sounds like roof rats, especially if you hear them night. They're so destructive - chewing through pipes and wiring etc. I hired a pest control company and eventually (after 3 months) they put poison out and killed them all....then they had to come back out to collect the carcases. Horrible, PTSD-inducing experience!

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blackop@reddit

Squirrels. Fucking squirrels. If you don't take care of it they can screw stuff up real fast. I lost hundreds of dollars of Christmas lights because of those trash ass bastards. Then they ate through the soffit and cause a couple grand worth of damage. Kill them while you still have some money.

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ChicagoRay312@reddit

Could be seagulls. A whole flock of em!

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James-the-Bond-one@reddit

Bats!

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xmaspackage@reddit

We had the same issue. Loud bumps, not just “rummaging” sounds. We convinced ourselves that the person we were renting the house from was still living in the attic. We went up there with an axe and some knives and a couple flashlights and we found it was the old copper pipes banging from being hot to going cold.

BUT, it could still be rodents in your case. Call out a roofer to come take a look.

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Final_Prune3903@reddit

My parents have had rats in the attic 😬

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Kidg33k@reddit

Our exterminator said rats sound like people walking around in the attic.

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Pure-Breath-6885@reddit

While there are documented cases of phrogging - someone secretly living in someone else’s house, you are more likely to find rats, opossums, raccoons or squirrels. Get it checked out.

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mylinuxguy@reddit

I just want to toss this out there about poison..... in case someone suggests that for your problem.... If you use poison besides accidentally poisoning other animals that might eat the poisoned mice / rats, you might have the poisoned critters just crawl into your walls or attic to lie down and die. After a week or so, they will start to decompose. You might be smelling dead stuff in your walls for MONTHS. Stay away from poison... it might come back and haunt you for months.

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Veronica612@reddit

And the poison can get in your house. My neighbor threw mothballs in her attic and the smell got into the insulation and made the whole house smell bad. And she still had rats, so it didn’t even work for that. So she just created a new problem for herself because then she needed to replace the insulation. (That might be necessary anyway if a bad infestation.)

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Trillion_G@reddit

Squirrels. Good luck. Cost me $9k to take care of the issue. Little fuckers.

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PM_ME_UR_RESPECT@reddit

I think there might be a corgi puppy mill in your attic

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jcierto@reddit

My bet is Norwegian roof rats. Took us several months to get rid of them. I would get this checked out by pest control ASAP.

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universal-mustard@reddit

I’ve got possums living in my attic and haven’t seen a roach in months. Do your thing boys. I can handle the pitter patters

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Appropriate-Big-3250@reddit

Rats can be surprisingly loud. Don’t wait around to get the problem fixed, as the longer you wait the more they chew on and piss on. A female rat can also have 5 to 10 litters per year with 5 to 10 babies per litter, so the problem multiplies VERY quickly. Get a pro in there ASAP.

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Corgisarethebest123@reddit

Sorry. I will try to be more quiet.

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Other-Grapefruit-880@reddit

Bro your gonna get us all busted

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fjzappa@reddit

Rats or squirrels. A house down the street from me burned on a random evening because of rodents chewing on wiring. People got out, but lost everything including their cars.

Get this dealt with yesterday. It's urgent. They're likely nesting and having babies in there.

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Over_Ad8762@reddit

I had an opossum in mine a few years ago

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JohnSolo22@reddit

I dealt with the exact same situation in early March. Turned out to be Steve from accounting.

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emc3o33@reddit

We just experienced this and in our case it’s rats. Ugh. I put bait stations all around the house and have already found 2 dead ones outside.

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Heretogetthingsdone@reddit

In order of likelihood:
1: Rats
2: Squirels
3: Racoons
4: Aliens
5: Possum
6: Bands @ Fair Park

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Ok_Avocado1109@reddit

Aliens more likely than possums lol

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TheRydad@reddit

7: Echos of Bill Bates knocking the s- out of a kick returner in 1993.

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LaGirafe1@reddit

Don't be sacred! Just go up there and hook up a motion detecting camera. That's what we did and we found out we had a rat infestation in the attic. They were so loud I swear it sounded like people were following me or closing doors in our house. My husband got rid of them himself, but doesn't hurt to have some evidence and peace of mind.

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Nofame4me@reddit

This is the answer… Had to scroll way too far down but this it. Small spy cameras are cheap just make sure to add some light to see…

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Careless_Ocelot_4485@reddit

Could be a roof rat. We had one in our attic about 10 years ago. We could hear it moving around at night. We called All Safe Pest Control and they came out to put some traps. Sure enough, the rat ended up getting trapped a day or two later.

