Something's chewing my walls!

[Sundance]

Hi,

A few weeks ago we were awaken by a weird noise coming from inside the wall in our bedroom. We live in a gambrel with a small attic which we can't access (the hole in the ceiling of one of the closets is way too small).

Anyway, the noise went away and next morning I put lots of rat/mouse poison in the basement and the garage. About a week ago I heard the same scratching/chewing noise, this time coming from another wall but on the same side of the house.

I set up sticky traps all over the house and put more poison blocks. Traps have remained clean, poison blocks untouched. Last night the same scratching/chewing noise woke us up in the middle of the night! What is this thing? A mouse?

I am afraid that whatever it is that's chewing the walls is causing some structural damage? This thing has been in our walls for over a month. What is it eating? No mice droppings anywhere in the house (I inspected under the fridge and other appliances).

Have any of you ever dealt with this problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Sundance

[Steve]

Sounds to me like you have a squirrel in your wall or attic. I have the same problem in the insulated space of my work shop roof.

Rat or mouse poison won't do any good since the squirrel has a differtent diet.

I have put up with this for 3 winters and still haven't been able to get rid of him.. If I plug up one entrance, he just finds another..

I would recommend you contact animal control for advice, once you determine what type of animal it is.. I'm thinking a 'live trap' with nuts for bait..

The main damage I have experienced is that the squirrel gathers up a large area of insulation to build his cozy nest, thus leaving uninsulated roof areas.

[mark Ransley]

I have the same problem, Ive had squirrels , chipmunks and Flying Squirrels in my attic. look for the entrance holes for squirrels , put poison in and get have a heart traps. Chipmunks usualy burrow underground to the foundation, put poison in the hole. Flying Squirrels Chew Loud and are nocturnal. Holes are high up, attach a dryer tube, aluminum or PVC on entrance curved down , so the leave but can get back in. Dont block any animal in he will chew his way out

[mark Ransley]

It could also be rats

[John Grabowski]

Years ago when I was going to school I rented the upstairs apartment in a

105 year old house. I would hear movement in one of the walls quite often. Going up in the attic revealed the culprits; Bats. The wall was infested with them. One actually got into the apartment and was flying around.

My landlord brought in a pro exterminator and a carpenter to patch all of the small holes and cracks.

[Darryl]

Last year, just before reshingling the roof on this house, a family of squirrels found a hole where the eaves trough *should* have been. Climbed up and stabled some ~1cm mesh wire over the hole. Problem solved. The 4 squirrels took about a week to almost gnaw through one

2x4.

I think you can also stuff the hole (if you find one) with steel wool. Or is that trick for mice?

Darryl.

[Tom Baker]

scratching/chewing

neighbor had attic filled with peppermint smoke to get rid of rodents. It seems to have worked for about six months. TB

[Joe]

My dad had the same thing happenning in his ceiling and it turned out to be wasps. In a 6" section they chewed away all the gypsum and left just the paper.

scratching/chewing

scratching/chewing

[Joseph Meehan]

It could be many different things. I suggest getting the pros out and they can take the action as needed for what you may have.

I had squirrels last year and it cost me about $150 as I recall to get rid of two of them. Worth the cost and I have not had any return visits.

I would not use poison. You really don't want dead rodents rotting inside your walls do you? I can really put a end to a nice dinner.

[Lar]

In article , [e-mail] says... :) I am afraid that whatever it is that's chewing the walls is causing some :) structural damage? This thing has been in our walls for over a month. What is it :) eating? No mice droppings anywhere in the house (I inspected under the fridge and :) other appliances). :) One trait of rats/mice is that they can't control their bowel movements, so wherever they travel or stay you should find droppings. If you aren't seeing the droppings there is no reason to place a trap or bait in the location. You will need to do a thorough inspection on the outside of the house from ground level to the roof line, Mice can get into a dime size hole rats can get into a quarter sized one. squirrels will chew open rather than squeeze down so their openings are usually easier to find. If you feel it is rat or mice you may try to get tamper resistant bait stations so you can place the bait or traps along the foundation of the house and able to keep non target animals from getting into them.

[Terry]

Squirrel?