Do I have a critter in my attic?

[caseysmom]

I was up last night at about 12:30 and the house was pretty quiet, I heard scratching and couldn't tell where it was coming from and realized it sounded like the attic. I woke up my husband and he didn't really get too excited about it and said it was probably potter upstairs, we only have a gameroom and spareroom upstairs and potter does hang out up there sometimes.

Since my foot is broke I couldn't go look around. Today hubby said he got up at 3:30 in the morning and he heard it so he went and found potter and potter wasn't the source of the noise.

Now I am nervous I sure hope I don't have a racoon or something in the attic. Its been around a 100 degrees here and I imagine the attic is pretty hot, I can't imagine it wanting to live up in there.

We do have a lot of critters around, racoons, skunks, etc and it sounded too big to be a rat but I suppose it could have been a rat.

I read on the internet that you should put moth balls in your attic so that will be a honeydew for hubby.

[Pam]

We had a squirrel in our attic one and she had two babies up there! :eek: She got in through the attic fan (obviously when it wasn't running!) We had to call out someone, whose phone number we got from the township, who trapped her and took her somewhere far away. Good luck to you!

[RICHARD]

We had a squirrel in our attic one and she had two babies up there! :eek: She got in through the attic fan (obviously when it wasn't running!) We had to call out someone, whose phone number we got from the township, who trapped her and took her somewhere far away. Good luck to you!

YES!

Call someone to look for it. We had an animal die under our house in August!

That really sucked.

[TamanduaGirl]

Squirrels and coons and do terrible damage. You definitely need them out. Young coons are just getting out on their own now so it could be a coon. Remember aside from tearing things up and chewing wires they are peeing and pooping up there, yuck.

[Barbara]

Here we would guess it could be a marten. They trap in your attic - you think it's aherd of them when it's only one.

[caseysmom]

Whats a marten? Never heard of that???

[Karen]

A marten is a bird!

And the smallest squirrel, when it is in your walls, can sound elephantine! Definitely get it checked out, before damage is done to insulation and wiring!

[TamanduaGirl]

No she means a pine marten not a martin bird. They are kind of a tree weasel but bigger.

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Martes_americana.html

Sometimes they remind me of mini wolverines
http://www.ionalister.com/pinemarten/pinemarten.htm

[Karen]

No she means a pine marten not a martin bird. They are kind of a tree weasel but bigger.

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Martes_americana.html

Sometimes they remind me of mini wolverines
http://www.ionalister.com/pinemarten/pinemarten.htm

Oh, but caseysmom is in California, so I don't think their range extends that far!

[Daisy and Delilah]

Good luck with whatever it is. That would drive me crazy!:eek:

[caseysmom]

I am wondering if it could be a rat I can't see any large openings anywhere on the roof. I feel bad but I told hubby we may need decon...a few years ago rats got in the engine of my new car and did some damage and I had to resort to that, had one die in the dashboard...that was gross.

I will have to be very careful with the animals if I decide I have to do that.

[Barbara]

We have house martens here- not just pine martens. I know that caseysmom will have something different in her attic- I just wanted to add a little bit of intercultural fun;)
House martens look extremely cute but they are predators and even can get into cars and bite pipes there.
Sorry- didn't want to steal the thread;)

[caseysmom]

We have house martens here- not just pine martens. I know that caseysmom will have something different in her attic- I just wanted to add a little bit of intercultural fun;)
House martens look extremely cute but they are predators and even can get into cars and bite pipes there.
Sorry- didn't want to steal the thread;)

Nonsense you are not stealing the thread this is very interesting.

[Kirsten]

When I was a little kid, we had a house marten on our attic, and I remember that I found the noises it made very eerie. But one day, my father found the marten dead. I think he was picked up by the authorities to test him for rabies.

Kirsten

[Barbara]

Ok- here is a portrait picture- I think they are cute as a button:
http://www.marderprofis.de/marder.htm