# Mysterious Noise....



## FiddleKat (Oct 22, 2004)

About two months ago, back in October I started to hear a noise. It was either in the ceiling or the wall. Basically from the same area. It was a scratch scratch noise, like that of a mouse. But it would only happen a few seconds and stop. Never would hear rustling or running that you may expect with a mouse. Then one day I heard what sounded like something struggling in the wall. Finally DH heard it a few times. It only happened either in the early morning, late afternoon, or late evening like 11. then one afternoon I heard it again. Happened to see birds flying up near the window like they were trying to get under the eaves. So I went out onto the porch and discovered one bird flying out of the gutter just about the same area I was hearing the noise. Strangly enough after about two weeks the noise stopped completely and haven't heard a noise since. I also would like to add that the back bedroom where we heard the noise was the only room we heard it in.

Three days ago I heard the scratch scratch again. This time in the master bedroom. Sounded as if it was directly above the bed and it woke me up. Did not stir the cat though. It was a few seconds and then stopped. did it again yesterday and again this morning however this morning the cat actually looked up. There are gutters just outside above our bedroom windows. It only happens in the early morning hours between 4 am and 7 am. does not happen any time during the day. At night when I crawl into bed, often dH is still on the computer in the back bedroom. It is very quiet and I dont hear a thing.

Could this be a mouse up in the attic space?? Wouldn't with a mouse I would hear scurring as well? But I don't. Just scratch scratch and that is it.


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## Kris in MI (May 30, 2002)

I don't wanlt to freak you out, but it could be bats. A good friend of mine kept telling me for the last several years she thought she had mice in her house because periodically she'd hear scratching in the walls or ceiling. She'd set traps but would only catch one or two mice.

This summer, she found out it wasn't mice making that noise. She had a colony of bats living in her walls/attic.


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## FiddleKat (Oct 22, 2004)

Actually bats dont freak me out. I think I would prefer the bats over mice  
I know our neighbor across the street (the weirdo that moved) use to freak out over bats. One night last year she was outside talking with me and we saw bats flying around and she screamed and went running into the house. Her husband said she was terrified of them. Me, I am not bothered by them.

Our house is only a year old and I was trying to think how mice could get up there. Since its closed off. Except for the ridge vent. Could they scurry up the roof and get in that way? The other thing Ive been doing is looking under the vanity's to see if there are mouse droppings. Nothing. Plus most of the pipes have caps around them to cover the access hole for the pipes. I also opened the access door for the bathtub in the master bath and looked under there for mouse droppings and its clean as a whistle!


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## DaveNay (Nov 25, 2012)

If you have easy access to your attic, a quick peek should be able to identify if you have bats. You don't even need to see the animals themselves, they are pretty prodigious poopers and leave a lot of evidence behind.


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## wanda1950 (Jan 18, 2009)

Ghosts:run:


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## luvrulz (Feb 3, 2005)

Could it be birds getting in through the eaves? Bats wouldn't bother me either...mice? Yes. Birds? Yes. Or we had a squirrel in the attic once when I was a kid.... Came in through by the chimney....


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## Rita (May 13, 2002)

Birds like to scratch around in gutters, could the sound be carrying from the gutter?


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## FiddleKat (Oct 22, 2004)

LOL @ ghosts.....those definitly wouldn't bother me.

I was thinking the same thing Rita since two months ago I caught a bird diving in and out of the gutter just outside the wall of the back bedroom when I heard the noise.

But this morning when I heard the scratching, it almost definitly sounded like it was in the ceiling.

Im just scratching my head (no pun intended) as to why we would get in one room only and it disappear after two weeks. then nothing for two months and suddenly get it again but in a completely different room. No other room do we hear scratching.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

Aaaah... the scitchy scratchy above the bed. I hate that one.

It happened here, but (and listen closely) it wasn't scratching, it was gnawing.
And it was mice and they eating the old carboard ceiling tiles. (We are slowly replacing them all with drywall.) The one above my head was due to fall through the thin skin of paper that was left at any moment. 
That would have been a bad night for everyone.

We put the dessicating poison up under the eaves and that took care of that.


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## Oat Bucket Farm (Jul 28, 2006)

Ghost bats? 

