Mysterious rustling and banging in my chimney

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Dynamite Ringo Matsuri

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There's been some intermittent loud banging and rustling noises for a few hours now which I've tracked to my chimney. It's pretty late now so I can't call animal control, anyone deal with something like this before? What did turn the noise out to be?
 
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
There's been some intermittent loud banging
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I had this happen once before too.

Little did I know this subtle rustling noise would turn out to be the most terrifying adventure of my life. It was aliens, and they came down and kidnapped me and ....well....I don't want to talk about the rest.
 
If it's an animal in there, there's a small chance it may be stuck.

Dealing it with it via animal control while it's alive is better than dealing with the smell when it dies.
 
Well I don't want to open up the chimney in the event that the animal tumbles down all disoriented and freaked out. I wouldn't know how to remove it from the premises, and I don't want rabies or something if it bites me :/

Joe Shlabotnik said:
GAF POSSUM THREAD 2013

You have a lot to live up to, OP.
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I knew someone was gonna bring that up lol
 
Nah I put my head next to the chimney and it's rustling around in there in the chimney flue(?). It seems I can slide a lever and whatever's stuck in there could come tumbling out. Strange thing is that I don't hear any chirping or cooing or anything. Nothing that would help me identify what kind of animal it is
 
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
Well I don't want to open up the chimney in the event that the animal tumbles down all disoriented and freaked out. I wouldn't know how to remove it from the premises, and I don't want rabies or something if it bites me :/
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Does it sound like it's on top of the flue? If so you might not even be able to get it open anyhow depending on how big your chimney is and how big your new friend is. You'll probably need to call a professional. If you're in the US animal control in a lot of places doesn't even handle residential intrusions of small animals. Look up pest management services in the phonebook and you'll hopefully find one that works on weekends that could come out and extricate your chimney-bound buddy and probably give you an estimate on sealing up your chimney so it doesn't happen again.

Pest management places usually don't let you keep whatever varmints they find, though, so if you've already got a name picked out and everything you'll probably have to DIY it.
 
I've had a bird in there once, opened the hatch and it flew out eventually (of course getting soot all over the room)
 
ixix said:
Does it sound like it's on top of the flue? If so you might not even be able to get it open anyhow depending on how big your chimney is and how big your new friend is. You'll probably need to call a professional. If you're in the US animal control in a lot of places doesn't even handle residential intrusions of small animals. Look up pest management services in the phonebook and you'll hopefully find one that works on weekends that could come out and extricate your chimney-bound buddy and probably give you an estimate on sealing up your chimney so it doesn't happen again.

Pest management places usually don't let you keep whatever varmints they find, though, so if you've already got a name picked out and everything you'll probably have to DIY it.
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Yeah if I look through the grating I can see the flue and it's probably right there cause the rustling seems to originate from that exact spot. Was afraid you'd say that about animal control. I'll probably call first thing tomorrow morning and see what they say.
 
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
Yeah if I look through the grating I can see the flue and it's probably right there cause the rustling seems to originate from that exact spot. Was afraid you'd say that about animal control. I'll probably call first thing tomorrow morning and see what they say.
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Most critters really just want to get out of your house with a quickness, so if it's really bothering you and you can get the flue open you could try opening an exterior door and sealing off all interior doors that don't lead directly from the fireplace to fresh air. Then if you open the flue your spelunking pal will, with a bit of luck, barrel straight from your fireplace to the great outdoors as soon as it gets its bearings.

Or it might duck under a couch or something, refuse to come out, and you'll have yourself a new housemate. Either or. Good to have a contingency plan in that case. I usually name 'em after Native American tribes when that happens. My next one's going to be called Wampanoag, but you can feel free to use it if you want.
 
That's basically what I'm afraid of, is the animal taking up residence in my house, the way the house is, the chimney is in the living room which leads directly to the kitchen and the staircase is directly across from it. I can't barricade the kitchen so it's got a few avenues to scramble towards if it does bolt. Its getting late too and I'm in no mood to chase a squirrel or a pigeon around the house :/
 
TemplaerDude said:
Ok, fine, if you suck that much at using your chimney like a responsible adult, then yes, don't light any fires. If you can properly add and subtract up to double digits though, go for it.
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Something could be blocking the chimney which could lead to a chimney fire and the whole house burning down, but I'm sure you knew that.
 
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
That's basically what I'm afraid of, is the animal taking up residence in my house, the way the house is, the chimney is in the living room which leads directly to the kitchen and the staircase is directly across from it. I can't barricade the kitchen so it's got a few avenues to scramble towards if it does bolt. Its getting late too and I'm in no mood to chase a squirrel or a pigeon around the house :/
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Even if it decides to hunker down it'll probably vamoose within a few hours if you can leave the door open and don't do anything to freak it out. If leaving the exterior door open for a while isn't an option you can pick up live traps for outdoor animals at most any hardware store, bait them, then leave them lying in places that would be attractive to varmints. Chances are good that if it's been stuck in a chimney for a while it'll beeline for the food in fairly short order if you just give it some peace and quiet, then you can just take it outside. You'll have to be careful to secure any possible alternate food supplies in that case, especially if it'll have access to the kitchen.

Going the DIY path is pretty heavily dependent on how comfortable you are with the prospect of having to share your house with a wild animal for a while, though. It's doubtful that it would take more than a few hours for a critter to either leave or get trapped, but if a few hours is more time than you can stomach sharing your domicile with a feral roomie then the whole idea's pretty much a non-starter anyway.
 
Tomorrow is three king's day (it's like Santa but for cool people)so it's probably that. Don't forget to gather grass for the camels!
 
So the saga continues, trying to get the animal out now but my chimney is apparently clogged up with sticks and leaves. Been jabbing a stick up into the flue to clear the blockage. Whatever is in there, I can hear it purring or something, problem is, the opening in the chimney is really small so I don't know how the hell the animal is gonna crawl out :/

Now I've hit what appears to be a dead bird in there, damn thing won't budge :l

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Edit - dead squirrel was blocking the entrance :/

Continuing :l
 
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