Help I am at home in rural Northern Europe and there are crunching and tearing sounds coming from the ceiling

[Eeyoreshouse]

Do you think it could be rats?

There are no scrabbling sounds of running feet at all. But it's the sound of an animal literally tearing something (wood, plaster?) with its teeth. It's so loud that it sounds like they are in my room but they aren't. It is very very loud. It stops briefly when I tap the ceiling with a stick but then carries on.

For clarification I am sleeping downstairs and the upstairs is an empty (not developed) beamed roof space built in the 1730s.

I have heard the same sound before (it usually starts at 5.30-6.00 and continues for about 45 mins or so) but it's not usually as loud as this!

What the jeff is it?

Could be a squirrel. Can you get up there with a torch?

Bet it's rats.

Sorry to freak you out more, but it could be wasps. It's the combined sound of hundreds of them making a nest.

Anyway. Phone an extermination company as soon as they open and get them to come round. Maybe just leave in the meantime...

I’ve had a squirrel in the attic that sounded like that..... squirrel sounds friendlier than a rat/mouse, but they’re very similar things really! Mice can be surprisingly loud for their size as well.

Thanks for replying Shockers

I could do but I am here alone atm (more people arriving tomorrow) and there's a very tall, very rickety staircase up to the roof and I am not terribly athletic! Also, tbh, I'm a bit scared because the sounds are so loud! I have been up there before (with help) and we've seen a cat up there that seems to come and go, but I don't think that would tear at wood with its teeth would it (which is what the noise sounds like)?

I'd be delighted if it were squirrels and not rats though! Mind you, whatever it is seems to be eating the house!

Will definitely be getting someone up there to look tomorrow!

It's really unsettling. I'm waiting for them to eat their way through the ceiling!

At least if it eats through the ceiling you'll know what it is when it lands on your chest.

Ooh X posts with lots more replies! Thank you!

Bertie I am very tempted to leave!

I don't think it can be wasps though because the noises are a bit too specific ifyswim. One minute "it" seems to be tearing at wood with teeth, then "it" moves and there is another sound of it tapping and pulling in a slightly different place.

Who knows but it definitely sounds much larger than a mouse! Could it be a mother rat making a nest do you think?

The fact that it always happens very early in the morning makes me think it's an animal coming home from being out all night.

Thank you Ounce

I agree it could very well be squirrels/s. I had one come down a chimney and into my sitting room once. The curtains suddenly moved when I was watching tv one night - cue much panic on both sides !
Agree also wasps can make huge amounts of noise but would be unlikely to stop with a tap on ceiling.
I’ve been woken by death watch beetle (in very old 1400 house) but that’s very much a tapping type noise).
Good luck op.

Does it smell? It could be a polecat.

It's probably a squirrel - they can bite through everything! I heard similar sounds in my bedroom years ago - my dad didn't believe me that there was something up there until he went up there with a torch and found a squirrel had basically chewed a hole in the roof and made a nest there.

I had exactly the same thing. Noises that seemed to come from the loft in the early morning. It turned out to be pigeons on the roof! They tear at the lichen that builds up on the roof tiles. They were simply having breakfast every morning! I was so relieved!

Here in rural France it is sometimes a "fouine" which translates as a stone marten. The noisiest thing we had in our roof space was a family of barn owls who made a huge row early in the morning, but I think you would hear the shrieking (bit like the spin cycle of a creaky washing machine). Mice can sound incredibly loud, but you would hear their feet. I think it is very unlikely to be a squirrel.

We also have noisy pigeons and magpies on the roof at dawn.

If it were wasps it's likely they would get louder when you tapped. Plus you'd see them around in the day.
I vote squirrels or birds. My bedroom is the eaves and you would think I had pigeons and squirrels the size of cars if you heard the thumping across the roof in the early morning. And magpies are the worst.

We had a pine marten in our attic in France. It sounded huge!

Yes, MissClimpson, a "fouine".

We only have red squirrels at the moment, though I gather the grey ones are on the march from Italy. I don't think the red ones go anywhere near houses.

@AnnaFiveTowns I know of a family who poisoned one in the roof and a builder had to remove all the insulation as the smell was so terrible.

It's the Babbadook, run!

In our part of France a noise like that is almost always dormice - loir or glis-glis. They are the cutest things ever but they make an almighty noise.

Rats don't both to climb in the roof unless they have little choice.

What @Frenchfancy said. Loir are disproportionately load for their size. Hope you got some rest.

Aah OK, sounds like something fluffier than wasps - hopefully.

They are fluffy.

@Frenchfancy is that what house mice look like in your bit of France? We just have ordinary mice in our bit of Normandy. We do have little field mice (mulots) in the garden, but I have never seen one like that. My money is still on the fouine from the OP's description. 🙈