Creature in my house!!!

[ShowMePotatoSalad]

DH and I trying to watch uni challenge and we hear a scratching sound above our heads. Went to check the hamster hadn't escaped again and he was all present and correct in his cage.

DH brings the floorboards up where we heard the noise and he can't find anything. I've phoned rentokil and they don't investigate noises...they only investigate droppings, sightings etc. But I know what I heard.

Any advice? I'm terrified!

[HollowTalk]

I had a mouse recently and put down a little bowl of poison in each room. I saw it for a few days but then eventually it ate the poison and hasn't been seen since. It's horrible - lucky you've got a brave husband!

[paxillin]

Bats? House marten?

[Badcat666]

Is it loud scratching/ knawing sounds??

If so then you may have a ratty or two. (mice will poo all over the place so easier to see their droppings) I had one in the kitchen and I got a rat trap (mice traps aren't big enough) but luckily my cat got it before the trap did (poison use normally means they just die somewhere else and they you have a smelly rodent corpse somewhere!)

If you hear it again get a trap (got mine from amazon for under a fiver) and put it where you heard the noise and wait.

[ShowMePotatoSalad]

its not a knawing sound, it's a scuttling sound. It sounded so much like our hamster which is a tiny roborovski. Pleeease don't let it be a rat, I can just about cope with the thought of mice but not rats.

[ShowMePotatoSalad]

Posters like you are the reason I've avoided joining for so long. It's quite unpleasant to receive a comment like that. Why are my comments inane? I commented on some threads giving my thoughts and suggestions on things, just like anyone else. I haven't trolled anybody, I haven't been asking for attention. I suggest you read your own comment back and perhaps think about how such a message could actually affect somebody. We may be on the internet but there are real people on the end of these messages. If you have no helpful suggestions for me perhaps you ought to move on and leave me alone.

[HollowTalk]

saranuff

That's a pretty spiteful comment to make to this OP, isn't it? This is the only thread she's started today and yesterday. Have you got the wrong poster?

[roseteapot101]

get a few snap traps and smear with peanut butter leave around that should help

[ShowMePotatoSalad]

Badcat Thank you. DH pulled up floor boards a bit more, shined torch in and couldn't see anything. No visible droppings, though there is a lot of debris under the floor boards which needs a good cleaning out. Haven't heard any noise since so I'm assuming the sound of the floorboards being lifted has scared it away. I know mice are nocturnal so I'm going to listen out for it in a bit.

[Badcat666]

At least I didn't have to lift up any floorboards OP! I only found out I had one because I was sitting on the back step in the summer very VERY late at night (couldn't sleep) having a nice cup of tea and talking to the cats who were outside milling around (like you do) and suddenly started hearing a weird scraping sound in kitchen..
Got up and head an look and silence.... then started about 20 mins later. Thought I was finally going gaga until one of the cats started staring at a bit of the kitchen so pried open a bit of the kitchen cupboard skirting board a bit to have a look.. not a sausage!! Kept hearing it though very late at night. About a week later I had a rather large dead rat by their food bowl in the hallway. (they always leave them there, like an odd offering!) Bloody thing must have not liked my offering of peanut butter in the trap to last that long.

[ShowMePotatoSalad]

Bloody Nora! All has been quiet since he lifted the floorboards but i want to rip the entire house apart now! It's given me the heebie newbies knowing there is some kind of rodent scuttling about.

[BerylStreep]

We have had some odd decomposing smells in our cloakroom lately. Can't find the source, but pretty sure it is a scuttled who has been maimed by the cat and gone off to die.

Ever thought of getting a cat??

[ShowMePotatoSalad]

Heebie newbies? Heebie jeebies...lol

[ShowMePotatoSalad]

DH refusing to entertain the cat idea. We do have a very inquisitive Cavalier King Charles but his speciality is spiders. Can't see him stretching to rodents. He doesn't give the hamster a moment's notice so it's doubtful. But alas, no possibility of a cat. We're going to lay some traps under the floorboards where we heard the noise and see if anything happens. If not I'll just have to keep my ears and eyes out. In a way I'd be more freaked out if I didn't hear anything again...I'd rather tackle it now than just be wondering what had happened.

