What an earth is stealing our food and making loud noises?

[Tiina78]

Okay, here’s the dilemma: we have recently rented an 150 year old house. It has been fully refurbished to a very high standard very recently. But I’m afraid we have a pest problem. Most nights around 4am we start hearing very loud scratching or chewing noises. I mean really loud. Like something is chewing on wood. The noise usually comes from behind the walls or under the floorboards or from the attic (we have no access the the attic space).
Lately we’ve notice that food have started to disappear from the kitchen. Toast and some biscuits. Last night at least 6 pieces of toast disappeared from the plastic bag. There were some chewing marks in the plastic but no crumbs left behind. What sort of animal would leave no trace after stealing that much bread? No crumbs, no urine, no poo!
I have searched the kitchen for entry holes or droppings without success. We had mice in our previous apartment and they always left poo/pee marks. Plus were not as loud.
Is it rats? Could it be a squirrel? Or a damn ghost? How do I find out?

[ThriceUponATime]

I'd guess squirrel, we had one in the attic and it was ridiculously loud! I think you'd see drippings from rats/mice.

[FannyWisdom]

Whichever animal can use a toaster.

[flumpybear]

Use a toaster 🤣🤪😆

[BlackPeppercorn]

I once walked into my kitchen to see a large rat in the worktop pulling along an entire loaf of bread, still in its plastic bag, so I suspect it's rats.
That was 2 houses ago, but it still makes me shudder.

[Knittedfairies]

I'd guess a rat. We had one recently but bought one of these:

www.maplin.co.uk/p/pest-stop-electronic-rat-killer-a32uj

And it worked on its first use.

[Knittedfairies]

Or, going by the title of your post, a teenaged boy...

[Tiina78]

Aw man! Rats! Eww!
Need to set some bait and stalk. We’ve had one of those electric baits. Caught many mice in it. Probably need to get another one. But that is not a permanent solution. Need to find out how the get into the kitchen in the first place.

[DramaAlpaca]

Haha! I was just coming on to ask if there's a teenage boy in the house but I see Knitted beat me to it.

[GinIsIn]

I too was about to suggest teenager!

[Bluntness100]

I'd say either rat or squirrel. The problem with old houses is the very many entry holes.

[FannyWisdom]

Are you in the UK OP?

Could be a continental squirrel like a raccoon.

[Pinga]

Rats or squirrels.
Mice are much quieter.
Im impressed at any rat who can make toast though. Or weirded out by anyone who stores toast in a bag.

[wowfudge]

I think you should contact the landlord and request access to the loft space so that a pest control company can carry out a thorough survey.

[Tiina78]

I thought toast is the name for the bread you’re supposed to toast 😂 You live and learn (I’m from Finland. Live in UK).

[abitoflight]

At least that's stopped me from wondering if I'm missing something by not putting my toast in a plastic bag

[Tiina78]

Go ahead! Mock the poor Finn. ;)

[Pinga]

Oooops couldnt have known English wasnt your first language.
Yes bread is bread. Once its been in a toaster/under a grill it magically becomes toast. Bread that will become toast is bread

Best friend doesnt see the need to own a toaster. I think they are supremely wrong! Toasters are essential

[Tiina78]

I believe I mistakenly called the bread toast because in Finnish it’s called ”paahtoleipä”. Which literally translates to toast(er) bread. So I though this sort of bread is called toast. But now I am wiser and won’t make a fool out of myself again.

As for my dilemma...thanks for the replies. We will notify the landloards.

[Chocolateteabag]

Yep definitely sounds like a rat and your Landlord will want to know as they can also chew through wiring etc

One of my student houses hovels was next door to a chippy. When the chippy was done by Environmental Health the owners steam cleaned their backyard. This caused the local rat population to burrow through the wall into our kitchen so that could be what is happening with you.

You/landlord will need to get proper help as Rat poison is pretty restricted these days

And I re-read all your posts OP - your English is hence why everyone made the comments re toast - I'd take it as a compliment!

[Bowerbird5]

U urgh I hate rats. Next door dug new foundations and disturbed some. Never bothered to come and tell us and I thought it was a red squirrel till I went into the kitchen late one night eeeeeuuugh did I scream!
It ran up the ceiling into a cavity where the pipes were. I got the rat catcher in and he left sticky paper and said nothing will get off that. Ring me and I'll come take it away. It bloody well did get off the paper. We put poison down and found it smelt/ found it dead in the house. Luckily there was only the one here but neighbour killed a few and dogs on other side got a couple. Hopefully it was all of them as I haven't seen any since but I don't like going down the garden in the dark just in case. We live in the country backing onto fields then a river. Get the rat catcher. They can tell if more than one and whether rat or squirrel.

[sashh]

Maybe it's a teenage boy rat.

OP A friend from Jordan always called toast, 'hot bread', well actually she signed it but never used the sign for toast.

Your English is perfect, but we users of English in the British Isles have various notions of what bread is. 'Bread' is fairly standard for sliced bread but when it is small round piece of soft bread it can be a:

tea cake
bap
batch
barm cake
bread cake
bead roll

and probably a few other local words. And there will be other posters saying I am wrong about all of them.

[wowfudge]

@sashh - you are misleading our Finnish friend: none of those is a piece of bread; they are individual small, round loaves with a crust all the way around. And in the East Midlands they are called cobs.

[sashh]

I forgot cobs.

[SleightOfMind]

Sounds like a rat I’m afraid.
We back on to a very pretty, but very much in use, churchyard and have had to have our house fully ratproofed.

Before that, we’d get one sneaking in every autumn.

The pest controller thoroughly enjoyed pointing out to me that, ‘Where there’s corpses, there’s always rats.’