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There is an animal in my home that I killed [update]
Jasconius
sword criminalmad onlineRegistered User regular
sword criminalmad onlineRegistered User regular
The current frontrunners are
1) Very large rat
2) Squirrel
3) Raccoon
Every night for the last week we are woken up at 4AM to loud scratch noises, like a cat scratching around the litter box, heard clear as day through our bedroom AC vent (near the ceiling)
Except it's not the cat, because our cat sleeps in our room, and I looked at her while the noise was happening.
This just started recently as it began to get cold outside. We think something is nesting in our house, but we have no idea where
We think this may be a long term resident, because the day we moved in, we found some animal feces and urine upstairs that neither of us could identify as belong to one of our pets.
So now we may think it may be that animal returning home.. we scared him away when we moved in, and now he's back since it's getting cold
I don't even know where to start. Physically where could he be if he's heard so clearly in the AC vents? We've looked around many times upstairs and seen no traces at all of the intruder. Just the noise. Every night for the last five nights.
Looking for ideas on how to get rid of it. I'm worried about mousetraps since the cat might set them off.
1) Very large rat
2) Squirrel
3) Raccoon
Every night for the last week we are woken up at 4AM to loud scratch noises, like a cat scratching around the litter box, heard clear as day through our bedroom AC vent (near the ceiling)
Except it's not the cat, because our cat sleeps in our room, and I looked at her while the noise was happening.
This just started recently as it began to get cold outside. We think something is nesting in our house, but we have no idea where
We think this may be a long term resident, because the day we moved in, we found some animal feces and urine upstairs that neither of us could identify as belong to one of our pets.
So now we may think it may be that animal returning home.. we scared him away when we moved in, and now he's back since it's getting cold
I don't even know where to start. Physically where could he be if he's heard so clearly in the AC vents? We've looked around many times upstairs and seen no traces at all of the intruder. Just the noise. Every night for the last five nights.
Looking for ideas on how to get rid of it. I'm worried about mousetraps since the cat might set them off.
this is a discord of mostly PA people interested in fighting games: https://discord.gg/DZWa97d5rz
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Jasconius on
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Is there anyway you could maybe set up like a large trash can, with some bait hovering precariously over it on like a board? so that when they walk out onto the board they fall in the trash can?
Tho this could also just end up with a cat in a garbage can also, cats get into EVERYTHING
Animal control is probably your best bet; particularly if you can describe the feces, they can probably figure out what it is and take appropriate steps to get rid of it. You could try putting out some humane mousetraps, but you probably don't want to put out lethal traps or poison because the last thing you want is for it to crawl back to wherever it's hiding and die there.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
We do have a fireplace which I discovered yesterday the flu was left open. It hasn't been used in a very long time but I can't imagine something climbing 25 feet up and down something like that that hasn't been cleaned in so long. plus there's no traces in the fireplace of debris knocked loose
I thought it MUST be the attic, but the sound comes in so clearly through the vent I don't know if that's possible. If it were in the AC ducts, what would be the most likely point of entry? How does one get into a duct.
we've seen no evidence that it's eating anything a tall. nothing has been messed up or opened or trashed
when we got the home inspection they said there was residual evidence of some critters in the attic, but they didn't observe any actually living up there. they didn't note any points of entry
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Sounds like opossum or raccoon to me. Especially if the turds were bigger than pebbles.
what do i even do
can I scare it away? or must it make the ultimate sacrifice for me not waking up at 4AM every night
*edit* FWIW the place where we found the feces was directly below the attic door, and with home inspectors and stuff going in and out, it might have been left open in the weeks leading up to moving in
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
The attic is a very common place for animals to come through. Look for any open holes, vents, pipes, anything. You can try to fix the issue yourself but closing the open entry-ways, or call the pest people. You can also set up humane traps, and release them somewhere far away. I wouldn't recommend poison as you don't want your cat to go near it, and for whatever animal to just die in your attic. That smell will stay for weeks if not cleaned up properly.
If you don't fix the issue before winter comes, it might get worse when it is snowed in your attic.
Looking for Edith Finch Pin!
You'll also likely need animal control to do its things to get rid of it.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
because that's what was in our attic
http://www.wildlife-removal.com/ratpoop.html
bigger than that
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Direrat?
http://www.wildlife-removal.com/possumpoop.html
http://www.wildlife-removal.com/raccoonpoop.html
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
If you're trying to narrow down where the thing is, just try leaving a biscuit out in the attic and see if it gets eaten.
That will provide zero useful information, though. Jasc already knows there's something up there, feeding it is just telling it to invite some of its buddies over to watch the game.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Maybe, I've seen some big ass raccoon especially if your in the burbs/city where there's lots of tasty trash.
plus she has no way to get into the attic
she sleeps in our bathroom at night and never leaves there, she's not a roamer
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Depends on the kind of humane trap. If you can hide a cage type inside a cardboard box, that might get it. The smaller plastic tip-over models wouldn't fit a raccoon though.
One of these: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Humane-Animal-Trap-for-Possum-Cat-Rabbit-Hare-Cage-/170875541400
instead of one of these: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Humane-Mouse-Trap-Live-Capture-Express-Post-Available-/261018838986?pt=AU_Pest_Control&hash=item3cc5ef67ca&_uhb=1
my bet is squirrel
I'll have to get a ladder and get up there
but I guess its not surprising
we have large trees that come close enough to the roof that even a drunk squirrel could make the leap
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
I called Animal Control. This is what he told me while we were up there figuring out how to tackle this problem:
You can't scare them away. They're extremely tenacious, and once they find a nice cozy place to den up there isn't much you can do about it. They leave behind scent trails and have been known to return to the den space over great distances.
You want to deal with the situation as soon as possible because you REALLY don't want a mother and kits up there.
Same thing goes for possums.
Animal Control will probably locate the entry/exit point and place a large trap with some bait. We caught the two big boys within a night or two. Got the roof repaired, cleaned up the mess as best I could and never had a problem again.
I hope it's not possums. While sometimes I've seen adult possums solo, I've never seen young possums solo. They can have a lot of young in a litter, something about short gestation and bifurcated reproductive organs.
Evolution can be a bitch sometimes.
as the noise was going on at the time my alarm went off
1) The noise was coming from another part of the house, directly above my bed instead of from the AC vent
2) I heard it moving from left to right across the room
3) I ran upstairs to see if it was still "above" me. And it wasn't. It was below me
4) Verified it was not my cat or dogs again
The culprit is not in the attic or in the vents, but in the floorspace between my master bedroom and upstairs loft. Is there even hollow space up there? Could it even connect to the attic?
Where or how could i treat/trap this thing, given this knowledge
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
I assume it's getting in and out of that space (to eat and such), so there's bound to be connections somewhere. I would just call pest control at this part, unless you're willing to do something like this to your place: