There's something in my ceiling....

el dude

So every night for the past while we're hearing some noise coming from the ceiling. Its a soft thudding noise, definitely an animal of some kind. But it doesn't sound like mice, or god forbid a rat, as it's not not a scratchy or scuttling type of sound. Sounds like a bigger animal than that, and you can hear each individual step it makes almost. Ive been up to the attic during the day and found nothing, although I don't have access to most of the space above the ceiling where the noise mostly comes from.

Could it be a bird? Or even a cat?

Zapperzy

A bat maybe? Would explain why you only hear it at night. Would be more likely than a cat.

sellerbarry

a mouse with workboots on?

el dude

Just heard it there again now. This thing sounds big. Getting a bit scared.

starviewadams

Mice can sound terribly loud in an attic!

We had them a few years back and it sounded like WW3 up there,best bet is to stick some snap traps with peanut butter or chocolate spread on them up there and see what happens.

Hasmunch

Happened to me before, when we investigated it this is what we found

Cú Giobach

You wouldn't believe the noise rats can make, thudding does indeed seem like rats, if I were you OP I'd get a few traps and some peanut butter.

pawrick

Probably mice as other people have said - have a look about for signs of them especially in the attic if you can get up there. They can chew through wires if left alone and leave their droppings all over the place....or eat your xmas decorations as they did in my house!

One other thing - I have squirrels which use my roof for a shortcut to the park next to the house. It took me ages to figure out what it was as it was too loud for mice and I doubted it was bats either. The attic space is narrow over my bedroom so it could be heard clearly as they ran across.

gammon_steak

A rat running around the attic at night would sound really loud. I had that problem before and it was like a dog was running around up there! More like pounding steps than what you'd expect.

Have you heard any gnawing sounds? You'll need to put some poison and traps up there. Hopefully it's not chewing on any electrical wires.

tallus

Are you 100% sure it's in the attic and not outside o the roof ? I know when magpies or crows land on my roof they make a really loud noise that makes you think they are inside the attic. Hope you get it sorted OP. If it was happening at night tho... It's unlikely to be a bird of any kind.

Chris_Heilong

Sounds like a Ghost to me, did you not have the house blessed by a priest when you moved in?

Discodog

Get a tray, big dish, plate etc. Put a layer of sand in it & make the sand fairly wet. Now place some peanut butter & a bit of bacon in the middle. Put it in the loft & look for footprints.

I would agree regarding birds. The crows on my roof sound really loud.

Beware of poison. If parts of the attic are not accessible you could end up with the smell of rotting rat !

TrollHammaren

I don't want to recommend traps or anything like it in case it is a bird or something, but I absolutely recommend against poison. If it is a rat and you poison it, it could lead to a very inhumane death and a rotting corpse in an inaccessable location.

I'm really, really curious to find out what it is running around your attic! I hate rats (even though I wish no harm upon them), but I have a morbid fascination with them!

Cú Giobach

TrollHammaren wrote: »

I don't want to recommend traps or anything like it in case it is a bird or something, but I absolutely recommend against poison. If it is a rat and you poison it, it could lead to a very inhumane death and a rotting corpse in an inaccessable location.

It's really nice to see someone saying this, a credit to you.
No animal deserves that kind of death, whether "vermin" or not.

daenerysstormborn3

My guess is a rat. We had a rat in the house a few months ago and he made an unbelievable amount of noise. I had the pleasure of meeting him in the flesh and he was HUGE!

On the subject of traps, if it is a rat, a mouse trap will most likely not be big enough to capture him and if it does snap on him it'll probably just injure him or stun him for a moment so if you're putting down traps make sure you get big ones.

tk123

Did you find out what it is OP or were you eaten by it?? :P

Zapperzy

I wonder if this is going to turn out like the ''there's something in my couch'' thread a while back!

el dude

tk123 wrote: »

Did you find out what it is OP or were you eaten by it?? :P

No, still breathing thank god.

It possibly being a rat has put the ****s right up me tbh. I'm still not convinced it is though. I understand that they can be louder than you'd expect, especially if they were walking on plasterboard that's right above your head. But this thing actually seems to be walking on the ceiling joists sometimes, and the noise will start at one end of the room, and before you know it he's at the other end within three or four thuds!!!.

