It usually starts after you have gone to bed. A faint scratch, a patter or a thump somewhere above the bedroom. You lie there listening, and the next evening you listen again. This guide helps you make sense of those sounds and decide what to do.
Reading the sounds you hear.
Sound alone cannot identify an animal, but it gives clues. Mice are light and quick, so you often hear fine scratching and brief scurrying. Rats are heavier, so their movement sounds more like thumping or dragging. Gnawing is a steady, dry rasp.
| Noise heard. | Likely culprit. | What to do next. |
|---|---|---|
| Light scratching at dusk. | A mouse or small rodent. | Check pantry and attic hatch in daylight. |
| Heavy thumping or dragging. | A rat or a larger animal. | Note the location and call. |
| A steady gnawing rasp. | Chewing on wood, wiring or plastic. | Call soon, since wires are at risk. |
| Rolling sounds. | Something moving a nut or object. | Photograph and note times. |
| Squeaking from a wall. | Young animals or fighting. | Call, as a nest may be present. |
Daytime sounds tell you something as well. Many rodents are active at night, so a daytime sound may suggest another animal or a larger group.
What not to do.
- Do not bang on the ceiling or run a vacuum in an attempt to scare them.
- Do not enter a dark attic at night or climb with a flashlight in your mouth.
- Do not seal an opening without a technician, since an animal inside may be trapped.
- Do not use store-bought poison in a wall or ceiling, as the animal may die where you cannot reach it.
The last point matters. An animal that eats poison and dies inside a wall leaves odor for weeks. Our guide to store-bought rodent poison explains the problem in more detail.
What to note before you call.
A few notes make a first call shorter and a visit more productive. You do not need special equipment, only a pencil and a phone.
- The room or wall that the sound appears to come from.
- The hour it starts and how long it lasts.
- Whether it is scratching, thumping, gnawing or squeaking.
- Any droppings, smells or chewed material you have seen.
- Whether your pets react to the sound.
Room, hour, sound: give us those three details and the first visit starts in the right place.
Dial (888) 686-4821What a visit looks like.
A technician starts with the exterior, moves to the attic or crawl space and ends at the spots where you heard the noise, aiming to find the animal, its route and the damage done. Inspection is the starting point, and trapping follows if animals are present.
After the animals are out, the technician closes the entry points to keep new ones away, and where insulation is fouled, attic cleanup is on offer.
When it is not a rodent.
Some sounds come from other sources: pipes expanding, a loose vent cover or a bird in the eaves. We say so when that is the case. An honest answer is better than a visit for something that is not a rodent.
If you are unsure, call and describe what you hear. The phone line is open at all hours.
While you wait: what helps and what hurts
Written for householders, these steps keep dust and germs out of the air while you wait for a visit.
- Treat dry waste as something to soak, not something to brush.
- Do not walk into a sealed storeroom cold. Open it, wait thirty minutes, then go in.
- Put on rubber or plastic gloves, and when the job is finished wash both hands with soap and running water.
- Mist the waste with disinfectant, or a bleach mix made as the label says, so that nothing lifts, and allow about five minutes.
- A sealed plastic bag takes droppings, towels and carcasses to the household trash.
- Should a fever or shortness of breath follow a rodent cleanup, ring your own doctor and lead with the exposure.
Public guidelines behind this advice
Go to the originals for the fine print. They are written for the public and tied to no company.
- CDC page on rodent cleanup: Bagging, disinfecting and ventilating: the sequence behind the cleanup steps in this guide.
- EPA page on rodenticide restrictions: Why the strongest products are held back for licensed professionals, and why shelf products arrive only as ready-to-use stations.