Valley residents, when you hear something spooky coming from your attic, it probably isn't a ghost.
It's more likely to be a roof rat.
According to the pest experts at Terminix, three Phoenix suburbs had the “honor” of making the list of top 10 U.S. cities with a roof rat problem; Gilbert, Scottsdale and Tempe.
“Roof rats often stay out of sight, but there may still be warning signs of an infestation,” says Paul Curtis, entomologist and manager of technical services with Terminix.
“They’re most active at night, and homeowners with roof rats often report hearing them moving overhead after dark, as well as finding droppings and smudge marks from oil or dirt in their attic.”
Terminix recommends keeping wood, stone and other debris as far from your foundation as possible, use steel wool or wire mesh-reinforced sealant along holes or cracks larger than a quarter inch, and install a thick weather stripping along the bottoms of doors to keep them from entering.
Zoom out on the map below to see which cities in the U.S. made the top 10.
