Squirrels, Squirrels, Squirrels!!!!!

I thought our problems with the critters were over but not the case. Apparently they are quite a nuisance in this part of the world. I just got off the phone with animal control to see what the policies are in this area regarding catching and getting rid of them....

The only plus to this whole thing is that we think we know how they are getting in....so the trick is to get them out and then screen up the hole that they are using....

As you know, I heard them a while back and we had to go up in the attic on a cold wintery day to get them out. J was able to scare them and they left and we didn't hear from them for quite sometime. I would hear them on the roof once in a while but that is to be expected, I think....

Anyhow, lately, when on the computer, I have started hearing them again, only not as loud (which is probably why I thought they were gone). So for three days now, I have been making trips up into the attic and of course they are making noise at the farthest point from the attic entry. So I have to make my way across the entire attic on the two by fours with a flashlight to see if I can scare them out....turns out, they aren't just in the attic, they are in the wall.

This morning I was up there around 6am right after J left for work and I put a radio up there to scare them. I didn't hear them anymore and I figured I got it out of the house, but while I was up there, I could hear it running for its life. This made me suspicious of the walls. So later this morning, I hear them again while I am on the computer. The radio is not very loud so I think they must have knocked it over or something. I go up there, this time with a stick, gloves and a flashlight. I get over to the end and I start banging around and I can hear scurrying....I decide to lift up the insulation in one spot and I see a little nose looking out at me....I start yelling at it, and banging the stick all over trying to get it out. This does not work.

So I start looking a bit closer and it seems that they got down between the brick wall and the two by fours that frame the interior of the house. They chewed a hole in the plywood that is a barrier between the brick and the insulation in the walls....they have nice little nest in there I am sure.

So I came back down, and called animal control...so you are caught up...

The guy told me that you can catch them and release them without any problems here. You can also kill them but I don't know if I can do that.....the recommended way is to dump the live trap in a garbage can filled with water....yuck...anyhow, I am all for releasing them (this has it downsides as well according to the web). In my research they say that they will not make friends in the new location but I am okay with that. Their social life is not my worry and I don't want to kill them if I don't have to.

I think they are getting in around this ventalation fan that we have in the roof that only runs when it gets hot up there. Otherwise it is a perfect open door. I plan to hit the Lowes here in a few minutes to get a trap (live one) and some chickenwire so I can screen that vent off after we are sure they are all out. The guy said on the phone that he deals with it constantly because they eat holes in his house everytime he fixes it and he relocates them as well. It is apparently only a winter problem so if worse comes to worse, we can cover the vent when it gets warmer, but I would like them out of there, now. They are causing damage and they can be a fire hazard because they chew on wires...not to mention a dead squirrel in the wall can't smell too good right????

Such is my life, if it is not one thing, it is another....