# Forum Home Renovation General Odds & Sods  scampering noises in ceiling space - rats? birds?

## blissin

This is my first post, so hello to everyone 
I have recently started hearing scampering feet (paws?) in my ceiling space - usually starts late in the day, just before dusk. They sound like bird or rat sized because it is not that loud, there is no thumping, no squeaking, just scampering  
The weird thing is that I cant find anywhere for animals or birds to get in - not even a cockroach sized hole is apparent. 
I live in  a townhouse in the middle of a row of 8 other townhouses. It is my first ever home so am a beginner to all this home renovation and maintenance stuff - usually would just ring the landlord to sort it out  
The townhouse  has exposed beams - the only ceiling that has an actual space at all is in the ground floor in a very small kitchen/laundry. This room  has a bedroom above it, so the sounds are definitely in between the two levels rather than from the roof. 
There are no visible openings on the outside wall - ie in the brickwork at the level of the ceiling. On each side are other units - so presumably there is a brick wall at each end of the ceiling. There are a couple of mesh covered 'air vent' thingos in the wall but these are located well beneath the ceiling level 
I have seen no evidence of gnawed food or droppings inside - yay! 
Please help - I dont know where else to look, or what to look for! Are there hollows in the middle of brick walls or something that things can climb up and into a ceiling?  
Any suggestions would be most welcome  :Smilie:

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## chrisp

> Any suggestions would be most welcome

  Ratsac  :Smilie:

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## rrobor

Na its a posum, stick an apple in your back yard see what eats it.

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## blissin

thanks for your replies ... but am still confused about how they would get into a sealed ceiling space?  
If I could work that out, I could maybe  block it to prevent them getting in...

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## president_ltd

sounds like a possum to me too.
they can get in incredibly small spaces.  they are devious buggers too. 
we have one in our roof at the moment.  he's figured out how to lift the endmost ridge capping tile because the pointing is a bit crumbly.  leaves the house at about 9pm dusk, comes back at 4am. 
we caught him once with a trap and let him go down the road in a park a few hundred metres away.  took him a few days but he was right back again.

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## rrobor

Possums are OK till they start to breed up there, man thats bad. Talk about a screamer,  well theres all this grunting, hissing and banging about. On the shed roof is bad enough but have that above your bed would be the end. Sorry but id be calling in Rod after Id blown a hole through with the 12 bore.

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## kombiman

I bet Rats.  They get in anywhere.....  dig into foundations etc. 
Beware.  Ratsack may have them dying in the cavity....  Putrid for about 5 days.  Ask me how I know...... :Doh:

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## Ashore

My vote's a possum , wongo ( I think ) had a prob and someone here off a property sent him a snakeskin and some snake poo , I kid you not, solved the possum prob (They hate snakes big time)

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## finger

Another vote for possum, we had one in our roof. Bloody annoying, @@@@ my pants a few times early in the morning when they are going psycho.   
Heaps of them were I live. Finally got them out but you still here them running on the roof through the night and early mornings.

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## bugsy

if its not loud then i would go with mice.
They get under the insulation and scamper on the plaster.

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## blissin

okaay, but still cant work out how they would get in! I cant do anything to stop it until I can work out how to access it without ripping out my ceiling 
The roof is an entire floor away from the scamperers - it has exposed beams, so there is no ceiling space near the roof. 
The noises come from the ground floor kitchen ceiling which has a floor above it. There are no openings to the outside of the house from there at all!  
They would have to tunnel down through solid brick and cement from beneath the eaves (and there is no ceiling space up there, just a little ledge under the eaves where the dam pigeons roost) all the way down to the ground floor ceiling and then would need to hang a turn and tunnel through more brick and into the ceiling space 
Surely thats not possible, even for mice or rats? Please...tell me its not possible  :Yikes2:

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## Gooner

I would find it very hard to believe that your ceiling is so well sealed that not even a mouse or rat could get in. I am sure they are plenty of holes for electrical cables, etc that a mouse or rat could fit through.

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## blissin

Okay found out how it works from a tenant that has been here for a while 
Apparently, they are rats and they get in at the end of the rows through vents or whatever and can run through the ceilings of the entire row of townhouses because the vertical wall breaks at the kitchen ceiling - there is no wall in between each unit where the ceiling is - its just a space, 8 townhouses long. 
I am surprised - why would they share a ceiling space?  
Anyway, thanks for your replies - very helpful. 
Time to research whether to use ratsac or baits or what

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## bugsy

talon wax blocks

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