know this looks long but if you can offer any advice / help it would probably save my sanity. If you could just give me an honest opinion as to possibly rats or possibly going mad (either) I will be truly grateful.
I started hearing noises in the loft some weeks ago. But my husband who is a sound sleeper never did so I let it go. I haven't seen a rat or (i think come across droppings (in house) but there's a lot of noise under the floorboards and our two dogs will suddenly be madly sniffing and pawing at the floor and suddenly we seem to be gaps appearing between skirting and door frames and round plug sockets. But we have puppies who chew but then i saw some foot/paw/claw prints at the dogs drinking bowl that were too big for mice but too small to be the dogs.
My husband doesn't agree and in a bid to stop me going on about it called out council.
He basically came, asked why I thought it was rats and then without looking in in any of the places I thought there were signs (including what seems to be a tunnel running from shed to our house) proceeded to tell me why it wasn't rats. I felt like a fool on being asked "So where do you think they can actually get in your house?" I thought you would tell me that or at least have a quick look for common entry points. Had he made some effort to give a toss he would have told us that an old iron downpipe with no cap on makes rats inside much more of a real possibility. I only found out because i thought well he's the ratman and he says no, i thought it must be the madness...
But...today i decided to dig up an old tree stump at the back of the garden. Got stuck in with a sledge hammer and shovel to discover there was a hollow area round the stump where the earth had been dug out.. On slicing out big bit of earth it looked like two tunnels going under the fence and into a bramble, unkept strip between our house and our nieghbours house. Wild but not a dump or where rubbish or waste is kept.
As soon as i stared on the tree stump the dogs went mental. seemed to be a lots of rustling at the pampas grass, the wall at the shed and at my palm plant. The Dogs were constantly running to these places and barking and growling and would not settle.
I carried on and when i was digging down it felt that there was like a powdery dust coming off it. What would old and recent rat poo dug up from the earth look like? Would I be able to tell?
Then on closer inspection there are holes all over the lawn. quite small but many. The ones I've found are mainly round the edge of what we used to call a lawn but is now just a muddy mess.
Our shed at the back of the garden seems to be literally falling down yet still I can't convince my husband that we might have a problem never mind a serious one. We have (as to do our neighbours) large cracks appearing in all rooms along ceiling joins and door frames and we don't suffer subsidence!!!!
Should I be right to be concerned or am I overreacting...all help and comments appreciated.
:confuse d:
freaking out..rats in loft/house and garden? 
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