Awful scratching noise under the sink freaking me out

[Anonymous]

Hoping it’s just mice, but I can’t stand hearing it. The cat is going insane.

I’ll be calling an exterminator in the morning, but any tips for tonight? don’t even want to go back in the kitchen. I’m an empty nester home alone…except for rodent intruders apparently.

[Anonymous]

Can you close the cat in the kitchen, open the cupboard and see what happens?

[Anonymous]

If it is loud - it is a rat or other animal- mice are quiet. We just had a big old rat come through our crawl space and banding behind kitchen cabinets- called the pest control guys- put traps and caught him.

[Anonymous]

Racoon. Put something heavy over the cabinet

[Anonymous]

Close off the kitchen for the cat's sake (so maybe it won't go quite as nuts all night long) and call an exterminator the minute they open in the morning. OP, not trying to scare you, but be aware, if you hear mice they are not just in one spot; they tend to move around inside walls. If you have an attic, it's highly possible they are nesting up there, especially if your attic insulation isn't recent and isn't laced with anti-rodent stuff (borax--harmless to people but mice won't nest in insulation treated with borax). When we had a mouse infestation, we ended up having the whole attic re-insulated and many small holes plugged. Expensive but worth it.

Any good exterminator is not going to come in, mess around in one cabinet, and say they're done. They should figure out where they're nesting and/or how they're getting in and out of the house. They may not ever really leaveit. You'll need to check the whole house for rodent droppings and see if they've nibbled on boxes and bags in the pantry, etc. They move around and can fit through a hole the size of a pencil eraser. Hate to say all that but I've been there.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't leave a kitty alone with a rat. A rat is big enough to do some damage. Remove everything under the sink, and place a baited rat zapper in the cabinet.

[Anonymous]

posted above -- mice can be silent but also can scratch audibly at times. We heard them when the house was silent at night (I know, yikes.) But yeah, if it's really loud, OP, it could be a rat or even something larger. Be sure the doors to that cabinet are blocked with something very heavy tonight.

[Anonymous]

Squirrel?

[Anonymous]

Bird

I had a bird somehow come inside my wall in an interior room. For hours upon hours it was scratching and banging against the wall. Eventually, it stopped. I am sure that it died there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it is loud - it is a rat or other animal- mice are quiet. We just had a big old rat come through our crawl space and banding behind kitchen cabinets- called the pest control guys- put traps and caught him.

OP here. This is what I’m afraid of. I also have a crawl space.

I haven’t heard it lately. I have a heavy cat tree, ironically , against the cabinet door. I actually had a couple mouse traps under there from an an issue couple years ago, but I sprang them during the cold snap last month so I could keep the cabinet door open to keep the pipes from freezing in case the cat decided to go in.

I’m going to take my one remaining Xanax from a small prescription I got for my fear of flying in turbulence and try to get some sleep. I kind of doubt the pest company will send someone tomorrow, but I can hope.

[Anonymous]

Mouse. Just use a snap trap and be done or use a have a heart trap and drown it.

[Anonymous]

OMG, I'm sorry. This is freaking me out and I'm not even in your house.

[Anonymous]

OP, call the exterminator right away and keep calling until you find someone. Be as persistent and as polite as possible. We had this happen twice. One time was when we were doing construction on our house while a much larger construction project was under way nearby in our neighborhood: our dog went crazy in our kitchen after dinner, pawing frantically @ the area under the refrigerator. The contractor had his crew set some large rodent traps in the crawl space under our kitchen. The next night DH and one of the guys opened the space. DH basically screamed as the dead rat was as big as a raccoon!

The other time I found some fallen jars on the floor of the pantry. Assumed it was my kids then saw some bite marks in some different flour bags and realized this was bigger than a mouse. Finally found an exterminator that would come that day. He set some traps and came back the next day - bingo! - another big rat!

GL!

[Anonymous]

It’s a rat. Ours got in through the crawlspace, climbed up the pipes and actually chewed through the drywall under the sink. Was eating out of our trashcan.

Just get a couple rat traps and you’re good to go.

[Anonymous]

Mice are quieter
It’s definitely a rat. Gross OP
Good luck!