Posted by Feo on 18:55:50 9/30/2011 from 24.163.121.211:In reply to: Re: Nightime Noises in the Attic posted by John Fasoldt on 4:33:44 9/30/2011 from 98.110.81.72:
Went outside and carefully checked all the eaves and soffits on my 2-story all-brick house, but nothing amiss to be seen. We have had bats roosting on the outside of the metal screening behind the louvers of the gable vents, and once we even had one somehow squirm his way into the attic who couldn't get back out again. He flew around up there for quite a few days squeaking before things finally got quiet again. I'm sure he died somewhere up there, but I've never been able to find him. Felt bad for him. You could smell his urine for more than a year afterwards.
The exterminator leaves mouse bait poison, and we have occasionally found a dead mouse up there. They are so small that I'm sure they are probably unstoppable. We've never heard any sounds from the occasional mice up there. They've always been pretty stealthy. The noises we are now hearing every night usually occur at about 10:00 PM, when we are in bed. If I get up and go check, there is nothing to be seen, but shortly after I go back to bed, you can hear something knocking over small empty boxes and bumping into things. Seems like it just can't be those tiny little occasional mice. . . maybe a rat??
Anyway, last night I left the light on with the Havahart #1030 set up. I put about a teaspoon of Jiff peanut butter on the bait tray, and I scattered a few peanuts on the floor at each door to the trap. True to form, at about 10:15, we heard a little bumping around, and then a much louder, harder thump. I got up to go see if it was the trap that made the noise, but no luck. It was untouched. Today I checked the trap and I looked at the peanut butter very carefully to see if it had been licked or touched in the slightest. It hadn't, and the peanuts were still on the floor at the two doors exactly where I left them. Whatever it is up there, either hasn't noticed my bait or isn't a peanut eater.
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