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savannah31401@reddit

The first time I saw them was in Savannah. I freaked out when I saw them climbing. I noped on that one

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Zealousideal_Hand505@reddit

We've had these. They were getting in through the hole running cables from the AC unit into the house. Our exterminator installed a one-way door at that spot and closed some other likely entry points. The rats go out at night to get food and water, but couldn't get back in. After a few weeks he took out the door and sealed things up. No more rats. So far.

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savannah31401@reddit

We have squirrels. It sounds like elephants when they run around. They will then come out and taunt my cats. When they run the cats start starting at the ceiling and meowing.

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3Time4Eater3@reddit

We had a rodent problem in the attic for a long time until we finally got all of their entrances sealed off. It's a 45 year old house so it's gonna happen

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Medical-Orchid4215@reddit

call a pest control service time now! rats/rodents are a damn nightmare.

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CuteMeowMeows@reddit

That’s just the attic people.

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Mnudge@reddit

Rats

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xXTERMIN8RXXx@reddit

Call a local pest control company

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Spare_Ad_9657@reddit

Is your water heater in your attic?

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hiphoptomato@reddit

I had the same issue and it turned out to be my water heater making noises.

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nicolio17@reddit

I had a squirrel in my roof for like 5 years, they’d always come when the weather was too hot or cold. We realized there was a hole in the gap between the roof and the attic.

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DerpVaderXXL@reddit

At night it's most likely rats.

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NieBer2020@reddit

You got ghosts too?

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Lonely_Refuse4988@reddit

Likely rats, unfortunately. And they are usually in a group/pack with leader/alpha male. Was there any new construction work near your house?! Pest control companies will charge a thousand or more for eradication but you can find electric zap traps (running on batteries) at Home Depot. Use a small dollop of peanut butter to lure them in. There’s various tricks to rolling it out because rats are smart enough to hold off on rushing into a scary tunnel. Good luck!

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babypho@reddit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walburga_Oesterreich

Maybe there's a secret lover up there?

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kmcilro@reddit

Most likely rats or squirrels. We had pest control suck out the rats from our attic with a giant vacuum, and then they sealed up all the tiny holes around the perimeter and put new insulation in.

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ladynomingtonn@reddit

Jesus Christ that visual I could have lived without

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Heretogetthingsdone@reddit

Better than the alternative. lol

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the_bu3no@reddit

Dawg get your grown ass up and go on the attic

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tunnelingpulsar@reddit

Look in the attic and see if there’s mouse/rat poop.

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NTPC4@reddit

The other two likely creatures are opossums and rats.

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EvanOnTheFly@reddit

Squirrels, rats, possums, and racoons are all suspects in attic, and while they are likely there Mice tend to get in walls.

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ccrom@reddit

For us it was a mama squirrel who had two pups below the roof/above the eave of the front porch.

Pest control guy found the hole she used to access the area. He put a one way door on it. Squirrels could leave, but could not get back in.

I asked, "But what if the babies are too little to follow mama out?"

He informed me, "They only smell bad for a couple of weeks."

Mama left the nest, and then totally freaked out when she couldn't get back in. We had a really pissed off squirrel all day, about sunset her lazy good for nothing teenagers finally came out. We saw the three of them take off for parts unknown.

The pest control guy took off his door and covered up all the hole with sheet metal, and painted it to match. We paid him to go around and sheet metal all the places squirrels might like to chew their way in. Our house looks armoured.

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argonautserious@reddit

It’s just Willie Nelson, be sure to give him any of his mail that shows up.

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who_am_i_please@reddit

I had the squirrel 🐿️ from hell in my attic. That little fucker was smart too

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crestedgeckovivi@reddit

Yeah you get up there and check for Gary Bugsy.

(There was a movie he's in where his character lives in the attic....but not his attic...)

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mental_midgets@reddit

It sounds like rats… squirrels sleep at night.

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Masterofthelurk@reddit

Stick a wireless motion-activated cam up there and see whats what. I caught wildlife on camera in 24 hours that way.

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_ze@reddit

Get a Havahart trap from Lowe's and one of those wrapped honeybuns from 7-11. Make a trail of honeybun pieces going into the trap, with more in the back end inside. Check the trap every few hours. You'll catch whatever it is very quickly. Then just take it out away from your house, look for wherever it got in and patch that up.

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MyDentistIsACat@reddit

We had a hole in our siding where a raccoon was getting in. We waited until night time when it left and boarded up the hole so he couldn’t come back. When I was a teenager we had one in our attic, if I remember correctly my dad set a trap and brought the trap + raccoon to the front porch and someone from the city picked it up.

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