Strange noises at night - what is it?

[little_dreamer]

In the past two or three days or so, I have been hearing odd sounds at night. This has been waking me up out of a sound sleep, around 4:30 to 5:00 AM.

It sounds like something brushing or being dragged against the outside wall, next to my bed. I can hear it move from one side of the wall to another.

Doesn't sound like something walking on the roof, though. Sometimes it's more like a tapping, but not really a knocking sound. But enough to wake me up!

It usually stops after 2-3 minutes.

So far I have been too afraid (or tired) to go outside to investigate.

Any ideas on what it could be, or if this has happend to anyone else? There are stray cats, squirrels, even the occasional stray dog running around sometimes.

[Xammu]

Mice in the walls?

[little_dreamer]

God, I hope not. I never hear the noise during the day or in the early evening when it is dark. Even when I officially wake up at 6 AM, I don't here it then either.

[Dienasty92]

Take a picture and find out!

[Asteroth]

Whatever it is, it's not supernatural. Maybe Santa.

[JamieSymptom]

Could be rats? I think they are more active at night.

At least they were when I lived in my dirty student digs

[Mighty Arcturus]

It's an opossum

[little_dreamer]

HELP - IT'S GOT ME!!! CALL A PRIEST!!!

Nope, just kidding. But I did hear it for a few seconds last night at 4:30 AM. I looked around outside when the sun came up, but didn't see any obvious openings for something to crawl in.

Time for some pest control. I read on some other website that someone who had the same problem found it was a racoon that was prowling at night, but came in before dawn to rest.

[Xammu]

I remember when I was little, I woke up in the middle of the night to see this giant brown recluse spider dangling 4 inches in front of my face hanging from the ceiling. I slept with the lights on for three months after that.

[little_dreamer]

That would scare me too.

[vortex-goliath]

If its at the same time each night... well that would be weird. My dog took to barking at the wall in the kitchen were he sleeps at night, each night for about a week at the same time. It freaked me as there didn't seem to be any reason for it, no noises, nothing there. Never did find out why.

[Prizma]

Any updates on what the pest control guys found, or have they not come yet? I don't think it's mice, because their scurrying is distinctive. I am guessing a larger pest. I would be curious to hear how it all plays out, if you don't mind sharing

[little_dreamer]

Good news I guess. I went to the hardware store and bought some sonic repellants. You plug them into the wall, and they make a high-pitched noise that most people and housepets can't hear. It took about a day or two, and the noise was gone. I unplugged them last night, and the noises were back at 5 AM!

I never found any physical evidence, like an actual animal.

Edited December 28, 2008 by little_dreamer

[American Chupacabra]

In the past two or three days or so, I have been hearing odd sounds at night. This has been waking me up out of a sound sleep, around 4:30 to 5:00 AM.

It sounds like something brushing or being dragged against the outside wall, next to my bed. I can hear it move from one side of the wall to another.

Doesn't sound like something walking on the roof, though. Sometimes it's more like a tapping, but not really a knocking sound. But enough to wake me up!

It usually stops after 2-3 minutes.

So far I have been too afraid (or tired) to go outside to investigate.

Any ideas on what it could be, or if this has happend to anyone else? There are stray cats, squirrels, even the occasional stray dog running around sometimes.

Odd that somebody else has repoted something like this as I was about to. A couple months ago everytime I would sit down at my computer an odd scratching noise would begin taking place inside the wall. For a long time I thought it was a mouse as it only started when I would make some sort of noise but would stop when everything was quiet. It kept going until just recently so either that's a mouse with a very long lifespan or there was some unseen way it was getting in and out. Anyways, my opinion, wait it out. If it doesn't stop after a couple of weeks either get a psychiatrist or get pest control.

[MagicDust]

Maybe you should tear open the wall and see what business is going on in there! (joking). No, really you should do something about it, because it's odd how these noises are coming from inside your wall, it must be some sort of pest in there

[flyinghigh23]

In the past two or three days or so, I have been hearing odd sounds at night. This has been waking me up out of a sound sleep, around 4:30 to 5:00 AM.

It sounds like something brushing or being dragged against the outside wall, next to my bed. I can hear it move from one side of the wall to another.

