Wibu to just ignore the thing living in my loft?

[DaveyJonesLocker]

I know what the answer is going to be.

I live in a very long terrace of flats. So like terraced houses but upstairs and downstairs split into flats.

I can hear something tapping, running and eating (that tuttutut sound rodents make) I thought I'd just heard it die. It was going about it business, then I heard like struggling, squealed and like a hand along a radiator, then silence for like half an hour. But I can hear it running about again. Sounds like it's having a great time.

There's no ladders to the loft and I've never been up there, I have no idea what's up there and I have OCD. I really don't like the idea of poking my head up there and getting God knows what on me.

With the set up of the flats I just don't see how I can possibly do anything about it. I rent. The landlord has zero interest in doing anything, much legally required stuff being ignored. I can't afford to spend my own money on it. And I'll only be here another 6-9 months so can I just ignore it?

Just heard more squealing and the hand running along a radiator noise, what the hell is that?!

And sounds like someone drawing and knocking on wood.

Its really busy up there, I've never heard anything before. I'm actually concerned there's a person it's that noisy.

It's a bit first Mrs Rochester isn't it?

🤣🤣🤣🤣

It's a squirrel. I heard similar sounds for ages, knocking, scrabbling, something dropping and rolling across the floor etc. i had to call pest control and fix a hole in my guttering. It's gone now.

But if it's squirrels, they're normally born in late Feb, so surely it's better to sort it now?

I’d bet squirrels rather than rats and I’d really recommend trying to convince your landlord to get someone out. They can do a lot of damage and be a real fire hazard

I don't think I'd want to ignore it. 6 - 9 months is quite a long time really. Many nights of nightmares about being attacked in your bed by rats falling through the ceiling once their numbers become so large they crash through onto your sleeping form. In fact I'm sure I saw a film about this recently.

On the other hand, squirrels and pine martens are quite cute.

I've got squirrels. They aren't in the loft as we had someone out to check. But in the void between roof and ceiling around our weird windows where you loose half the room height.

They are pretty noisy. I see them on the garden fence, my dogs runs out, they jump on our roof and in they get 😭

In summer I hardly hear them. But when the weather is bad or cold, they are inside a lot.

You really should get someone in.

Mind you, have you ever smelt dead rodent? I think I would rather that they were alive 🤣

YABU to ignore it.
Needs sorting pronto, they (rats I mean) will chew through electric wires or plastic plumbing pipes and cause you no end of problems.

Yes we had squirrels in the loft. Really noisy scrabbling. If you go outside, can you see an obvious route in? (A hole either at your end or the far end of the building?)

Both squirrels and rats make an ungodly amount of mess and noise, plus they will chew through anything and are attracted to the smell of electrical cables, which can be dangerous, especially if the wiring is old.

I hate to say this, OP, given your fears, but rats will also start to travel through the building inside cavity walls and ceilings, in search of food. If they find a way into a kitchen, they can create havoc, especially at night time.

Tell the landlord. Up to him if he wants to ignore it, but stress that he could end up with a much bigger problem (& a bigger bill) if he lets them settle in.

Not so cute if the urine soaks through your plasterboard and leaves brown stains on the ceiling. Or shit in the cold water tank. Think of the health hazard (and cost) of removing years of accumulated squirrel shit.

They will stink out your loft if they live there any length of time.

@GasPanic I wasn't seriously suggesting ignoring any of the visitors. Whilst rats would be the worst option, I wouldn't want to share my home with any type of vermin. Spiders I can cope with just about, but certainly wouldn't want any other creature wreaking havoc in my loft.

If it all happens at night it's rats
If daytime and night time might be squirrels
Either way your landlord needs to sort it out!!
If he won't maybe club together with neighbours and get an exterminator in
Costs : £300 for 3 visits lots of traps, poison and they will find where they are getting in block it off.

Also squirrels chew through beams! So you don't want the bloomin roof to cave in

We had a squirrel in the roof, vicious little bastard. It chewed through the tv aerial.

Fun fact: rats like to play fight with eachother. Think WWE wrestling. I found this out from an exterminator who came to deal with my rat infestation I had years ago. Best get it sorted. They multiply really fast

We had house mice, they were pretty big so we thought they were rats! You need to get rid though because they breed like nothing else and they got through the cavity walls down into our kitchen - chewed straight through the ceiling. They will cause problems, please don't just ignore it.
Ring the council pest control, ours charged £50 a few years back I think but they were brilliant and got it sorted. Also gave us advice on how to prevent it happening again. We are never without poison in the loft now.

We've had bats, wasps and squirrels living in our loft, and by far the noisiest beasty was a stag beetle 😁

I had rats in my loft. The pest man that came out said they get up through the cavity walls.

Once he'd trapped them all, he spent ages blocking up all the bits in the walls where mortar had cracked or broken, and replaced a damaged air brick, so hopefully they won't manage to get in again.

Rats can’t survive long without water. So watch your water tank.

Call pest control. I had squirrels in my loft and they did a lot of damage

I had bats in my loft/roof they are really cute and a protected species I think. We coexisted fine but I didn't mention it to the buyer (don't think she would mind, she didn't even have a survey)

I'd really want to check it wasn't squirrels. They can cause horrendous structural damage.

Rats can eat through your ceilings, either get an exterminator or buy some poison & find someone brave enough to go up for you. They have got in somewhere so you need to check outside for holes or missing pointing, they can climb up the cavity. If you have a water tank up there if your property is old they can even get in to your water supply.