Yesterday while working in my office at home, I heard a very troubling noise. It sounded as if there was something scratching near the ceiling. Since I’m on an outside wall, I ran outside to see if there was something on the roof. I didn’t see anything, so I went back inside. The sound continued. I could hear scratchy little feet running along the line between the ceiling and the wall. I took another trip outside, this time with the long carboard tube our new rug came in. I used the tube to bang on the gutters and on the roof but again, no dice.
I’m very familiar with the sound of squirrels in the wall. My parents’ house has a small hole somewhere in the attic, and flying squirrels got in. Most of them ended up inside the wall of my closet, and my dad had to cut a hole the drywall to get them out. Since my room was above my parents, the scratching and noises from the trap would wake them up. There was a period of my life where I would wake up a couple times a week to my dad coming in my room at 3am to pull the trap out from the wall of my closet. At first I thought they were cute, but the cuteness definitely wore off when they just kept coming.
Back to present day, since the attic doesn’t extend over the office, I knew the squirrels were either in the gutters outside or inside the walls. One is obviously more troublesome than the other.
I called the pest control company, and they were able to send someone out today. Of course I didn’t hear the noises at all today, so I was worried he would think I was crazy! I told him where the noise was coming from, and he agreed that it was likely the gutters and would check them for a nest. Apparently it’s squirrel baby season, and nests are pretty common in gutters. He was only here for about 20 minutes and confirmed it was a nest. He said the scratching was them trying to get into the gutter covers, and he removed the nest as well as tightened up the covers to prevent them from getting in again.
I’m very thankful we didn’t need to cut any holes or use a trap. And I still don’t like squirrels.
Sara Morrison 