I'm going to put a few traps up there anyway. Only have the small mouse ones in the house atm, so I'm waiting to get the big ones, last thing i want to do, if it is a rat, is piss him off.

scotty_irish

have you got a cat or a neighbour's cat you could "borrow" for a few hours?

Zapperzy

I second whoever's idea it was that said put bait in the middle of a tray of flour first until you know what your dealing with. Just in case it's not a rat and the trap ends up catching something else, especially in the unlikely event that it is a cat, it wouldn't be nice to find a cat caught in one of those.

ppink

we had a rat in our attic and it sounded like a dog with clogs on:eek:

anyway we made a mistake of putting up firstly mouse traps and then a rat trap that was not set up correctly. anyway he got a belt of it but HE learned from that and no matter what we put on it he would not go near it again!!!
in the end we "borrowed" 2 cats and left them up there and no sign of the rat again.
we read then that rat traps need to be placed along the "run" area of a rat....ie in by a wall. that is the method we used from then on to catch any as leaving them willy nilly did not work for us.

Discodog

el dude wrote: »

I'm going to put a few traps up there anyway. Only have the small mouse ones in the house atm, so I'm waiting to get the big ones, last thing i want to do, if it is a rat, is piss him off.

Please don't. You could end up maiming a cat or a squirrel - I have even heard of Pine Martens in lofts. If either get injured & hide you could end up in an awful situation. If you want to trap then go to Woodies & get a large wire live trap.

Why not put a webcam up there ?

Hobbitfeet

TrollHammaren wrote: »

I don't want to recommend traps or anything like it in case it is a bird or something, but I absolutely recommend against poison. If it is a rat and you poison it, it could lead to a very inhumane death and a rotting corpse in an inaccessable location.

I'm really, really curious to find out what it is running around your attic! I hate rats (even though I wish no harm upon them), but I have a morbid fascination with them!

you can get humane traps that don't kill mice just trap em and then you can release them

Cherry Blossom

Traps are completely useless if it turns out to be the plumbing

daenerysstormborn3

ppink wrote: »

we had a rat in our attic and it sounded like a dog with clogs on:eek:

anyway we made a mistake of putting up firstly mouse traps and then a rat trap that was not set up correctly. anyway he got a belt of it but HE learned from that and no matter what we put on it he would not go near it again!!!
in the end we "borrowed" 2 cats and left them up there and no sign of the rat again.
we read then that rat traps need to be placed along the "run" area of a rat....ie in by a wall. that is the method we used from then on to catch any as leaving them willy nilly did not work for us.

That's true, they tend to work their way around the room along the walls

TrollHammaren

Look, I know I said I hate rats, but please don't hurt the thing if you have to kill it. That may sound like a silly thing to say, but you can kill it humanely if you do it correctly.

Also, as other have said before, please don't put down traps until you know what it is. The last thing you want is to seriously injure a cat or a squirrel.

mikemac

We had rats in the attic and the parents got some kind of noise transmitter.
Goes at a specific frequency and drives the rats out
It realy worked

Now I want one for teenagers hanging around the estate
TV licence inspector too

I wondered since it bothered the rats would the dog hear it but he never noticed at all

Zapperzy

mikemac wrote: »

We had rats in the attic and the parents got some kind of noise transmitter.
Goes at a specific frequency and drives the rats out
It realy worked

Now I want one for teenagers hanging around the estate
TV licence inspector too

I wondered since it bothered the rats would the dog hear it but he never noticed at all

Unfortunately there is one for teenagers called the mosquito, some shops have them installed. I can hear the mouse and rat ones.

Discodog

Zapperzy wrote: »

Unfortunately there is one for teenagers called the mosquito, some shops have them installed. I can hear the mouse and rat ones.

Gosh I wish that I was young enough to hear them

aisher

We had mice in our attic and they even ran up and down the insides of the walls - horrible listening to them!! We got rid of them with traps - did not use poison as they can die any where and then will rot and smell. If you do find mice/rats try and find out how they got in or you will just get more as the weather turns cold.

tallus

Any updates on this OP ? did you find out what was causing the noise ?