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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To knock on neighbours door everytime their bloody pet wakes me in the night...

107 replies

DrDumbass · 08/06/2013 05:05

One of my neighbours has recently acquired a pet that is kept in the garden, in a hutch. It has kept me awake pretty much every night since they had it as it makes a loud, almost chirping noise pretty much every 20 mins to half an hour every night.I work 40 hours a week, have a 2 yo son and are entertaining my family this weekend for my grandads 90th. I feel absolutely fucked.What the hell kind of beast of burden do they have over there and what can I do about it?
Just realized I have posted this twice, sorry am very sleep deprived.....

OP posts:
RedToothBrush · 09/06/2013 09:46

*break the law

ILikeBirds · 09/06/2013 09:52

"Animals are part of family set ups. They aren't children, but you know what that doesn't make them something that can be tossed out with the rubbish or something that you don't have to put up with from your neighbours even if you don't like them. You do."

Animal noise can be classed as a statutory nuisance, e.g. dogs barking and the owner can be taken to court if steps are not taken to address it.

Not saying that this applies in this case, whether animal noise is a nuisance is looked at on an case by case basis, but to say that you just have to put up with noise because it comes from a pet is incorrect.

practicality · 09/06/2013 10:02

Ear plugs?

Lj8893 · 09/06/2013 10:06

I second the fact it could be foxes you can hear that are attracted by the pet, rather than the actual pet making the noise.

Foxes are very loud and make a kind of squeaky noise, almost like a dogs squeaky toy!

ZenGardener · 09/06/2013 10:17

I don't think anyone suggested rehoming the pet. They have suggested she ask them to move the hutch or cover it with a blanket. It seems fairly reasonable to me. If for example a child's cot was against a mutual wall and the child was banging on it during the night then it would be reasonable for the neighbours to ask to move it.

Most people are just curious as to what the bloody thing is!

Wylye · 09/06/2013 10:54

Apologies, I did list 'rehome' as one of the options available to sort the problem out - you're right, it's an unfair suggestion. Sorry! :) Was a bit knackered and all ranty...

Likewise tho, I do think if their cat was crapping all over my garden to the point of it being unsafe it'd be worth having a word in case they could try to sort it.
Talking to your neighbours about issues doesn't have to be negative, or stir up trouble. It's just as easy to have a friendly word as a grumpy one!

Latara · 09/06/2013 11:41

I reckon it's a fox, they make weird squealing sounds at night and are attracted by small pets in hutches.

At first i was concerned this thread could be my neighbour complaining about my cat!

My cat wakes up in the night and thumps her paws against the bedroom door while miaowing loudly to wake me up - and wakes the neighbours up.... :)

NotaDisneyMum · 09/06/2013 11:56

I imagine its a ferret or two - they make quite alarming chirping noises, and a two-tier hutch is fairly standard accommodation for them.

Are you in an area where 'working' ferrets would be a possibility? They're used for pest control/hunting.

VenusUprising · 09/06/2013 12:08

In my experience of neighbours with pets, they usually put the hutch or coop/ house at the end of their garden, which of course is very near your house!

Maybe they don't hear the racket the new pet makes all night long, and maybe they need to know their new little pet is crying all night.

Maybe the foxes are cicrcling, and frightening the life out of it. Maybe it's cold, and lonely, and super sad.

On no account put poison into their garden..... Whoever suggested that must be criminally insane..... I mean seriously, that's so off the wall, it's boggling... What if another animal or bird ate it, or their child or someone else!!
Or it got washed down into the ground water..... Please don't listen to that loon.

Fwiw, I know it's easy to get attached to pets, and see them as part of the family (having pets in our family ourselves!) but they really aren't the same as having a toddler. Let's keep it real here.

OP I hope you get some resolution soon, being sleep deprived with your own kids is bad enough, but from a neighbour's pet is crazy making!

I'd have a word.

