We’ve discovered a squirrel in the house.
Furry. Brown. Bastard.
I’d heard noises behind the entertainment center a few nights ago, but figured it was the cat.
This morning, my oldest informs me she saw a large tail. My immediate thoughts go to rat. (And while it’s not out of the question, I’ve never seen evidence of rats around here.) then she tells me it was large and fluffy, and she was pretty sure it was a squirrel.
Well, tonight I got confirmation, it is indeed a squirrel. I was out in the driveway talking to my sister on the phone when the damn thing ran up to the screen door and paced like it wanted out. I opened the door, but it ran behind my massive entertainment center.
I opened the door and sat out in the yard for a while hoping it would come out, and it did, about two feet, and two seconds, until the idiot next door with the loud exhaust went blasting out his drive.
So now we have this furry unwanted guest for another night. But it must go tomorrow.
Any suggestions? I’m going out of my head thinking I’m going to end up with a rodent parade at this point.
Using smoke, mirrors, and a fan it would not be hard to get the squirrel to believe he was being called to the promise land by Suirrel Jesus. (Seen here crushing an infidel)
Well, a Havahart trap would be ideal but I doubt you could find one tonight. If he’s still there tomorrow call your local Animal Control and see if they have any traps to loan out or rent.
Sounds like he somehow got trapped inside and wants to get out but is just too scared to leave the safety of the entertainment center. I suppose you could try a box with a small hole in it and throw some peanuts inside and see if you can lure him in and then take him outside but he may be too skittish.
Where’s your cat at during all this? Does your cat go outside? Could it have caught the squirrel and brought it inside then the squirrel managed to escape or the cat got bored?
You could try the leaving door open again, just make sure your cat isn’t nearby.
It is possible to catch a squirrel visitor in one’s hands without resorting to a trap. It helps to confine the animal to a small area, like the basement of a townhouse. Be sure to don some thick gloves before attempting this!
Wile E
Yeah, we were discussing tonight that if the bird seed smelled, we might have been able to lure him out with that. I know they can’t keep out of it outside.
Ah, the cat. He’s escaped, I’m awaiting to hear him wailing pitifully at the door any time now. The smallest of the three children seems determined to ‘liberate’ him. He’ll open the door and yell FREEDOM! And out the cat goes. No more Family Guy for the little one.
I’m also sending my husband up to the ‘attic’ to check if there was a way it could have gotten in there, and I’ll have to check all points around the house. I’m quite miffed as to how it got in though.
This seems harsh. What did squirrels ever do to you? The li’l dinkus sounds like he just wants to get back out again. Squirrels don’t drink blood, you know.
Or could it be that you are angry at something else, such as (for example) a cat that blatantly fails to live up to its rodent-catching responsibilities, and are projecting that anger onto an innocent squirrel?
A squirrel is a much cooler pet than a cat anyhow. Maybe this’ll give Tabby something to think about.
Harsh, maybe. But they’re hell to my garden. So I can imagine what kind of damage could potentially happen in the house.
Better them than the raccoons we had in the attic about ten years ago.
I for years told tales of having squirrels doing my dark bidding, and still enjoy them. But not in my house.
The cat was absolutely fascinated by the squirrel though. He catches mice and when outside he’d like to think he was a mighty bird hunter, but he’s not.
And if I thought I could safely keep the critter around, I would, just to blow my cat’s mind.
I had a squirrel break into my apartment last year.
My third floor apartment faces a creek and some tall trees that are home to dozens of squirrels. The furry pests show up on my deck frequently, hoping for a free meal. In the winter, they make their home in my ceiling, and I can hear them scampering around in the morning when I am trying to sleep.
It was hot last summer, and I had the habit of leaving the north-facing sliding door open with the screen closed to keep the bugs out. I was at work for the hottest part of the day, so I came home in the evening to a nice cool place. The usual routine was to sit at the computer first thing and check email, the dope, etc. One night, I sat down and saw various small brown pellets in front of the keyboard. Rodent poop… Crap.
I suspected I had a rodent-room-mate at one point in the past (dirty rat never paid his part of the rent), who confirmed his own existence when I found him dead in the living room one morning, so I was suspicious of another rat being in the apartment. But signs pointed to Squirrel when I found my screen door chewed through at the level of the desk (right next to the door) and a bag of pretzels that was chewed open at the bottom (I had left the pretzels on the coffee table the previous night).
I kept the door shut from then on, unless I was sitting at the desk and could stay on Squirrel watch. I had a visitor on my deck everyday, and no matter how many empty soda cans I threw at them, they kept coming back. One day I got careless and left the door open again, and I came home to a mess of crackers on my desk, some partially eaten (I was also careless about leaving food out. That would not happen again!).
It was time for me to fight back. In an act of pure animal cruelty, I decided to soak one of those crackers in bleach and leave it out on the deck. Next day, the cracker was gone, and I didn’t see a squirrel at my door for weeks… MUHAHAHAH!!!
That kid’s got a bright future! Sorry about the cat escaping, though.
When I was in grad school, a squirrel managed to get into one of the equipment rooms on the second floor. One day I was walking down the hall to get to one of the labs on that floor, and noticed that the equipment room door was closed, which was unusual. Someone had taped a note to the door: “Squirrel inside. Door closed, window open. Maybe it’ll leave.”
If anyone’s interested, no the squirrel didn’t leave, at least not for quite some time. As it turned out, one of my dumbass lab mates was feeding it.
