A mouse or rat in my armchair? Or something else...

[wheredidIleavemystyle]

I'm alone in the house and it's very quiet.

A loud scratching noise started coming from the arm chair - or possibly behind it or in the wall.

When I moved towards it, it stopped.

I decided it must have been a noise coming from next door, so went back to what I was doing but now it's back and it's definitely in the chair.

The chair is old and can just go straight out. But what do do if a massive rat then runs around my front room?! Please tell me it's more likely to be a mouse. It's loud! As loud as a cat scratching on furniture.

I'm not doing anything about it till DP gets back! It's loud and I don't want to face a rat on my own! What if it bites when we move the chair? Or runs off. Or doesn't?!

What could it be? Mouse, rat or something else?

I suspect it's gnawing through bits inside the chair to make a nest.

Help!!

Definitely something living in there. It was scratching (or gnawing) the whole time I write the post. Then i ventured over there and bashed on the chair and it stopped.

It's gnawing something wood - either the chair frame - or could it be the skirting board?

How did it get in?!!

Mice can be very noisy! And this is the time of year when they move indoors as it's getting colder outside <shudders remembering this time last year ...>

Close all the doors so it's at least contained in one room if it runs out.

Not particularly helpful, but I'd record the noise so you can't convince yourself you were hearing things if the noise stops (I speak from experience and a DH who was oblivious to the scratching and kept trying to convince me it was the heating pipes, birds, the wind ....)

What time does DP get back....?

I have had mice in various homes as I live in a rural area so it's normal. They are very very loud despite being tiny. So its possible.
My aunt did have one in her chair once. I knew but I sat on the chair once when I forgot and it ran out and into the kitchen. I chased it for ages but it got away.

Even if its a rat it won't attack you. Just make sure it doesn't run off and hide elsewhere. They are ridiculously fast.

Oh and sorry but if its either, you will have more than one. Maybe not inside but possibly in the attic or passing through the walls.

How did it get in?!!

I read somewhere that mice can get through a gap the size of a hole in an air brick. Can you see any droppings anywhere? Must also be getting food and water from somewhere.

I just tried to record it but it's really quiet, does anyone know how to turn the volume level up on a recording. Even with full volume I can hardly hear it.

I bashed on the chair while recording to show that it stops when I make a noise. But now it's gone entirely silent, which is worse as at least I knew where it was!

Reassuring it could be a mouse, it's a noisy fucker!

Yes could well be a mouse. We had this and it took a while to catch it ( horrible I know but Nutella inna trap poor thing).

If its a rat you've got little to no chance of catching it. We had someone come in to catch it. It hang over the kid of outside black bin and was almost two foot nose to tail.

I agree mice are VERY loud. The ones that moved into our attic this time last year sounded so loud I convinced myself there was an army of giant rats up there. Traps revealed teeny mice 🤷‍♀️

almost two foot nose to tail 😱😱😱

The noise is back, it's still in the chair.

How big is the chair? Could you wrap it up in an old shower curtain/sheet or something, fasten any gaps and then get someone to help you move it outside?

I'm sure if a rat was living in your chair you would see rat droppings and evidence in the kitchen.

I've uploaded the sound file here, but warning, it is very, very quiet! I can onlhy hear it if I put my ear right next to the machine with it on full volume. And there's no point listening after I make a bashing noise as it goes quiet then.

Does anyone know how to make the sound on the recording louder?

easyupload.io/biifmr

(Ignore the add at the top trying to trick you into clicking it. Click the "download with high speed" link in a box - and ignore the turbo one, that option isn't free).

The chair's big. It's an armchair, but you can fit two slim people (e.g. 2 kids) on it. It's like a 1.5 person sofa, basically.

We used to have a tarpaulin, I wonder if we still have it. We could maybe get that round it.

The noise has been pretty much constant the last 40 minutes or so.

It's a pregnant mouse/giant rat that's about to have lots of mouse/giant rat babies in my chair isn't it

Shit, it's Sunday, the dump's closed. What do I do with the chair when I get it outside? Just leave it there? Won't the mouse just find its way back into the house?

I caught a mouse in a humane trap years ago, took it to the local park, very near my house, I let it go and it zoomed off in the direction of my house. (No idea if it made it back, but it was the correct direction alright).

Both mouse or rat would run, OP
Run away from You,
The only time a rat would react is if cornered and it felt threatened.
Years ago a relative had a rat in her living room (ground floor flat in an conversion, railway lines at the back) behind the sofa so called a neighbour in to help
Sure enough the rat was there against a corner It did leap (to the neighbours horror) but right over his shoulder.

Close the door to the room and block up any gap between the door and the floor - you don’t want it roaming around your house.

Mice are blind, so if it leaves the chair it’ll use the perimeter of the room to get around. I corralled one into a bucket on its side door nice by shooing it around the room, but I had to move furniture that it kept running under.

Mice are territorial, if you dump it in another mouse’s territory, the other mouse will attack it/kill it. However if you put it out nearby, it is quite likely to find its way back.

Its unusual for rodents to be active at this time of day, and tends to point to an infestation. I’d look around carefully for evidence of droppings, keep all food in containers and wipe food surfaces really carefully before using them - mice are incontinent.

Oh god I hope not! I've not seen any evidence of mice till now. No droppings, no food packets being gnawed, nothing.

It sounds like its nesting, it is unusual for them to do that in the day?

Well, it's stopped now, anyway. Maybe it's having its babies now.

There's so much clutter in the house, it'd be dead easy for it to run and hide before I could catch it. Time for a massive declutter isn't it.

It's probably a squirrel. My friend had one in her settee and it had babies in there

It did leap (to the neighbours horror) but right over his shoulder. this is giving me the horrors!!

A squirrel would be a lot better! At least all I'd need to do would be to get it outside.

Is it a straight path to the front door - carry the chair out - the cold / predators should see it leave the chair in a day or so. (cover if rain)

It's a large chair, think a mini-sofa. We're going to have to tip it on its side to get it out the door, and depending which door we go out, possibly get it round a corner too.

I’m severely rodent-phobic so my helpful solution to this problem would be to burn the house down.

Assuming that’s not an option for you I’d call Rentokil out and pay whatever they asked for to get to my house asap.

We recently had a shrew make its way indoors. I thought it was a mouse at first but had a feeling (however naive) it was all alone. It had come through a crack in the external brick and made a hole through the porch skirting board. It didn't leave droppings anywhere, but did seem to like hiding out under the fridge.