Two weeks later, Honey wake up!!! I hear something!! it sounded like it was coming from upstairs, listen there it goes again! your right what is that?? I don't Know but it sounds HUGE!!
Has this ever happened to you? from time to time our Homes will get a Vertebrate Pest and we should know what to look for if and when this happens.
First ask yourself What time of day are you hearing the noises,? How often have you heard it and what parts of the house,? These questions will help narrow down the choices of what it could be. What's the condition of your foundation,? Do you have holes that something could crawl in? Do you have tree limbs over hanging your home? The most common Vertebral Pests one would encounter in a structure in Pennsylvania are Rats, Mice, Squirrels, Chipmunks, Raccoons, Bats, and Birds.
Use process of elimination to start narrowing down the choices, if your hearing noises predominately in the daytime its most likely not Bats, or a Raccoon. Night time noises are a bit more difficult to narrow down but do your best. I never suggest you go crawling around in the attic while your hearing noises you don't know what your going to encounter so it's best you wait until the sounds stop before you do your investigating.
Once the party in the walls or ceiling has stopped, you'll need a bright flash lite to look for evidence, For myself the number 1 thing to look for is Fecal matter or Droppings. A well trained Pest Control Technician can identify an animal by what it's leaving behind. A few things to look for are: foot prints( even if you can't identify the print it might give a clue to how large the pest is), rub marks (well traveled points of entry can have oils from the animals body)gnaw marks(can tell you how big the teeth are) fur or feathers, burrowing( body size) and points of entry.
When I start my inspection I usually start in the basement and work my way to the top.
Pay attention to dark areas that have objects to hide in or behind, always pay attention to where water lines are located; electric & water lines can often be used to travel from one floor to the next. Look behind any appliances and in the corners of the rooms. Rats and mice have poor vision so they use the walls to find their way, they put their hip against the wall and use whiskers to guide them.Once they have found a food source they back into a corner so nothing sneaks up on them while they eat. Rodents drop fecal matter and urinate while they are looking for food, this acts as a pheromone trail leading back to the areas they were feeding in.
Remember to move slowly and watch your step, at any given moment what you are looking for could run out from behind something and startle you. Carefully make your way through the structure until you have made it to the top. Keep track of any points of entry you find. You will want to close these off once you have determined what you are dealing with and you know it's no longer inside, plug them up too early and you could trap it inside which could cause them to die or panic and do more damage to try and get out. By the time you get to the top you should have a pretty good idea of what's running around.
They key to success is Identification, Identification, Identification Get it wrong and your control might not work. Your not likely to catch a Raccoon in a mouse trap. So take your time to look and evaluate what you see.
If you can not Positively Identify what you are dealing with DO NOT try a control method call in a Professional and let them figure it out.
In the state of Pennsylvania Rats and Mice can be poisoned or killed with snap traps all other animals must be removed by live cages and released.
For Details on Wildlife Catch and Release Laws contact The Pa State Game Commission
Click the link below
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