Five things you can hear from a chair, without going anywhere near a roof space. Between them they identify the species and often the elevation.
One: it happens in daylight
The decisive one. Grey squirrels are diurnal, rats and mice are not, and that is biology rather than habit. Heavy noise in the first hours after first light and again in the late afternoon, with quiet through the small hours, is a squirrel. Noise starting as the house goes quiet in the evening is not.
Two: it is heavy
Thumps rather than scratching. A grey squirrel weighs around half a kilogram and lands on plasterboard with a void beneath it, which is a drum — so one animal sounds like something far larger. Almost everybody says the same thing: it sounds too big to be a squirrel.
Three: it stops dead
Squirrels move in short purposeful bursts and then stop completely. Two to four seconds of running, then absolute silence. That pattern is quite different from the continuous low-level scurrying of rodents, and it is one of the more reliable tells.
Four: something rolls
A noise like a marble being pushed across the ceiling. It confuses everybody and it is nearly always a cached nut or acorn being moved into position. Nothing else that gets into a roof space produces it, which makes it close to conclusive on its own — particularly in autumn.
Five: coarse gnawing
Rhythmic rasping, often for minutes at a time, and noticeably heavier than the fine nibbling of a mouse. This is the sound that actually costs money, and where it comes from is worth noting carefully: gnawing always in the same place is either the entry point or a damage site.
Daylight plus rolling plus coarse gnawing is a squirrel and nothing else. Those three together settle it without anybody going into a loft or up a ladder.
Write the times down
Date, time, which room, what kind of noise, how long. Three days of that is the single most useful thing a household can produce, and reading four or five entries out on the phone settles the species and usually the elevation in about a minute.
The sounds that are not an animal
Pipes ticking with the heating; timber cracking on a warm afternoon; a loose aerial cable or a lifted tile in wind; a ball valve refilling. All four make noise and none of them travels. A sound that starts at one point and finishes at another is an animal.
Questions
Could one squirrel really be that loud?
Yes. The ceiling is doing most of the work — a thin board over a void is effectively a drum.
What if it goes quiet for days?
Ordinary. Activity varies with weather and season, and a gap does not mean the roof is empty.
Is squeaking a squirrel?
It can be young, typically spring or late summer. Worth mentioning, because it affects the timing of the work.
Squirrel Control Mildenhall
Squirrel control in Mildenhall is £280 fixed cost. Proofing work, where it is needed afterwards, is £180. Call 01502 630 122 and tell us what you have heard or seen.
For squirrel control in Mildenhall, call 01502 630 122, or read the Mildenhall squirrel control page.