Seriously though, if I were you I would take a peek up in the attic and see what's up there.


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## OkieDavid (Jan 15, 2007)

I wouldn't expect bats to be active right now. Whatever bats may be present should be in a state of stupor similar to hibernation unless your temps are hanging in the 60's.

I for one rarely if ever here "scurrying" from mice, generally I just hear the scratching/chewing.


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## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

squirrels? a red one was making his home in our walls


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

Ours couldn't be seen as they were running down in between things, but the poison made the sounds go away.
Though when I TOUCHED the ceiling, the paper split so we knew where they were.
And we had them using the joists in the walls as highways.
Very old house.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

chickenista...they do that in our house and it's only nine years old.

Sure sounds like mice to me. They can find their way into any house.


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## FiddleKat (Oct 22, 2004)

we've been down to freezing the last few days, so maybe perhaps no bat(s)

hubby just took a peek up there and couldn't really see anything. He's now getting the bigger ladder to take a better look. 

Im thinking if it is a mouse or mice at least we can buy some decon and put it up there.


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## farmmaid (Jan 13, 2003)

If you go exploring, suit up, rubber gloves, mask, etc. Bat droppings can make you very sick.


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## woodsy (Oct 13, 2008)

I vote for mice chewing.
I set a snap trap after a week of intermittent chewing, usually in the wee hrs of the morning. Got him. Quiet now.
You should check around after you get him and see if you need to plug some hole(s) , they can squeeze in through some tight places.

Good luck !


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## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

We had a noise on the kitchen countertop of mousie toenails clicking the surface but couldn't get actual evidence of food crumbs or poot toots. We left a cooked brown and serve roll on a plate next to the cookstove and it showed evidence of mousie chewing. Took several attempts of setting of a snap trap to get it. It was such a tiny mouse it could eat off the trap without setting off the trap.


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## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

I heard the same sounds in a house we had years ago. I couldn't find a way in for any animals, until I closely inspected where the eye bolt holding a wire was connected to a facia board.  The weight of the wire pulled the facia board about 1" out, and rats were walking the wire to the opening. Mice and rats don't have hard bones like most animals, but their's are more like gristle and are much more flexible. They can squeeze through some unimaginably small openings.


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

................***** ! , fordy


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## Ardie/WI (May 10, 2002)

We hear noises in the walls here all the time! In a lot of walls! Scratching, thumping and general chaos. As long as they 're not in the house, it's okay. They also entertain the cats as they can stare at walls for hours.


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## ginnie5 (Jul 15, 2003)

We heard noises in our bedroom.....turned out to be birds nesting in the eaves. We waited till they flew the nest and then closed it up. Today there is a mouse trying to come in at the water heater (I HOPE its a mouse!) and it is driving Reece crazy. She is in there barking and scratching at the floor trying to get it. Most likely she will camp out in there all night in the hopes of catching it. Yep....my cats ignore it but the OCD dog is going crazy.....


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## Big Dave (Feb 5, 2006)

If it is mice or bats you will start to see a discoloration on your celing from the waste they produce. By then it wil cost some $$$$ to fix it. Crawl up in the space and look.


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

Kris in MI said:


> I don't wanlt to freak you out, but it could be bats. A good friend of mine kept telling me for the last several years she thought she had mice in her house because periodically she'd hear scratching in the walls or ceiling. She'd set traps but would only catch one or two mice.
> 
> This summer, she found out it wasn't mice making that noise. She had a colony of bats living in her walls/attic.


Bats hang out during the summer but they don't winter over in houses so I'd be surprised if bats are making this racket.

OP, if you've got gaps in your eaves, you could have any number of critter visitors--birds, mice, '*****, etc.


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## Jeffery (Oct 25, 2011)

Last summer I heard a scratching /gnawing sound early every morning in the same corner of my ceiling. I checked my attic several times but saw nothing. Eventually, I put a live trap up in the attic. Within 24 hours I caught a family of five red squirrels. I drove the squirrels several miles away and released them. I also patched up a hole in my soffit where I figured they were getting in. Never heard the scratching gnawing sounds again.
.


