Night time intruders in my roof

[4vxc]

I started hearing what I thought was mice about 2 months ago, but many traps latter the noise is still there and the traps never go off.
However over the last 5 or so nights the noise level has multiplied 10 x to the point where it woke everyone in the house at 2 am and I thought someone was on the roof! The kids are freaking out thinking somethings going to drop into their rooms.
It now happens every night, sometimes you can hear it running at top speed and crashing in to something. I got up on the roof and looked for loose tiles ect but everything seems ok. Any ideas what it might be.

[Windsor220]

Gremlins?

[gz1]

Classic Possum signs. Get a possum trap, most councils have them or call your friendly pest controller.

[DoreSlamR]

Originally Posted by gz1

Classic Possum signs. Get a possum trap, most councils have them or call your friendly pest controller.

Second that, the buggers make a helleva noise.

[XR8GRL]

Originally Posted by DoreSlamR

Second that, the buggers make a helleva noise.

I've had them heavily breathing outside my bedroom window, scared the crap out of me. :

[ILLaViTaR]

Originally Posted by XR8GRL

I've had them heavily breathing outside my bedroom window, scared the crap out of me. :

Tell me about it, they sound vicious as.

To OP get your roof resealed it's the best way to fix this, or the cheaper option would be to chop all your trees down that meet the roof line.
I'm not sure if the latter would solve this but should reduce it.

[DBourne]

Originally Posted by gz1

Classic Possum signs. Get a possum trap, most councils have them or call your friendly pest controller.

^this

[Auslandau]

Could be Possums but more likely house rats as they do more scuttling and can be very noisey, scratching, running and general carrying on! I throw bait in the roof through the man hole and it solves the problem for a while.



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[4vxc]

Originally Posted by auslandau

Could be Possums but more likely house rats as they do more scuttling and can be very noisey, scratching, running and general carrying on! I throw bait in the roof through the man hole and it solves the problem for a while.

bit worried about rotting rats in the wall cavaties. Had that happen to some friends and they had to rip out the walls to get to a dead rat.
What do you do with a possum if you catch it?

[Walt Kowalski]

Originally Posted by 4vxc

bit worried about rotting rats in the wall cavaties. Had that happen to some friends and they had to rip out the walls to get to a dead rat.
What do you do with a possum if you catch it?

Believe me I know what I am talking about when it comes to this problem. One house I bought had NINE in the ceiling. Yes I kept count.

The only reason the previous tenants could sleep was considerable consumption of a green herb not favoured by law enforcement officers.

One night I caught 3 in my trap (possums not substance abusers) and took care of them. When I told my neighbour the next day that that must be a record he claimed it would not mnake the "cut" amongst his mates.

He was a retried National Parks ranger and for years when people brought the possums to him for release he administered Vitamin L thru a 22 and threw them down an old well with a cup of lime.

He reckons there are thousands of them down that old well.

Iron bars are cruel. Besides they don't work no matter how hard you hit. Remember what I said at the outset. I know about possums. You need a bullet or something subtler.

The law in most states say you can release it somewhere else providing it is within 100metres of where you caught it. Do that and you will feel good. Nice and fuzzy and you will get back to sleep.

For about 3 hours until it returns.

Best bet is take it swimming.

Don't have a pool?

Try filling your wheely bin and lowering the trap.

Leave it overnight, I have had them come to life after a 10 minute swim.

I suspect thats where the saying "Playing Possum" came from. They are cunning as a rat. Just bigger.

If he holds his breath long enough overnight keep him.

Of the 200 or more that I took swimming I never found one who could do the overnight swim.

After the swim wrap him in a plastic bag and get rid of him

They stink after 3 days in the tropics but might last longer down south.

Now if thats all too grusome, just put a box or 2 of Ratsak in the ceiling just near the manhole

Keep water taps turned off outside and remove any dog or cat water bowls

After consuming the ratsak they go in search of water which makes the ratsak do amazing things in their gut and next thing they are dead

Only had a couple go down the wall cavities in 10 years but the stink lasts no more than a week.

Once you clear out the problem make sure you keep the ratsak supply up because his mates will move in when they realise you have disposed of the male.

That takes anywhere up to 6 weeks

Now if this offends any tree huggers or lesbian animal lovers try giving up the substance abuse for a month and see what normal people hear when they try to sleep with these critters in their roofs.

Good luck mate and keep me posted on how it goes.

Your family deserves to sleep and these critters deserve to sleep a lot longer. A LOT longer.

PS DON'T TELL ANYONE OUTSIDE FORMUM ABOUT YOUR EXPLOITS BUT RATSAK IS OK

[Walt Kowalski]

Now I hope you were entertained by my fantasy story below.

No one could ever do such barbaric deeds could they?

But its a funny story I hope!

Hahahaha

[GreenMachine]

Originally Posted by Munroman

Now I hope you were entertained by my fantasy story below.

No one could ever do such barbaric deeds could they?

But its a funny story I hope!

Hahahaha

Nice one... You must have a very active imagination.

Funny, but entirely made up story I heard was about a guy with possums in the roof of his rural property. He hung an apple about 3/4s of a possum length off the gutter, from the branch of a tree. Sat in his front yard with a carton of beer and a Vitamin L delivery device. Got 4 or 5 of the buggers in a night, just as they reach out for the apple, over they go.

[XR8putts]

You and the kids should watch the movie Signs..

Love the scene with the alien on the barn roof, watching in the distance through the bedroom window... the subtlety.

