shed22
I have a similar story. Sort of.
Shortly after buying my home, I thought I had rats in the attic. Could hear them scratching and shuffling above my bed at night and in the early morning. Similar hours to yours.
I hired an exterminator after I couldn’t take it any longer. Upon arriving, the exterminator handed me an informational on Wild Asian Jungle Roof Rats with a long story of their arrival and settling in to the Puget Sound territory.
The guy checked out both attic and crawlspace. He claimed there was evidence of rats, but primarily in the crawlspace. Nothing much up in the attic, despite my original concerns. He set up baits and traps in both areas, had me sign a 1 year contract, and left.
Night after night, the scratching continued and was getting increasingly louder. I was convinced an attic full of Wild Asian Jungle Roof Rats were trying to eat their way through my ceiling. I stopped sleeping in the bedroom out of fear that they would one night break through the wall and scramble on me while I slept.
Upon my urging, the exterminator came back. He checked out the spot above my bed, but there was nothing in the trap. He claimed he saw little footprints in the insulation and theorized that the rat was actually trapped in the wall and would soon die. He set more traps to appease me and left.
By this time, it had been three weeks. I imagined a whole family of rats trapped in the wall, scratching and eating, eating and scratching their way through the wall and onto my face.
A friend thought the rat hypothesis wasn’t holding up and asked, “Are you sure it isn’t bees?”. I wasn’t sure. Hadn’t actually thought about it and it certainly wasn’t brought up by the exterminator. That day, right before dusk, I checked out the exterior. Sure enough, wasps (not bees) were streaming in and out of the eaves above my bedroom.
The exterminator came back and eliminated the wasp nest that had made it’s way to the space above my bed.
So, while it may be squirrels or raccoon or Wild Asian Jungle Roof Rats, it may also be bees or wasps.
Examine the exterior around dawn or dusk. This is the time they leave or return to the hive in high numbers, therefore easier to spot.
Good luck.