So for the past few months at about 8pm and then occasionally throughout the night, I've been hearing a very loud scurrying in the ceiling/on the roof.
My first theory was: mice on the roof and a cat hunting them? I have seen a mouse once or twice outside at night.
Anyway last night at around 3am I heard it very clearly through my aircon vent and then I heard a distinct squeak!
Anyway it's starting to freak me out, how can I find out for sure which animal it could be?
Possums are heavier and thump around a lot so I would say rats or mice. You could try and get some non-lethal traps and then you could see what species is there. Or if you have a camera you could put one up there, although there is the chance something on it would get chewed. HTH
We have mice and rats in our roof (and thus our wall cavities) and they do squeek - quite loudly sometimes, especially when they get in the wall gas heater. Definitely mice and rats; we have caught more then enough to be sure of it.
We have had both Possums and Rats in our roof, and you definately know when Possums are there. They are definately noisier and heavier. I thought there was someone walking through the house when we had a Possum. The Rats move a lot quicker and its a lighter run. When we had some rats, DH put some Ratsak up there and apparently they eat it but go and look for water and don't return if you know what I mean. Good luck with sorting it out.
when we had a possum it was like someone was racing around on our roof from one end to the other and back again. Bloody scary stuff at night. If there is squeeking I'd go with mice - Bunnings have some "animal friendlly" traps if you got those see what it catches then you could treat accordingly. GL
Since posting this thread, the noise has disappeared!
I'm still uncertain as to what it is/was. When I first heard it, I thought someone was breaking into the house! Then it became a regular thing, DH and I refer to it as our evening friend!
But no noise for a couple of weeks now. I'd really rather a possum than mice/rats really.
We have a pretty bad mouse/rat infestation in my suburb.
Misty- one of my neighbours found 10 dead mice in his washing machine. He put down rat sack and because it dehydrates them (its how they die) they go looking for water and he had a front loader and they jumped in and died. My IL's saw them uploading it onto a trailer and hours later a new one came.
Urghh yuck! We have them in our roof too! everyone that i know in our area has them!
LMS - was talking to a guy a met who lives in John James Loop, he said that they put the baits in their roof and it was the worst thing they could have done, he has had the plumber out 4 times since then to repair his hot water because the dehydrated mice have been chewing through the pipes to get to the water.
You have to be really careful how you do it too. I'm thinking traps and let DP deal with them. I dont want poisons anywhere near DD i think we have had enough trips to the ED
We have just been using traps. Our cats catch and eat the mice, so I cann't risk bait. I am a bit worried about them getting poisioned just from all the surrounding houses though. Went for a walk to the park a couple of days ago and saw so many dead mice on the way (which was fun trying to stop the dogs from eating them all - yuck!), obviously alot of people have been baiting them and they have been going outside to die.
Registered User
Possum, Rats or Mice in My Roof???
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks