How to tell what's in your Chattanooga attic without guessing from a YouTube clip.

The internet will diagnose a raccoon from a ZIP code. Your house needs better. Time of day, the sound, the hole, and the droppings get you close. Then someone still has to look at the entry.

Time of day

• Daytime running and rolling: often squirrels
• Dusk and dawn flutter: often bats (or birds in a chimney)
• Night thumps: often raccoons
• Light scratching in walls at night: often rats or mice

Mixed timing is why the quiz sometimes says "unsure." That is honest.

Sounds

Light scratch vs heavy walk matters. Chewing on wood is squirrel or rodent. Wings are not feet. A cry in a chimney in spring can be young raccoons. Do not stick a camera where an animal can reach your face.

Droppings and damage

Rice-sized pellets: rodents, sometimes bats. Larger tubular droppings: raccoon territory. Guano staining and a sharp ammonia smell under a ridge: think bats. Torn vents and ripped fascia: raccoon or a determined squirrel. Insulation nests: squirrels love that.

What not to do

Do not seal a hole you can still hear. Do not poison an attic. Do not smoke a chimney. Do not assume mothballs are a method.

Next step

Take the attic animal quiz, then request a quote. If a bat is in living space, say that first.