Dammit, I think I have a small animal, most likely a squirrel, in the wall of my house...

[Solon]

I was hearing scratching next to the wall, and I thought it was one of my cats playing under the bed. Unfortunately, all 3 cats are accounted for, and the scratching is still ongoing, if a little sporadic. I figure if it is a squirrel, it was just getting out of the cold, and probably got into the attic somehow, and fell into the wall, somehow.

I know its trapped, and I'm thinking of calling animal control, however, I don't want them to hurt the thing, and maybe I can get them to release it back into the "wild" as it were, and identify how it got in the house in the first place, so I can seal that entrance. Its either that, or I could find a way to release it, but its possible it could be carrying a disease, so I don't look forward to doing that.

Anyone have any advice?

[RandomThoughts]

1. I have an idea

Feed it nuts :)

[redqueen]

2. Are you sure it's not a demon?

That's how it started in The Exorcist, IIRC.

[Kali]

5. squirrels in the walls - demons - what is the difference?

:rofl:


eta: hey, the smiley didn't load

[LeftyFingerPop]

3. Could it possibly be a bat?

I had a bunch of them once, and they sounded like mice.

[Solon]

6. I don't think so, but even if it were, I don't see how that changes things...

All I know is that its behind the drywall, in one of the walls in my room, and it isn't moving around much, I think its isolated on the exterior wall.

[LeftyFingerPop]

7. If it is a single bat, and it is truly trapped...

it will die in the wall. Since their bodies have little water content, the smell will be minimal and short lived.

Unfortunately, the only way that I know of to get a trapped animal out of a wall is to free it from behind the wall in the attic, or, if there is no access, bust a hole in the drywall.

[Deep13]

4. How do you know it's trapped?

It may just be nesting there. That used to happen all the time at my house before he had it resided.

[Solon]

8. Its been scratching at the drywall for an hour or so now...

It could be building a nest, however, I have not heard it move around, just scratching the drywall, in more or less the same location. There is no easy way for it to move outside from this location, the wall is brick on the outside, and I looked, there are no gaps at all in the front of the house.

[Deep13]

9. Yeah, that's what I have always heard.

You would be surprised at how small of a gap a squirrel needs and where it might be located. It had to have gotten in there somehow.

[sinkingfeeling]

15. Could be a squirrel gnawing its way through the drywall. A few years ago, I opened up the door

to the guest bedroom and there were two squirrels sitting on the bed. They had come down an old, unused chimney to a hole where a coal stove had been vented. Then they just ate through the drywall. We had to brick up the chimney and patch the drywall. Now my house is 150 years old, but squirrels can eat right through drywall.

[IndianaJones]

10. cut a hole in the drywall where you hear it. nt

[Gormy Cuss]

11. Check your soffits and spots where power and phone lines enter the house.

Also check around the chimneys and vent stack flashings. Squirrels don't need much of an opening. We've had squirrels in our attic area twice and the above spots were where they work their way in.

It's not likely that the little critter will get out alive unless it can find its way back to the opening.

[JCMach1]

12. R-A-T

That is all

[RebelOne]

13. I had that a couple of weeks ago.

First it was scratching behind the wall of my bathroom closet. And then two nights later, I heard scratching behind the living room wall. It finally stopped. I assume it was a squirrel, a chipmunk, a rat or a possum because all those little critters live outside and under my house.

[sinkingfeeling]

14. I have a couple of racoons and a few squirrels that seem to be bowling in the 18 inch space between

my first and second floors (house was built in 1858 and it's like they sat one house on top of the other). They also like to play in the attic.