If it's in the morning or evenings, squirrels and birds are the most likely culprits. Bats, raccoons, mice and rats are nocturnal, so you'll most likely hear these animals at night. If you can, go into your attic to see if you can find evidence of animal activity.
Tapping Noises – Tapping sounds coming from your roof or ceiling may be caused by your home's HVAC system. Ductwork contracts and expands throughout the day, and can often create a repetitive tapping sound.
If you hear any scratching noise at night, or a tapping noise in your walls and roof, well they're probably rats chewing on your electrical wiring and plumbing, which can cause a house fire if left untreated.
A repetitive ticking or clicking sound coming from walls and ceilings can result from the expansion and contraction of metal HVAC ductwork that conducts ventilation through these voids. When metal heats up, it expands; when the furnace stops pushing warm air through the system, the metal cools and contracts.
Raccoons have a notorious reputation for getting stuck in attics and waking the whole house. They enter attics looking for shelter. If they like the place, they'll start to make a home, creating a tapping sound in the wall at night while tearing at ductwork and digging into the insulation.
As possums are nocturnal they generally move around at night. They have a heavy thumping movement across a roof or ceiling (described by some as sounding like an elephant walking on the roof!). Possums also cough and make hissing noises. Rats make a pitter patter sound on the roof or ceiling when moving about.
To right itself the click beetle bends its head and thorax forward, hooking a spine into a notch on the abdomen. When the spine is released, it makes a click, and the beetle is hurled into the air.
What Is Pulsatile Tinnitus? People with pulsatile tinnitus often hear rhythmic thumping, whooshing or throbbing in one or both ears. Some patients report the sounds as annoying. But for others, the sounds are intense and debilitating, making it difficult to concentrate or sleep.
If you hear sounds in your attic during the day, most times it is a squirrel. Squirrels are diurnal, meaning they are most active during daylight hours. In terms of your house, the noise will most likely occur during the early morning and late evening, when squirrels are entering and exiting the home.
Tapping, rustling, or clicking within the walls of your home can be the first indicators of some gruesome pests taking hold of your property. Things like termites or carpenter ants are often to blame for tapping noises. These pests make these noises whilst they hollow into the wood and make nests.
It's thermal expansion and contraction. The sun hits your roof and heats it up. As the lumber expands, it moves, and it will rub against other pieces of wood that aren't moving at the same rate. This movement creates the popping noise.
Rats and mice are nocturnal animals that will easily find their way to the roof, where you'll hear pitter-patter sounds as they move their small feet on the roof. Sometimes the rodents may gnaw to keep their teeth sharp or to widen small openings.
Rat Sounds in Attic
These nocturnal pests typically enter homes through basements, subfloors, and hollow walls, though some species, such as roof rats, are particularly common in the attic. Noises at night, such as gnawing, clawing, scratching, or squeaking, are usually the result of rats communicating with each other.
For instance, temperature changes that cause thermal expansion may make pipes produce tapping, ticking, or dripping noises. Abnormal water pressure or air in the pipes can also create such sounds. If you believe that your dripping sounds come from behind a wall or ceiling, contact your plumber immediately.
Mice are pretty much the number one animal and mice will make a little tapping sound, almost like they're hitting the nut with their teeth, or maybe a light scrambling or rustling. Sometimes you can hear them actually drop a little acorn.
If you hear any clicking, buzzing or tapping sounds in the wall, you may be facing a potential termite invasion. Termites are hard to spot and often go unnoticed, causing significant amounts of damage in homes each year.
A loose shutter on an attic window or loosened attic vents can cause a banging sound if it's windy, as can branches hitting the roof. Heating ducts as they cool also make banging noises, as do radiators. Water pipes can make loud noises known as water hammers.
A tap that makes a squealing or screeching noise likely needs the washer or stem (or both) replaced. It's normal for these parts to become worn out after many years, which makes the washer that's inside the stem vibrate when water runs past it, causing annoying screeches and squeals.
If it's in the morning or evenings, squirrels and birds are the most likely culprits. Bats, raccoons, mice and rats are nocturnal, so you'll most likely hear these animals at night.
Male spiders actually produce vibrations, which hit surrounding dried leaves and cause them to vibrate. The vibrating leave produces a low "purring" sound audible to humans, and that sound travels. If it hits leaves near a female spider, causing them to vibrate, she can pick up on the vibrations.
Clicking: mothers make these to their young ones as a form of communication. These are made when possums are threatened. Possums also use clicking sounds to attract attention from mates.
Look at photos of Raccoon Feces, or Squirrel Feces, or Rat Feces, or Mouse Feces, or Bat Feces. You can also look at the animal tracks left in the dust in the attic. Check on almost any surface not covered by insulation, and there should be a layer of dust with animal tracks. Or you can check for muddy footprints.
The usual signs of having a possum in the roof are heavy bangs on the ceiling or roof at night as they run around, hissing and coughing noises coming from your roof, or stains on your ceiling or a strong ammonia smell caused by their urine.
Locate the entry points (usually soffit or roof vents and eave gaps). Use steel mesh to seal the entry holes, but leave the main entry/exit hole open. Install a one-way squirrel exclusion door at the opening so squirrels can leave but not return. The squirrels should leave within a couple days.