Wall or soffit
Noise in a wall is usually a route, not a home.
Cavities connect. What sounds like an animal in the wall is often an animal passing through the wall on its way to a roof space.
Soffit and stud cavities form continuous vertical runs from the roofline to the foundation. Squirrels, rats, and occasionally flying squirrels use them as corridors; bats roost in the narrow gap behind cladding. The wall is rarely the destination.
What you are hearing
Scratching that moves vertically over a few seconds is travel. Persistent scratching in one spot, day after day, is a nest or an animal that has fallen and cannot climb out. Squeaking and rustling at dusk, with no daytime noise, suggests bats.
What to do
- 01Locate the activity by time of day and direction of travel before opening anything.
- 02Inspect the exterior for the entry point; it is almost always higher than you expect.
- 03Do not cut into the wall until you know what is inside and whether young are present.
- 04For bats, wait for the maternity season to end — mid-August onward in Georgia — then exclude with a one-way device.
- 05For a trapped animal, open the smallest possible access from the interior and let it leave on its own.
What not to do
- Do not seal an entry in spring or summer without confirming there are no young.
- Do not use glue boards or poison inside a cavity.
- Do not exclude bats during the maternity season; flightless pups are left inside.
Stopping it happening again
- Screen every soffit, ridge, and gable vent with half-inch hardware cloth.
- Fit chew-proof collars where cables and pipes penetrate the envelope.
- Keep gutters clear; standing water rots the fascia that lets everything in.
When to call someone licensed
Bats, any opening of the building envelope, and anything you cannot identify by sound. Bat exclusion is specialist work with a legal season.
Find a rehabilitatorUnderstand the animal
Bats in a wall are a colony of insect predators the size of a matchbox, and they are protected for good reason.