What could be in my attic?

[Thunderface]

My dds (young teens) woke up an hour ago to loud noises in the attic above their room. I went in and listened. We've had mice in the past but this sounds much bigger. Please don't say it's a rat. (It's probably a rat).
They came to sleep in my room but we couldn't settle.
My DH is away with work for the first time since the pandemic started. Before that he was away regularly for weeks at a time and I was fine with it.
Now I'm feeling rattled. Dds and I have decamped to the living room. They are dozing but I'm on edge.

It's a mouse made homeless by the conversation of his windmill home. They wear clogs doncha know...

We used to get wood mice that came into the loft at this time of year.

Sound seemz to be amplified on a ceiling and someone said to me if it sounds like rats it's mice and if it sounds like a load in kids running about it's a rat.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/sep/10/experience-a-stranger-secretly-lived-in-my-home

Argh I think you have rats. We currently have them in our loft and they are so loud they wake us up at night! They have gotten in through a broke air vent and scaled the inner walls.
I would call pest control ASAP as they can be really destructive! We are on week two of treatment and it seems to have taken affect!
Good luck 😊

At a guess rats or squirrels- I would get pest control out - squirrels in particular can do a lot of damage - not all insurance policies cover them

Its either vermin or an axe wielding maniac. Only one way to find out! 😱

I had something similar. I was scared to be hohest :) Didn't know untill my mom suggested these were pigeons. They just stomped their paws on the roof and I thought it was someone in the attic.

It was squirrels in our case — agree with pps who say they sounded like people galumphing around in hobnail boots at night. Deafening wee beggars. Get pest control. I seem to remember our guy claiming rats were easier to get rid of.

I had this once, it was rats. I knew this because they had got into a food cupboard and nibbled some stuff that was in there. The pest control bloke I called out was sceptical until I showed him the dirty, greasy smear mark they'd left coming over the back of the cupboard.

I'd check out carefully any potential food source and the surrounding area for anything that's been chewed, poo and dirty smears. You can look on google images to see what they look like.

Are you brave enough to go and have a look, or have you got someone that will?

Pest control. We got ours through the council website.

Bird of some sort?

We've had similar recently. Also started when dh was away so I sympathise with the nighttime terror!!! Old house and no way of getting to the area where we could hear noises - or of blocking up all potential attic entry points. DH put bait and traps in the attic but we ended up getting a pest controller out who has put bait traps at various points outside.

I was also terrified it was rats up there because of the noise, but dh has recently removed 2 small dead mice from traps.

We're very rural but in a previous house had regular problems with squirrels getting into the attic.

Am in awe of the pp who suggested having a look 😱

Thanks for the replies.
All quiet here this morning.
I haven't gone up to look yet. I hate the thought of having to open the hatch while standing under it.
I'm steeling myself to the job with multiple mugs of tea.

That fucking Elf.

Which part of the country are you in? Could it be gliss gliss?

We've had glisglis in our loft which made a lot of noise. We're in Bucks where they are very common.

Sounds like squirrels. I had them in a rented house, they were so loud. They were getting in under the eves after climbing up the drainpipe!

I have nothing useful to add but the idea of squirrels in hobnail boots described as "unbelievably heavy of foot" and sounding like men moving a piano has made my Sunday morning

Good luck getting it sorted OP

It’s not bats. We have bats. If your scrape your nails up and down rh wall that’s what bats sound like. It’s a scratching noise. They don’t walk about heavy footed.😃

I’d also guess squirrel.

What area of the country are you? My DB and family had a terrifying experience in a holiday cottage they rented for a long weekend. They thought they were being broken in to by the amount of noise coming from the roof/attic. After a sleepless first night they contacted the owner to be told ‘Oh yes, sorry, I forgot to mention the Pine Marten…….’

@SunsetSmartmeter

I have nothing useful to add but the idea of squirrels in hobnail boots described as "unbelievably heavy of foot" and sounding like men moving a piano has made my Sunday morning

Good luck getting it sorted OP

I swear they do! Ours sounded as if they were clog-dancing up and down the boarded part of the attic, or running teeny-tiny but insanely heavy-footed mini nocturnal horse races from end to end.

Squirrels drove me nuts in our last house. They are so very loud. My husband worked away a lot too so I sympathise. Ours were getting in through a hole in the eaves. Had a pest controller in and the hole fixed and that sorted out the nasty little feckers.

Squirrels I expect. Rats aren't that noisy.
When I moved into my new house I discovered about 10 big bowls of rat poison in the loft, it really freaked me out but I have never seen a rat, mouse or anything else up there and nothing is chewed.

I reckon squirrels. They create more of a thump sound than rats.

Come back and tell us. Or if you can’t face it is there an odd job person locally who could look for you??