[V3RSAC3]

it's an alian ..

nah nah seriousness prob just a possum

[Auslandau]

Well seeing you cant kill them or make hats with em, you have to 'nicely' drive them 50km's away so in about a weeks time they can come back home .....

Rat poisen makes them die of dehydration. They eat it and need to drink heaps so off they go to search for water and hopefully out of the house. They are way more common than you think and are blamed for many 'possum' noises. Have had possums as well but they arent as lively as the rats .......



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[4vxc]

Originally Posted by auslandau

Well seeing you cant kill them or make hats with em, you have to 'nicely' drive them 50km's away so in about a weeks time they can come back home .....

Rat poisen makes them die of dehydration. They eat it and need to drink heaps so off they go to search for water and hopefully out of the house. They are way more common than you think and are blamed for many 'possum' noises. Have had possums as well but they arent as lively as the rats .......

I have a large water storage facility rusting away outside in the form of a P5, there would be a few litres in the vinyl roof padding alone!

[bob 351]

What do you do with a possum if you catch it?

deep fry it with chips and chilly sauce : :

[ebxr8240]

DON'T catch it or if you do don't handle it.. Those claws can do some serious damage!! Trust me... Check there's no trees near roof and double check for any holes or loose tiles, your elect / cable t.v connection onto house etc... A Typhon or Brown may help...

[aye you]

my money is on a possum, get ya self a trap, catch the bastard, take him for a nice drive a long way from your place and release

[ltd]

4vxc, what state/city/town do you live in?
The reason I ask is that there is various laws applying all over the place, they are not the same and I might no someone who can help you.

[TC200six]

We had possums in our roof and WHAT A NOISE! They used to fight and that made a lot of noise until we got it removed.
LOL, we had someone over at our place once when there was a fight in the ceiling, it freaked her out!! Didn't bother us.

[thefargo]

see if anyone you know has a pet snake. Snake droppings or a shed (snake) skin in the roof cavity is enough to make the rodents move elsewhere. It sounds crazy, but a cup of snake droppings was enough to rid my roof of rats. They may have gone next door? It also means no worries about odour of decay. I suggest you put dried droppings and keep in mind where it is. A live snake may work, but you may have trouble getting tradies up there in the future.

[SSVPom]

Originally Posted by thefargo

see if anyone you know has a pet snake. Snake droppings or a shed (snake) skin in the roof cavity is enough to make the rodents move elsewhere. It sounds crazy, but a cup of snake droppings was enough to rid my roof of rats. They may have gone next door? It also means no worries about odour of decay. I suggest you put dried droppings and keep in mind where it is. A live snake may work, but you may have trouble getting tradies up there in the future.

Would Hoop Snake droppings work ?

They always get rid of Drop Bears...

Mothballs emit a smell that possums hate incidentally, although we only threw them up in the roof for good measure after finding the brush tail possum was getting in through a slipped ridge tile. Once fixed, they never came back.

Having said that, when the air con fridgy guy left off 3 roof tiles over night when fitting our split system, and a brush tail came into the attic to investigate...this was just in a 24 hour period, so they don't hang around ! Waited til it crept out at 9pm the next night, then climbed up and replaced the tiles.

We get roof rats every year, but ratsak gets shot of them nicely. Being a 1960's weatherboard, there are heaps of ways they get up there, usually through walls and places where cabling and water pipes are channelled up through the noggins.

[MrXr6Tickford]

i hate mice / rats all together *shudders* i can usally here what i beleive is them running around in the roof... happens every winter lol

[DBourne]

thefargo just reminded me of what we did to get rid of possums @ my joint. and its bizzare.. we used urinal cakes (new ones of course) but yeah apparently they hate the smell? (what, so they can live in poo but not next to a urinal cake?) anyway, seemed to work...

that and the fact it got run over down the road a few months later... that sealed the deal

[XR6_661]

Drop bears?

[Jason[98.EL]]

i always thought they were nocturnal and were out of the house/place they sleep during the day

my inlaws have posums in their roof we dont hear then during the night or untill the sun starts to come up then we hear them and yes they are noisy buggers

i would be looking at other things/animals to

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by 4vxc

I started hearing what I thought was mice about 2 months ago, but many traps latter the noise is still there and the traps never go off.
However over the last 5 or so nights the noise level has multiplied 10 x to the point where it woke everyone in the house at 2 am and I thought someone was on the roof! The kids are freaking out thinking somethings going to drop into their rooms.
It now happens every night, sometimes you can hear it running at top speed and crashing in to something. I got up on the roof and looked for loose tiles ect but everything seems ok. Any ideas what it might be.

will definitely be a possum, i am a pestie and i hate the things, vicious little buggers too. We remove 4-5 a month from the defence force bases around here.

Prevention is better than cure - if you can find the entry point and fill it up that should stop the problem. Failing that you can trap but as has been said "legally' you can only take them 100m and they must be released - somehow that 100m always seems to make me end up on the other side of town.

Ratsak will either kill them or make them go hypo so I would advise against it, other reason being once its dead you will possibly have to find it and get it out so as to get rid of the smell.

[4vxc]

I hope its not a possum, I got up in the roof this arvo and there were droppings about 1-1.5 cm long so I'm guessing rats.
Could only find one rat trap so thats now set and ready for action tonight (I hope)

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by 4vxc

I hope its not a possum, I got up in the roof this arvo and there were droppings about 1-1.5 cm long so I'm guessing rats.
Could only find one rat trap so thats now set and ready for action tonight (I hope)

dont expect the traps to work overnight. Rats are neolithic and it takes them a while to get used to new things - if they see something new in their area (like a trap), they will stay away from it until they get used to it being there.