It’s 2 in the morning and I’m a little freaked out right now. The wall between my dining room and kitchen is making noises. There’s something alive in there and it’s trying to get out! Or at least that’s what it sounds like to me.
It sounds big!
Yesterday afternoon I heard noises coming from my dining room area. We have an open dining room living room area, and I was sitting in the living room on the couch. I thought the noise that I heard was coming from my turtle terrarium. We have two box turtles and they were both active yesterday afternoon digging in their earth and going in and out of their water area. I just figured the noise I was hearing was because they were being more active than normal. (We were supposed to have rain yesterday and they always seem to get more active when it’s about to rain).
Putting the noise down to the turtles I tuned it out and went on about my day. However, now that it’s after midnight and I’m sitting here watching TV and working on my laptop I can no longer tune out that noise. A little while ago I went to check on the turtles after hearing noise coming from that area again. The turtles usually sleep at night, but sometimes they move their little houses around or start digging. They were both sleeping though …
Then I noticed that the sound seemed to be coming from the dining room wall.
We have a large canvas sitting on the buffet and it rests against the wall. The sound was almost like a moth or some other kind of large flying insect trapped behind the canvas. I moved the painting and there was nothing there.
Nope … it’s either in the wall or the ceiling near the wall. The sounds are fairly loud and it seems like whatever it is in there it’s trying to dig it’s way out of the lathe and plaster wall or ceiling. There’s sort of a papery peeling scratching noise.
Once I determined that there was something in the wall I went and woke up my husband, Chris. Poor guy. At first he didn’t hear the sound and he disappeared into the basement for a while perhaps thinking the sound I was hearing was coming from downstairs, but once he heard the sound he agreed that there’s something in there. We can’t do anything about it in the middle of the night though!
What could it be .. could a mouse make that much noise?
If so perhaps we scared a mouse on Saturday when we started cleaning out our cluttered basement in preparation for the changing of our oil tank in April. Maybe there was a mouse in the basement and it climbed the basement wall and got trapped in the wall on the main floor?
If it’s not a mouse or God forbid a rat (I have seen some rats outside in our garden and in the neighbors yards) … it could be a squirrel … perhaps one got into the attic and then made it’s way down the wall?
Maybe the animals been in our walls for a while and only just started making noise in an area that we could hear it yesterday.
I don’t think it’s a raccoon unless it’s a very small one. Sure it’s possible one could have gotten in to the attic from the roof and then possibly into the rest of the house .. but I think it would have found a way to make a hole in the wall by now. Plus the walls aren’t that thick so as I said it would have to be a small one.
So … it could be anything from a mouse, rat, squirrel to a raccoon or some other creature. Whatever it is, it’s noisy and not to scared when I tap the wall and ceiling near the wall. Oh the sounds will stop for a few minutes, but then they start up again.
I hope it’s a mouse … I’d rather not have a squirrel or raccoon break free from the wall into the house! Both of those animals can be mean and scary when they feel trapped and scared!
I’m glad we have a dog! As friendly as Midnight is to all of the creatures and people that’s she’s met, I think she’d try to catch whatever is in the wall if it manages to get out (then try to play or make friends with it). Of course I don’t really want her tangling with a mean squirrel or raccoon, but she’d probably help us scare it and maybe herd it outside! Of course she’s in her crate at night so she won’t be much help if anything happens in the next little while.
If the animal doesn’t break free between now and when Chris gets home from work tomorrow evening, Chris is going to take a peak in our attic (a small area accessed by a 2 ft x 2 ft square in the upstairs closet ceiling) to see if it looks like any animals managed to get into our attic.
I have a feeling that sometime between tomorrow evening and the weekend Chris and I might end up taking down the dining room/ kitchen wall. Hmmm … the kitchen reno might start sooner than planned … too bad we have ZERO money to do it! We probably don’t even have enough money to hire a wildlife removal or extermination (not really for that) company to come in and take care of the problem either.
Have you ever lived somewhere where there was mice or rats in the walls? If so … did they make a lot of scritchy scratchy papery/ feathery rustling noises? Or for that matter have you lived somewhere where a wild animal got into the house, perhaps via the attic and then into the walls? What did you do about it?
