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Found some kind of animal dropping in attic. Should I call the pro or try myself

Found some kind of animal dropping in attic. Should I call the pro or try myself


  #1  
Old 04-19-17, 06:40 AM
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Found some kind of animal dropping in attic. Should I call the pro or try myself

I recently noticed several dropping on the wooden platform where my a/c pan and unit is residing. They are dark like long (1/8 of a inch) droppings. I didn't notice them anywhere else in the attic mainly in that elevated area.

Not sure how to identify what type of animal these dropping are from. I can post pictures. Should I start with placing moth balls and mice traps around or just call a professional pest control?
 
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Old 04-19-17, 06:53 AM
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Your description points to Bats; but a picture would help.

As a Real Estate Broker, I'd often examine attics, and it was interesting to shine a flashlight up into the rafters and see a few hundred up-side-down eyealls starring back at me.

Bats are good . . . . but not inside !
 
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Old 04-19-17, 07:22 AM
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How can you tell it's bats? I read bat droppings usually are on walls.

I'll post pictures tonight. My house is fairly new and the attic is clean but every time I go up there I'm afraid of what I'll find.
 
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Old 04-19-17, 08:52 AM
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Originally Posted by surfer949
". . . How can you tell it's bats? . . ."
I don't know; it's the process of elimination.

Their guano is usually concentrated below where they sleep. Mouse dung is scattered all over the place because they have no control over their bowels.

Rats produce a bigger stool, and it's not deposited all over because they have the opportunity to exercise discretion over where they leave it.

I never heard that bats defecate horizontally or that their excrement adheres to walls; I've only seen it on horizontal surfaces, including the roof and hood of my car "outside".

If you find that it is bats, then I've had success in blocking access to the belfry or attic during the night while they're out hunting; and when they return and can't get back in, they'll go elsewhere.

Mothballs work on moths; I doubt that they're effective against many species of bats. Mouse traps would work if they traveled on the floor . . . . but they don't (and what would you bait them with, they eat mosquitoes and other nocturnal flying bugs) ?

Identifying the source of the droppings will still be the first step . . . . it may be something else. Watching your eaves or roof vents at dusk is one way to identify the source as bats . . . . you can see their profiles exiting the attic sleeping quarters at dusk on their way to work hunting bugs.

Here in Vermont, we have some services that provide for the humane capture and relocation of bats; they sell them to people who enjoy having a natural form of bug control. I've used them a few times to de-bat some dwellings that I've had for sale.
 
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Old 04-19-17, 09:03 AM
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The odds are bats wouldn't be in the attic of a fairly new house but it still is a good idea to make sure there are no opening for them to squeeze thru. I've seen bat quano on siding before, directly below where they have roosted - usually just below a gable vent.
 
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Old 04-19-17, 10:32 AM
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I like to identify what I'm dealing with before I but out anything that will change their habits. You know at least one location where they seem to return frequently. My guess is a squirrel as they will sit on an exposed ledge and look around. mice or fats try to stay in the shadows. If you can get a few small pine cones place them close to where you are finding the droppings to see if they take it. A squirrel might but a mouse shouldn't. Apples slices are good also. A mouse would eat them where they are but a squirrel would remove them to eat elsewhere.

If you end up suspecting a squirrel make sure your trap will work the first time, no escape if a live trap. Once they escape it is very hard to fool them a second time.

Bud
 
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Old 04-19-17, 11:30 AM
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Ok I'm looking online at pictures of squirrel and rat poo and I'm loosing my appetite. I'll take pics tonight and post.
 
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Old 04-19-17, 12:14 PM
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Since your appetite is already ruined I'll add that mice are not necessarily indiscriminate at where they go poo. Rats may be similar, but for sure mice will locate a remote spot indoors for much of their bathroom needs. There will still be lots of droppings all over the place but those remote potty spots are nasty.

The squirrels I have dealt with have always had access to the outside so never encountered one establishing an indoor potty. But mice, euck!!

Bud
 
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Old 04-19-17, 01:01 PM
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I didn't know that this was a "new" house; but I've seen bats in 200 year old houses and also in 6 month old new'ish houses; vacant houses, or occupied houses . . . . they don't mind. Any nice dry place to get out of the sun and/or rain will be okay with them; new or old, they don't discriminate.
 
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Old 04-19-17, 01:09 PM
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from post #3 .............................
My house is fairly new and the attic is clean
 
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Old 04-20-17, 11:38 AM
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here are pics of the droppings

Up close.. yak
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Locations where I found them. I did not find droppings anywhere else. Total 15 to 20 droppings.
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  #12  
Old 04-21-17, 03:47 PM
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I think it is a small specie of squirrel, maybe chipmunk and possibly flying squirrel.

Search for red squirrel droppings and see what comes up. I tried to attach but it came out way to small.
 

Last edited by PAbugman; 04-21-17 at 03:48 PM. Reason: pic wasn’t helpful
 

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