Doesn't sound like something walking on the roof, though. Sometimes it's more like a tapping, but not really a knocking sound. But enough to wake me up!

It usually stops after 2-3 minutes.

So far I have been too afraid (or tired) to go outside to investigate.

Any ideas on what it could be, or if this has happend to anyone else? There are stray cats, squirrels, even the occasional stray dog running around sometimes.

I know how you feel. I moved into an older home and heard lots of noises at night that had me sweating! Turned out, it was squirrels living in the attic. They can make a tremendous amount of noise! I have woken up thinking someone was in the house, on the roof, etc. They thromp around up there, and seem to drag things around, probably making nests. You should definitely hire a pest control officer to see if there's any evidence of pests, and hopefully, just trap whatever it is, not kill them, which I intend on doing once the whether is a little warmer for them to live outside again :-) Have them check around your house for any holes where an animals could get in. That would be my first guess.

[Wyvernkeeper]

Yeah, its probably a rat or something... I had this in my house literally last month... They get in between the walls and crawl around, i have an attic bedroom and there are cupboards which open into the excess attic space. I would here the thing tapping about and would open the cupboards, but it wasnt anywhere to be seen, concealed within the walls or beneath the floorboards.

Problem for us was it could get all over the house and about a fortnight ago it died above the bathroom, man it smelt bad!!!! we had to get it out through cunning broom manipulation techniques... You want to get it out before it dies....

That or its a little goblin

[Abby Mac]

In the past two or three days or so, I have been hearing odd sounds at night. This has been waking me up out of a sound sleep, around 4:30 to 5:00 AM.

It sounds like something brushing or being dragged against the outside wall, next to my bed. I can hear it move from one side of the wall to another.

Doesn't sound like something walking on the roof, though. Sometimes it's more like a tapping, but not really a knocking sound. But enough to wake me up!

It usually stops after 2-3 minutes.

So far I have been too afraid (or tired) to go outside to investigate.

Any ideas on what it could be, or if this has happend to anyone else? There are stray cats, squirrels, even the occasional stray dog running around sometimes.

I had the exact same thing happen. My husband thought I was crazy cause he was never around when it happened. Every night around midnight I'd hear this scratching and paper ripping noise in the ceiling. I could hear it dragging itself around with claws dragging as it went. This went on for weeks. My husband finally was there at the right time and he said "Hey, there's something up there" DUH!

Anyway, it was a bat. They can get into holes that would only fit a credit card sliding through--very narrow. They propel themselves by dragging with claws at the tip of their wings. Little tiny bats make a very big noise. And they will only be active at night time--they sleep during the day. We repaired some suspect siding on the house and it stopped.

Abby

[Quarantined]

my idead is that your neighbour, may be getting up early for work to put tire chains on his tires to prepare for snow...

[Drago]

A fully grown rat can climb like a monkey and fit into holes smaller than a quarter. They have very flexible skeletons - as a rule of thumb, if a rat can get their head into an opening, they can get the rest of their body through. So whatever entrance the rat/rats are using doesn't have to be ground-level, or noticeable. They could be climbing up to your roof and getting into your attic and into your walls from there.

Mice are even worse. I've say and watched field mice squeeze themselves through the crack between the bottom of my sister's back door and the door jamb. It's so thin you can't even get the tip of your pinkie into it, but they come and go with no trouble at all. They have the same flexible skeleton design as rats, which means they can fit through some ungodly small cracks.

Bats have already been mentioned. They tend to be very noisy critters when they move around inside walls, and as most are mouse-sized, they can fit through most openings mice can, but they obviously prefer holes high in a house, attic vents are a good example.

Anyone who's ever lived with any of these pests will tell you all about the sliding thumping noises they make getting around inside walls. They're smarter than most people give them credit for, and typically will wait until night to become active, both because they've evolved to operate in darkness and because they've grown used to human habits. They can sometimes be fooled into coming out in the open - I've often done this just out of curiosity. Pull all your blinds/cover all your windows as well as you can, preferably on a cloudy/overcast day, and turn off all the lights in your house. Then sit very still where you have a good clear view of the room.

Rats won't often respond to this, and bats never will, but mice very often are so house-trained that darkness and quiet will pull them out at any time of day.