DrDumbass · 11/06/2013 07:03

ok...I'm sorry to take so long to reply had a busy busy weekend.
Also, I'm an idiot. when I looked over to see what the noise was in the middle of the other night I saw the hutch and so thought that was the source of the noise. What I didn't see (and in my defence it's mostly obscured by their fence) was a run. The noise is being made by weird guineafowl type birds.
I popped round with the "something must be spooking your birds" neighbour asked how I know, I told her about the noise. She said she'd take them indoors. Which she did....til she turfed them out again at about 2am.
I'm not normally a light sleeper but after about a week of very little sleep I had to take the afternoon off work to sleep yesterday. I can't keep doing this, someone please make them stop Sad

OP posts:
VivaLeBeaver · 11/06/2013 07:13

Is she shutting the hutch door at night? If they're in the dark and in a proper coop I'd have thought they'd sleep all night like chickens. If it's a mesh hutch door though I guess when it starts getting a little light they wake up. My neighbour moaned that my cockerel crowed as early as 3am so I guess it starts getting light early at this time of year.

Can she move the hutch/run further away?

Also if the gardens are so small there may be something in the deeds against keeping livestock. Chickens are counted as livestock not pets and I imagine guinea fowl are the same.

ImTooHecsyForYourParty · 11/06/2013 07:18

She'll have turfed them out again at 2am because they were so damned loud!

I suggest going back round there.

I notice you brought them back outside. I assume that's because they were keeping you awake...

[hard stare]

Numberlock · 11/06/2013 07:23

I can't understand why more people don't use ear plugs. Talking time off work to sleep because of your neighbour's pets???

quip · 11/06/2013 07:30

You can report them to your local council's environmental health department. If necessary a noise abatement order can be issued and your neighbour will need to make the noise stop.

I sympathise as I know that persistent environmental noise can be a source of stress and have a terrible impact on health in the long term.

CouthyMow · 11/06/2013 07:46

I have had to put up with the noise from my NDN's sodding parrot every summer for NINE YEARS.

The thing is driving me fucking insane.

She sticks its cage out in the garden in June, and it's out there until September.

It's impossible to 'learn' to sleep through its screeching, it sounds like nails going down a blackboard FFS.

I love animals, but I have visions of catching it, killing it, getting it stuffed, and presenting it back to her.

On that basis alone, YANBU!

Not much that anyone will do about animal noises unless it's a dog, though...

CouthyMow · 11/06/2013 07:50

And why should the OP wear earplugs in her own home - what if she has DC's that she needs to hear?

I would not be able to wear earplugs as I need to keep half an war on DS2's breathing if his asthma is bad, and I need to hear DS3 as soon as he wakes up, as he can't be left unsupervised for various reasons, AND I have to keep an ear out for DS1 as he is waiting seeing a Neuro for possible epilepsy.

GibberTheMonkey · 11/06/2013 07:52

I bet they are quail as I said. The males can be quite loud.
I've had loads in the past.

Have to say though they're not so loud that you can't learn to ignore them like you do a partners breathing or road traffic noise.

Montybojangles · 11/06/2013 07:52

They make a lovely casserole....just saying ;)

Wheresmycaffeinedrip · 11/06/2013 08:14

Perhaps the NDN didn't realise they would be so noisy. I didn't expect the noise I get from my rabbits. I used to work on a farm and never head the guinea foul or quails make any noise really. I'd have not thought quail would be as loud as reported. Hopefully it's as simple as covering them over at night or putting them in a coop.

ZenGardener · 11/06/2013 09:13

I can't believe she turfed them out at 2am.

Did you get a look at them. Can you google what it is? Then maybe you could google ways to keep them quiet, print it out and stick it through their post box.

If it continues take a decibel reading off Internet and report to environmental health.

SquinkiesRule · 11/06/2013 15:42

If it is Guinea fowl they are bloody noisy, lots of people have them around us (rural) they usually only do it once as they are so annoying. many roam free and get eaten by coyotes. Our friends got some and they would wake them up at night too.

SquinkiesRule · 11/06/2013 15:44

This what they sound like.

they just go on and on
greeneyed · 11/06/2013 16:09

Well i thought i had mastered the art of procrastination - now I have excelled myself. Listening to recorded guinee pig noises on the web when I should be working. Ah well i've learnt something new today! :)

kelda · 11/06/2013 16:12

I've just listened to the guinea fowl, and it does depend on how loud your volume control isSmile

We have a large pond opposite with very noisy frogs. And cats that fight at night in the street outside. None of that bothers me at all, but my neighbours complain all the time about the noise - it does depend on your own perception of noise and what you can block out. I can block out all animal noise but I wake up immediately if any of my children stir.

kelda · 11/06/2013 16:14

My guinea pigs rarely make any noise because they are a very happy father and son couple, although the eldest one has been known to shriek when I give him a haircutGrin