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Guide

Animals in the Attic: What the Noises Tell You

The animal in the attic usually gives itself away by something you can check: bats leaving the same spot on the house at dusk, droppings, gnawed holes or shredded nesting material.

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Calls route by ZIP where an operator covers the address, and otherwise come to Local Core Group, which runs this site. Or send a request.

The sound helps narrow the list, but the checks settle it, and they are what an operator will ask about on the call.

Quick answer

What animal is making noise in my attic?

Check rather than guess. Animals flying out of the same spot on the house at dusk point to bats; the CDC suggests watching where they leave at dusk to find how they get in. Droppings, urine stains, shredded nesting material and gnawing sounds in walls or ceilings are signs of rodents in the National Park Service’s rodent manual. Dark, tubular droppings with a pungent odor in one spot match the CDC’s description of a raccoon latrine. A squirrel-sized animal active only at night may be a flying squirrel, which the Park Service says is nocturnal.

Which clues identify the animal?

Clues to the animal, from federal agency guidance
What you noticeWhat it points to
Animals flying out of the same spot on the house at duskBats. The CDC suggests watching where they leave at dusk to find how they get in
Droppings or insect parts under the eaves or on a porchPossibly bats. The Forest Service lists guano and insect parts under eaves, along with dark body-oil and urine stains, among the signs of bat use
Gnawing or movement sounds in walls or ceilings, with droppings or shredded nesting materialRodents such as mice or rats. All three are on the National Park Service’s list of rodent signs
A squirrel-sized animal active only at nightPossibly a flying squirrel. The National Park Service says flying squirrels are nocturnal, so people often do not see them, and the CDC advises avoiding contact with flying squirrels and their nests. For Michigan’s rules on flying squirrels, see the DNR’s Michigan squirrels page
Dark, tubular droppings with a pungent odor, gathered in one spotA raccoon latrine. The CDC describes raccoon feces this way
Birds going in and out of an opening in the eaves, a soffit or a ventA bird, possibly nesting. USFWS says destroying the nest of a bird the Migratory Bird Treaty Act protects, while it holds eggs or nestlings, needs federal authorization; the Act does not cover starlings, house sparrows or rock pigeons. More on the bird removal page

Does the time of day tell you which animal it is?

Only partly. Federal species references give the hours some attic animals keep. The National Park Service says flying squirrels are nocturnal and gray squirrels are commonly seen in daylight. The Forest Service describes red squirrels as active by day and raccoons as typically nocturnal, and an EPA pest-management module says mice and rats are active at night. Most bats come out at dusk to feed, USFWS says. The Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management’s pages on tree squirrels, raccoons, house mice and bats go into more detail.

A schedule is a hint, not an answer. A noise near a wall can come from an animal that got in somewhere else: Washtenaw County’s health department says bats or mice can enter through the basement or crawl space and sometimes climb inside a wall up to the attic. Scratching inside a wall is covered on the animals in the walls page.

Does the season change what is in the attic?

It can. Federal agencies give these seasons:

  • Bats: USFWS puts the maternity season at typically May 15 to August 15 and says exclusions should never happen during it. It also says little brown bat maternity colonies are commonly in warm spots in buildings, such as attics, and that the young fly at about four weeks.
  • Raccoons: the Forest Service says raccoons mate from January to March, with a peak in February, and generally have one litter a year.
  • Squirrels: the Forest Service says female fox squirrels come into heat in mid-December or early January and again in June, with most births in mid-March and July. The National Park Service says gray squirrels have one or two litters a year, depending on food.
  • Mice: the National Park Service says rodents start looking for a way into buildings as cold weather sets in, and house mice can breed indoors all year.

Tell the operator when the noise started.

What should you not do before you know what it is?

  • Do not seal the opening yet. Close it while an animal is inside and it, or its young, is shut in. For bats, the CDC warns that bat-proofing between May and August can trap young bats inside, and the Forest Service’s guidance is to close bat entry points only when the bats are absent.
  • Do not handle a bat. The CDC says to avoid touching bats, whose bites can be too small to notice, and MDHHS reports that bats are the animal most often found with rabies in Michigan.
  • Do not sweep or vacuum rodent droppings. The CDC warns that this can put droplets containing viruses into the air.

When you call, the most useful things to say are when the noise happens, where in the house it is loudest, what you have seen outside, and how long it has been going on.

Common questions

What is scratching in my ceiling at night?

Several attic animals are active at night, so the noise alone rarely settles it. The National Park Service says flying squirrels are nocturnal, the EPA says mice and rats are active at night, and the Forest Service describes raccoons as typically nocturnal. Look for droppings, gnawed holes or shredded nesting material, and photograph what you find for the call.

Why do I hear noises in the attic during the day?

Daytime noise fits the squirrels that are out by day: the National Park Service says gray squirrels are commonly seen in daylight, and the Forest Service describes red squirrels as active by day. That does not rule out other animals. If the sound is near the roof, watch the roofline at dusk, when the CDC suggests watching where bats leave to find how they get in.

Can you tell the animal from its droppings?

Sometimes. The CDC describes raccoon feces as dark and tubular with a pungent odor, left in shared spots called latrines. The Forest Service lists guano and insect parts under eaves among the signs of bats, and ICWDM’s bat damage identification guide describes bat droppings. Photograph droppings for the call rather than sweeping them up.

Official sources

Each rule and figure on this page comes from one of these pages, read on the date given. Agency guidance is described as guidance; it is not presented as law.

Michigan DNR pages

Linked for further reading. This page does not quote them or rely on them for its facts.

Accuracy and corrections

Last reviewed
, by Local Core Group, which runs this site
How pages are made
How this site's pages are written and checked
Sources
All sources and the dates they were read: sources page

This page is general information for Michiganders, not legal advice. Rules are taken from the agency that publishes them and linked to its own page; agency guidance is labeled as guidance, not law. Rules and guidance change, so check the linked page, the DNR or your local health department before acting on anything time-sensitive.

Corrections. If a rule, number or contact here is out of date, point to the agency page that shows it through the request form or by calling 616-512-2425. Each correction is checked against the source, and the page is dated when it changes.

Request help with an attic animal

When it happens, where in the house, and what you have seen outside. Your call routes by ZIP to an independent wildlife control operator where one covers your address, and that operator settles price and timing with you. Where none does, it comes to Local Core Group, which runs this site.

Call 616-512-2425 Send a request