What animal is in my ceiling or attic? Hearing noises in ceiling?
As possums are nocturnal they generally move around at night. They have a heavy thumping movement across a roof or ceiling (described by some as sounding like an elephant walking on the roof!). Possums also cough and make hissing noises. Rats make a pitter patter sound on the roof or ceiling when moving about.
Scratching Noise in the Ceiling: The Usual Suspects
When you hear scratching sounds emanating from your walls or ceiling during the daytime, the culprit is most likely a rodent. Their scampering sound may be heard in walls and crawl spaces as well as in ceilings.
Locate the entry points (usually soffit or roof vents and eave gaps). Use steel mesh to seal the entry holes, but leave the main entry/exit hole open. Install a one-way squirrel exclusion door at the opening so squirrels can leave but not return. The squirrels should leave within a couple days.
Animals in attics can make entry into the home. Although rare, some species can chew on the drywall to create an opening that would allow entry into the home. Also, your larger animals, such as Raccoons and Opossums could fall through the drywall if the ceiling is compromised or not in good condition.
Hearing noises in ceiling? Rats, mice, squirrels, raccoons, skunks, bats, opossums, and birds are among the most common culprits in this kind of situation. Scratching noises coming from your walls or ceiling is a solid indicator that an animal has made its way into your house.
Mice and rats primarily make scratching sounds, both when they move around and when they are rearranging their nests. While most nocturnal animals leave your attic at night rodents, tend to stay and can be heard throughout the entire space. Many night sounds are likely to be from mice and rats.
Roof rats are drawn to any accessible food sources, so clean up fruit that may fall from trees in the yard and keep garbage in tightly covered receptacles. Be sure to also store pet food and other dry food in sealed containers.
Natural deterrents utilize scents or substances that roof rats find unpleasant to keep them away from the house. Mothballs, chili pepper flakes, garlic, and peppermint oil, clove oil, or tea tree oil are all effective deterrents that some homeowners may already have on hand.
The first sign of mice in your ceiling or attic will be the sounds. You'll hear the skitter of their little claws across your ceiling tiles or occasional squeaks. Gnawing and digging sounds are additional signs of an infestation. Since mice are nocturnal, these sounds will be most evident at night.
If a rat has found its way from the outside into your home, it might chew through the ceiling to get into any space in the house. In fact, it happens quite often that a rat that lives in your home to chew through the ceiling. The chewing often happens in house structures that are made from materials such as drywall.
Repel possums by sprinkling the roof cavity with quassia chips (from hardware stores), and putting a light into the roof cavity and leaving it on for three days and nights. The combination of the light and the smell should drive the possum out of your roof and hopefully into the possum house you have provided.
Rats and rodents in general are very sensitive to sound, since it's one of their main tools for survival. Any new or unexpected noise will frighten them and send them scurrying. However, once rodents get used to a sound, they will no longer fear it.
Common pest birds that are most likely to live in your roof in Australia include: pigeons, seagulls, house sparrows, starlings, and Indian mynas. Some of these birds nest in large numbers and can cause a serious problem when they infest your property.
The most common cause of scratching noises at night are rodents. These noises usually come from the places where rodents most often live. This could be your walls, ceilings, beneath floorboards, piles of mice attracting clutter or in your kitchen or attic. Rodents love to nest in these areas.
If you think you have rats or mice, you can try to lure them out and trap them. If you don't feel comfortable setting traps or are unsure what pests are in your walls, the wisest move is to contact a qualified pest control company with wildlife removal experience.
The story behind the sounds
The reason you hear it especially at night time is because the roof space cools down at night while the sun is down, so the creaking is the wood adjusting to the new air temperatures. The wood contracts while the space gets cooler.
Male limpkins are well known for producing a repetitive, high-pitched wail or scream that sounds remarkably human-like when it wakes you up in the dead of night.
What animal makes a chirping noise at night? Katydids and crickets are excellent examples of nighttime noise-making insects. These insects, which belong to the same Order (Orthoptera) make noises in similar ways: by rubbing their wings together.
If you believe rats might be nesting in your ceiling, check for these signs: Squeaking or scratching noises coming from your ceiling or from within your walls. Droppings, which are elongated brown pellets with rounded ends. These droppings measure between a third of an inch to a half of an inch in length.
Some reptiles and amphibians such as geckos and tree frogs can “stick” to ceilings. This is usually due to the same principles: huge toes to increase the sticking area, lots of small hairs and a secretion of gluey mucous.
I don't know exactly what your ceiling panels are made of but a mouse (or rat, squirrel, other rodent) will chew on anything that is softer than the enamel on its teeth: wood, aluminum, lead, copper, plastic, vinyl siding, sheet rock, asphalt, even mortar.