Help needed

I need help from you pros, I have a elderly woman that has an unwelcome guest in her house and ased for my help to remedy the problem. I am stumped!Have been trying for most of a week to catch the varmit and have had no luck. Walked round the outside of her house to find no real holes of any size no holes in the roof line at all her chimmeny is sheeted with steel to the top. she tell me she can hear toenails on her floor that has no crpet on it and she says she can smell some kind of a sweet odor when it has been there and has never seen it during the daylight times. She tells me its most active during the night and now she is sleeping upstairs at night and closes the door leading there when she goes to bed. Any help would be very nice and this has me stuped also. We are in Mn. Many thanks to all that can shed some light on this.

Sometimes, it is the smelly soap that they use. REALLY!

If she's not crazy ( And believe me I've had customers that were ) the first traps I put down are those all metal live traps for mice, chipmunks, etc. I prefer them because if I'm wrong and it's something larger, the trap won't disappear.

I wish I had a dollar for every customer who told me it was too loud for mice but that's exactly what it was. If it really is larger I'll then put down a squirrel trap and then a raccoon trap and then finally a dinosaur trap, which is what they wanted in the first place.

The woman had mouse traps out before she called me, and caught no mice, this aint a joke! Have had the squirrel trap there for the past week have used differant things in it and nothing. I have crawled aroung her house lookin for hole scat and mouse or rat crap see nothing, its not like I dont know what I'm lookin for and it hard to tell the widow of a cop shes nuts. put down the sticky traps round the edges last night. as for real advise NOT gettin much here.

I would put a trail cam in the area where she is hearing the noise.

And if you don't have a trail-cam, I often used talcum powder to figure out what was going on.

Are you sure it is actually in the room and not in the walls?

Sounds like imagination. Perhaps hvac....or vinyl siding blowing in the wind.

Any bushes/tree branches rubbing in the wind? use the Talcum Powder/Flour trick.

Normally, you can tell on the first visit if there is a real problem or not. Critters coming and going leave sign where they travel.

Look for openings around the roof line and soffit. Bats, squirrels, coons, possums and nearly all critters will leave dark smudges and/or scratches where they enter and exit. Next check for holes in the siding. Look for these same smudges and scratches anywhere you find a hole quarter size or larger. Go up in the attic and look for trails through the insulation and look droppings along these trails and the floor. Also check around attic vents and fans for these same signs that we've mentioned. Around windows and doors that may not seal tight Check for old snake sheds. Check the chimney for caps and/or screens. If it's completely open, check for travel sign in and on it. Don't forget to check the crawl space thoroughly for tracks and other sign. And BE SURE to check for pet doors. If her dog or cat can come and go as they please, then so can other critters.

After checking every single possibility of entry and finding nothing, and no pictures on the game camera, if she's still hearing things, then you may have to turn to unethical tricks.

I once had a lady who swore that something was in her house at night and I could not convince her otherwise. Finally, and I have never admitted this, but after a couple weeks of frustration, I brought a live possum with me, didn't let her see it until AFTER I brought it back out from under her house. I put him back on the truck, she thanked me, wrote me a check and has not heard anything since.

Sometimes, you just need to give the hypochondriac his placebo.

The possum? Oh. I brought him back to the house and released it unharmed where I got it from. Please don't tell NOBODY I done this!