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## mamita (May 19, 2008)

in our old house, I remember one night going crazy hearing that scratching noise. sounded like it was in our bedroom, so I was moving furniture, etc. nothing. when I went to bed, suddenly I realized it was right above me in the attic. it was a nest of tiny mice. I never heard scurrying, nor any evidence of them otherwise. one day I was outside and saw a mouse run up the brick and scoot right in a hole the size of a dime that one time was drilled for cable tv. he looked fat, so I couldn't believe my eyes at how fast he went right in that tiny hole! they came in every fall, so we always had to put Decon in the attic around the beginning of Nov. even after trying to close any little opening we could find. my cat never cared unless one did come downstairs. then it was all kinds of crazy to wake up to until she caught it.


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## Haven (Aug 16, 2010)

Could be a carpenter bee or ants. They make more of a crunch sound - used to lay in bed and hear them through the wall when I lived in a cedar home.


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## TnMtngirl (Jun 30, 2002)

Could it be flying squirrels?We hear them on the roof at night in warm weather.


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## FiddleKat (Oct 22, 2004)

Well yesterday hubby and I baited two traps with a bit of peanut butter and set them up there just inside the attic hatch. Ironically we hadn't heard any noises at all yesterday.

Spoke with my neighbor and she said she's getting field mice in her house. Our subdivision use to be farmland and there are still plenty of farms around us. But she thought it sounded like birds and that they might be coming in through the main ridge vent.
Clayton homes still has to come back and fix it as they made the vent opening five inches wide.

Well between 3 am and 4 am we hardly got any sleep!! Heard the scratch scratch and then that was it for about 15 min and then it sounded like something was going crazy scurring from one corner of the room to the other. At one point it sounded like one trap going off. But wont know until we check up there sometime today.

My other issue is now where do I look to see where they are coming in??


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## FiddleKat (Oct 22, 2004)

Hubby checked up in the attic space and sure enough both traps had each got a mouse!! At least we know what we are dealing with!!

Set two new traps and put those up. Tomorrow when we get out we will get some decon. Don't know where they are coming in though.


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

FiddleKat said:


> Hubby checked up in the attic space and sure enough both traps had each got a mouse!! At least we know what we are dealing with!!
> 
> Set two new traps and put those up. Tomorrow when we get out we will get some decon. Don't know where they are coming in though.


 
...............If you use decon , they can get into the stud spaces , die , and Stink for a couple of weeks ! You'll forget all about that noise , as the 'Stink' is worse than the noise . , fordy


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## FiddleKat (Oct 22, 2004)

got thinking about the decon and for that very reason fordy, Im not sure I want to go that route.
Im thinking of getting some peppermint oil and soaking cotton balls in it and then tossing all those cotton balls up inside the attic. I read that mice hate peppermint. and the attic will smell spendid!

Can mice get through a ridge vent? That is the only place at the moment I can think of they are getting in.


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

FiddleKat said:


> got thinking about the decon and for that very reason fordy, Im not sure I want to go that route.
> Im thinking of getting some peppermint oil and soaking cotton balls in it and then tossing all those cotton balls up inside the attic. I read that mice hate peppermint. and the attic will smell spendid!
> 
> Can mice get through a ridge vent? That is the only place at the moment I can think of they are getting in.


............They can wiggle through a hole the size of your little finger ! I have heard the same about Pmint oil , and , try Moth Balls as well . Are you familiar 'Glue Boards' , they are made of stiff cardboard , with a Sticky surface , 3"x6" , and will not allow a mouse to extriciate themselves once caught . , fordy


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## Jeffery (Oct 25, 2011)

Roof vents should have some kind of mesh wire to keep the mice out, but sometimes the mesh is so cheap and flimsy that mice can squeeze through it. Someone needs to get up there and check it.

To find any other holes the mice may be getting through.... After dark, place a big bright light up in your attic. Then go outside and look at your roof and soffits. You will see the light through any cracks or holes that you need to plug up.


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## FiddleKat (Oct 22, 2004)

Caught two mice. Dead in the two traps. All quiet for the last four days and suddenly this afternoon I hear a soft scratching in the ceiling of the back bedroom 

We did put up two traps four days ago and in awhile we will look to see if they caught something. 

Im thinking they must be coming through the ridge vent. The vent has five inch opening and its not covered in wire mesh.


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