A possum in the wall sounds like heavy, slow thumps, scurrying, and scratching, often accompanied by startling, deep growls, hisses, and screeches, especially when they fight or feel threatened, unlike the faster, lighter sounds of rodents. You might also hear soft clicks or chattering, or even sneezing sounds from babies, but the most distinct noises are these loud, heavy movements and guttural vocalizations at night.
These pests will make clicking noises when they're trying to attract mates and hissing or growling sounds when they feel threated. Baby opossums make noises that sound like sneezing when trying to get their parents' attention. Outside of these special circumstances, though, the pests rarely make audible sounds.
At night, listen for heavy thumping, scratching, and scurrying in your roof or walls. A strong, musky, urine-like odour, along with dark, pellet-like droppings, often indicates their presence. Additionally, look for visual damage like chewed wiring, insulation, or entry points around eaves and fascia boards.
Possums are nocturnal, and you will hear them leaving after dark and returning before dawn (or right on dusk/dawn at this time of year).
Opossums are great climbers, and they can climb trees near your house or scale the siding of your home. Opossums can also get into the walls from the crawl space. They may have entered through a foundation vent or broken vent, then climbed into the wall void.
Easy methods to get rid of possums include:
Common Signs of Animals in Your Walls
Possums are loud movers. You might hear heavy thuds, screeching, or growling noises as they walk and communicate. Rats, on the other hand, are quieter. You'll typically hear scratching in walls, ceilings, or roof spaces, particularly at night.
Australian possums are nocturnal, so they start becoming active right after sunset, with peak activity often in the first half of the night as they leave their nests to forage for food, returning around midnight or later. You'll hear them most actively after dark, with heavier thumps and scurrying sounds as they search for food like leaves, fruits, and berries.
If you hear scratching sounds or tapping noises in your walls, the next step is identifying what's making the sounds. To do this, you should look for additional evidence. This can come in the form of: Gnaw Marks and Holes: Look for chew marks on wood, wiring, and drywall.
In general, possums do not remain in one location for extended periods. They are transient animals, usually staying only 2-3 days in the same den site before moving on to another location. However, they may keep your yard in their rotation of den sites if it provides a suitable hiding place for them during the day.
Possums hate strong, pungent smells (like garlic, onion, peppermint, eucalyptus, mothballs, and ammonia), sudden disturbances (like motion-activated lights or sprinklers), and perceived predator threats, finding these elements unpleasant and unsafe, so they avoid areas with these strong deterrents, though they can get used to them if not moved.
Armadillos, Racoons, and Opossums all top out at around 40,000 Hz. So, in theory, you maybe to play sounds between 21,000 and 40,000 Hz that may annoy those predators, but it may annoy your other animals as well. Animals likely will become accustomed to the sounds over time and they'll become less effective.
Rats are more likely to produce quick, sharp scratching noises, while possums make deeper, thumping sounds. Look for smaller droppings and gnaw marks for rats, or larger droppings and nests made of twigs for possums.
Raccoons are one of the biggest culprits when it comes to loud noises in the attic at night. This is especially so in the spring, as raccoons are searching for a safe shelter to give birth and raise kits. Hear a thumping, banging, or knocking noise in the attic or crawl space?
10 Efficient Strategies For Removing Possums from Property
Opossums are nocturnal animals, which means they are most active during the night. During the day, they hide in hollow logs, trees, under brush piles, in road culverts, in rock and stump crevices or under buildings, decks or porches.
Perhaps you are wondering whether opossums can climb and get in your walls. If you do not take precautions, the answer is “Yes!”
This is because rats and mice are nocturnal animals and tend to come out around 12am – 3am looking for food. If you do see rats or mice in the daytime then you have a much larger problem.
5 Signs of an Opossum Infestation in Your Home
If an opossum is in your attic, the sounds you'll hear will be the sounds of it moving about — thumping and scratching. An opossum living within your attic will be coming and going at night to look for food.
I hear scratching inside my wall: what do I do?
Where you hear them: Mice and rats commonly seek refuge in the cozy spaces in walls of your home. This is the most common place you will hear their quick light tapping and scratching sounds. FYI - walls act as a hidden highway system for them to move unseen through out a home.
If you are unable to simply reach down into the wall and retrieve the critters, you will need to cut a hole in the wall where they are trapped. Unless you are an experienced DIYer, this will likely mean calling a wildlife removal professional.