Scratching in the Walls at Night in Huntingdon: Could It Be Mice? – Cost & Prevention Guide

Nothing about this is an emergency, and there is very little to be done at midnight. There are, though, a few things worth doing while it is happening, because they are harder to do afterwards.

Tonight, While You Can Hear It

1. Note the time. The single most useful piece of information, and it is only available now.
2. Work out where it is, as precisely as you can. Which room, which wall, ceiling or floor, and how high. Put an ear or a glass against the surface — it is far more accurate than listening in the air.
3. Note what it sounds like: light and fast, or heavy? Scratching, scurrying, gnawing or thumping?
4. Knock on the surface. If it goes quiet and resumes a minute or two later, it is an animal. If nothing changes, it may well not be.
5. Record it on your phone if it is audible enough. It is genuinely useful and it costs nothing.
6. Then go to bed. There is nothing else to do at this hour.

In the Morning

1. Look in the part of the building the noise came from. Droppings, gnawing, nesting material, a musky smell.
2. Look under the sink, behind the kickboards and behind the appliances if it is anywhere near the kitchen.
3. Look in the loft if the noise was overhead — on the joists rather than in the insulation.
4. Go outside and look at the wall or roofline nearest where you heard it, with a torch held low.
5. Move dry goods into sealed hard containers, which is the most useful thing you can do today.
6. Photograph anything you find with something for scale.

Over the Next Few Nights

• Keep the log going — times, place, type of noise
• See whether it is every night or intermittent
• See whether it moves to a different part of the building
• Note whether it correlates with the heating or the weather, which would point away from an animal

What Not to Do

• Do not put down shop-bought bait in the meantime. It competes with a treatment, and a partly eaten retail product makes the professional job harder
• Do not block any hole you find while there is activity inside
• Do not open up a ceiling or lift floorboards on the strength of a noise
• Do not use a repellent product, which moves the activity and hides the pattern

And Sleeping Through It

It is a real problem and worth saying plainly. Closing the door of the affected room and using a fan or white noise is the honest practical answer for a few nights. Nothing on sale stops the noise while the animals are there, and anybody selling you something that claims to is selling you a plug-in repeller.