Animal in my wall?

Question

there is SOMETHING alive in the wall. There is a sound coming from the wall that shares wall space with a closet and laundry room. Maybe a mouse?

What is the best way to get rid of it?

Answer 1

You need to find how it got in there move things around in the other rooms, look for a very tiny hole. Or you can check  your attic to see if it snuck in and fell from there. I would suggest calling the local pest control guy. If you happen to see it and it's a larger animal you can call the ASPCA, and they are free! Good luck and be careful!

Answer 2

I actually used to do this for a living in Austin TX.

It could be a lot of things-a rat, mouse, bird, squirrel,  just about anything that is small enough to fit in the space. I would cut a hole in the wall above the space about 6 x 6 inches and use a flashlight and a mirror to find out what I was dealing with.

A rat or mouse got a snap trap lowered on a string. Anything else was live trapped by opening another hole lower (where the animal could get out) and covering the hole with a wire cage-type trap.

I will also will admit to closing all the doors in a house and opening just a path to the outside. Then we got a couple of brooms, opened the wall and played "squirrel hockey" for about 15 minutes!

A hint: cut the hole with a sheet rock saw-they make a small one that comes to a point that you can jab through the wall. It only cost 5-6 dollars. Cut the hole with a bevel so that the outside edges of the hole are larger than the edges inside of the wall. You can then fix the hole easily. Just use joint compound on the edges and stick it back in the wall. When it drys, float and patch as normal.