[ShowMePotatoSalad]

Update! The last few nights and been very quiet and I started to think that the noises were just the floorboards contracting when the heating is turned on/off. We had laid a couple of traps anyway and decided to check them just before. We definitely have mice. I feel a bit gutted...wondering how long they've been here. We both feel a bit shaken by it. We think there is at least 1 more so will see what happens.

We have recently had new guttering to our flat roof at the back and wondering if this is how they have got in.

[monkeyfacegrace]

I wouldn't worry too much.

I've just watched a mouse scuttle across my living room floor, and there's one sat behind my washing machine just bloody watching me

This time of year I usually catch a good few per week.

I just bleach the worktops every morning and steam the floors every few days. They haven't hurt us yet

[ShowMePotatoSalad]

and there's one sat behind my washing machine just bloody watching me

[Badcat666]

LOL Monkeyface! I had one years ago actually stop in front of me in the front room and give me a look of "do you mind! I'm trying to mouse here"

They are sneaky little buggers aren't they? They can get in the teeniest of holes Showme so don't fret! Sounds like they could have gotten in through there. Just keep using the traps and seriously don't panic... just wash things as usual and clean worktops like Monkeyface says. I'm still alive!

On the rat update one of mine bought in the HUGEST bloody rat I've ever seen... fresh kill as bits of grass were still hanging off it! (OH is a complete wimp and just shouts for me to "deal")

At least it wasn't under the kitchen skirting this time

[monkeyfacegrace]

They are cute. We live on the side of a pig farm, surrounded by maize fields. When the maize is harvested and the temperature drops, they l make their way inside to find food and keep warm. There's no way to keep them out.

We live side by side harmoniously

[ShowMePotatoSalad]

at the fresh rat.

I've never lived anywhere with mice or rats (that I know of). I'm dreading the thought of them getting out from under the floorboards and actually coming in to our living spaces. Hoping we can sort it before then. I'd love to have a chilled out attitude but I'm too anxious about the whole thing. It gives me the bloody creeps!

[Badcat666]

I used to freak out about mice and rats when I was younger but then my brain latched onto something far more horrible.. the thought of bedbugs. shudders Now my brain doesn't care about small furry things but will freak me out every now and then about bedbugs, for some bizarre reason.

[hamble123]

My mum (a widow who lives alone) was in bed when she heard a scuttling noise above the ceiling.

The next morning she went to put the kettle on and saw a squirrel on the bird table in the garden helping himself to seeds and nuts.....she went outside to chase it away and he ran onto the fence and launched himself to a down pipe on the house and went under the eaves....into the attic!

My brother knew someone at the local council who worked in pest control and was able to borrow a trap...he saw that the squirrel had built a nest in the attic (perhaps it was a female after all) and he installed some wire wool (like Brillo pads) in the gaps to prevent more squirrels moving in lol!

[MrsA2015]

Oh gosh I feel sorry for you OP, I know the feeling of hearing suspicious noises! I thought my boiler was clanking around the other day only discover the noise coming from my kitchen cupboard. I investigated to find half a sweet potato eaten and a new bag of potatoes ripped open. I've got mice and landlord won't allow cats I don't know what else to do. Don't have the heart to use traps or poison...

[mortificado]

Borrow my cats! We live on a farm and they bring back at least 4/5 a day! The one cat brought back a rat once, it was huge, I actually thought it was a skunk it was that big! -was then informed skunks don't live in the U.K.-

[Horopu]

Good Luck OP. My top tip is: if you find any small gaps you think they can get through stuff them up with steel wool. It's very scratchy and apparently puts them off as it is unpleasant to chew. We have a hole in the wall from an old pipe I can't fix and steel wool seems to have worked (Or it could be the cat we got).