Animals in the Attic?
Question:We had a few holes in our roof and they got fixed last week but now i think that there are some animals trapped inside out attic. Not awfully noisey but i do hear an animal walking around and scratching at different areas, also the animal tried to make a hole in the ceiling but we patched it up.
Has this happened to anyone?
If so how did you get the animal out?? I dont want to call critter control because i am low on money.
Any tips would be greatly appricated.
Answers:
1) determine if you actually do have animals in your attic and what kind. That is real important for how you deal with them.
determine if the animals are still coming in and out of the house.
small animals like mice and rats can easily climb into the attic. They make an incredible amount of noise for their size. They also do alot of damage. If you look in your attic (if you can) and see small droppings (like black rice) or little nests (like they pulled insulation and made a softball sized nest) then it is probably mice. Get some traps (yes, the kind that kill.) bait them with peanut butter and check them every so often.
Larger animals (like raccons and squirrels and cats) will leave larger droppings (like a small dog). If you have these, see if the animal is coming in and out. you dont want to get up there and find you have cornered a raccoon. If the animal doesnt look like it can get in aand out, rent a livetrap (hav-a-hart) from anyplace that rents lawn equipment. bait with wet catfood and check eeryday. If you catch a raccoon,skunk, cat etc. throw a blanket over the trap and carry it far far ffar away (10 miles is best). If you think the animals can get in and out ( and they are using your attic as a partime home) fill a glass jar with ammonia (the kind you can buy at the grocery store for laundry). Place on a stable surface (in your attic). The fumes will drive out any animal that can get out. DONT SPILL! and make sure that the fumes are not coming into your house (through vents in the bathroom etc.)
Basically if you have small animals trapped you must kill them in a way where they dont crawl off to die in your attic.
Large animals are best trapped through a rental (or if cheap enough, bought) livetrapp. Dont get bit removing them.
Any animals that are able to freely come and go must be deterred. Bright lights, radios, ammonia, mothballs etc are all helpful. Once it is quiet for a couple of days, make sure you know where they are coming in.
If you cant find out what is making the noise, and cant find any sign of animals, place a bit of peanut butter n a plate and sppread some talcum powder (unscented, you know for baby butts) around it. you will be able to see how big the tracks are.
best of luck.
Unfortunately I had to resort to traps. there are humane traps that you can get, load them with bait and they lock after the animal enters for the bait.
You must get the animal(s) out as they leave a mess and destroy parts of your insulation and also any vapor barrier that's exposed. They also leave behind their bathroom stuff and the attic will get very smelly (not to mention unhealthy).
As the animal gets more hungry it will start tearing things apart in an attempt to escape to find food.
Yes, i have...you can get a small animal trap..WalMart or Home Depot sells them. Place it up there with some peanut butter as bait. It's probably a squirrel...otherwise, get a humane mouse trap..Home Depot also sells these. They are wonderful! You don't want to use poison cuz 1. it's God's creatures and he doesn't like murderers. 2. You don't want them to die in your attic cuz then you'll really have to pay big bucks to get it fumigated! Good Luck
Buy a humane trap that captures then live. Don't use poison or they could die up there and you don't want that. You can rent the traps and if you know what kind of animal it is probably a squirrel or raccoon they like attics. You should get it in one night.
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