I’m not sure how to go about solving this problem or even how to find the creature. As I said above I’m not really into exterminating wildlife, plus since we have a dog I don’t really want to put out poison in case she somehow got into it. I do however want whatever is in the wall out of my house!
Any ideas as to what kind of animal we might be dealing with and or how to safely go about getting it out of the wall?
I’ll keep you updated on this situation as it unfolds …
Tricia … curled up on the couch fervently hoping that some wild animal doesn’t break out of the wall or ceiling! Creepy …
I would be really freaked out if that happened in my house. I think the worst part is if the animal dies inside and you can’t locate it. Do tell us if you find out what’s making the noise.
I am wondering if you have a chipmunk? Or it could be bats. There is a product that can be purchased at your local hard ware store. It is called Decon (I think) it is a poison and will kill mice, chipmunks, and things like that. You may want to ask at the store. They will probably have some tips for you.
That sounds like a mouse. Just don’t use Decon. If it dies in there the smell will be awful.
Scary! What’s behind the walls?
I second the mouse thing (both parts.) Less horrible than humongous monsters, but still not what you want to hear at 2 in the morning. *shudder*
I have been hearing sounds from my ceiling (aka the floor of the attic) for months now… and just today I found a little dead mouse in the garage 🙁
Adam yes I’m freaked out. LOL I didn’t sleep well last night and slept in late, but I haven’t heard anything since I got up …. so whatever the animal is either moved elsewhere in the house, is sleeping or perhaps already died.
It did pick the warmest wall in the house to hide in, and it’s cool here today so the furnace is going on and off … so if the mouse (let’s call it a mouse) was already hungry and dehydrated that heat might do it in.
Otherwise … maybe it’s a nocturnal animal and the noises will start up again late at night when I’m sitting down here all by myself again. Errr yuck.
dlmiller There are Chipmunks in Toronto but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one around here so I’d say that’s unlikely. Squirrel, rat or most likely mouse are my top three choices. Bats are a possibility but I’d think that they’d stay in the attic and they’d try to get out of the house at night to fly around …. although it was pretty cold last night and perhaps still too cold here in Toronto for much Bat activity.
Karen I’d rather not use poison if I can help it. I’m too afraid of the dog getting into it somehow. That would be tragic … plus yes, a dead animal in the walls wouldn’t be appealing either.
So far no noise today … maybe it’s nocturnal or it’s moved into another area of the house?
Jean-Luc it’s the wall between the kitchen and dining room .. the only dividing wall on the main floor actually since we opened up most of the main floor to make our small house feel bigger.
The wall is five or six inches deep and made of lathe and plaster (old house 1927 – no insulation) and support beams. Probably not a lot of room to move around for anything but a mouse or rat, but it’s possible it could be something bigger.
I wish I knew what it was. I’m not afraid of mice but don’t like the idea of them being in our house. I really don’t like the idea that it might be a rat, squirrel or raccoon though!
NotHannah I’m hoping it’s a mouse and not something bigger and meaner. No sounds this afternoon … hopefully it doesn’t wake up again and start clawing at the walls again in the middle of the night! That sure freaked me out!
How to make wine – what there the sounds like? Did you think it was a bigger animal? Hopefully your mouse problems are over now!
We regularly have mice between walls and between floors. They make a surprising amount of noise for such small creatures!!
Also – I passed the Kreativ Blogger award on to you on my post today!
Last summer i was constantly hearing noises from my roof. It sounded like someone was walking up there. It turned out that neighbourhood ferrets were chasing each other all the time. I couldn’t get rid of them for good couple weeks.
We have mice in our house.
I’m sure it’s mice as that’s all we’ve seen, they kick up on heck of a noise, sounds especially loud at night when everything else is quiet.
I will go along with the mice thing, but don’t rule out chipmonks. I had one in my house a few years ago. They can make a real mess. They like to store acorns and seeds in your walls. Maybe get a cat!
Kill it as soon as possible. I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep if I knew there was some mysterious creature inside my walls. If it’s a mouse there’s no problem but what if it’s a huge spider nest?! Did you think of that?
im hearing the same exact sound as u in my wall. what do i do? what did u finally do about yours?
I hate to be the barer of bad news, but you might end up having to knock your entire wall down to find out. It really could be just about anything. I hope its not rats!
Trisha I just realised your post was over a year old. Did you eventually lift the lid on the animal?