Evicting a squirrel . . . have you done it?

[Deleted]

Even though our chimney has a cap, a squirrel went under it and down the chimney into the fireplace. We have glass and metal doors so he couldn't get into the house.

It's Labor Day so there was no one to call. So I looked it up on the internet (there are directions for everything on there).

Suggestion 1: Climb on the roof and drop a knotted rope down the chimney for him to climb up. Yeah, like me or my 69-year-old DH are going to do that.

Suggestion 2: Make the room dark, open a door, and he will go for the light.

We didn't entirely trust "Suggestion 2" so we built a tunnel for him out of cases of water, leftover plywood, a babygate, an upturned chair, and who-knows-what. I wish I had a picture. It was truly funny.

The squirrel eventually came out. He stood on the hearth to look around. I clapped my hands, he took a flying leap the length of our front porch and more, and left the premises.

Do you have an animal eviction story to tell? We are pleased that we didn't have to pay someone, but we were really worried that he would bolt. It is impossible to make our greatroom dark because it opens up to a loft and sunroom with lots of windows. We had to go for "darker."

[Jaguar]

I had to make a runway for the squirrel that got into my last apartment. Basically close everything off and scare it out the door.

[MarleyKeezy78]

At our old apt. we had a bat get in through the awesome 70's style gas fireplace and we had just settled down in bed. I kept seeing a shadow fly through the bathroom and fly back out. I told DH I thought something was in the apt. and he didn't believe me for little while till he finally saw it. You should have see us running around screaming and dropping to the floor evertime it swooped by us! We finally opened the sliding door and it left, but a few days later it came back for a second round No problems after that though ;D

Sneaky little thing

[Nazgul Girl]

I know that this really isn't the subject matter, but we've had a couple of tenants which turned into squirrels, and left before we had to evict them......

[mmhmm]

ROFL! My old Siamese, Charlie (passed away in 1994) was our man in charge of evictions. If anything got in, Charlie would catch it and carry it to the back door making these horrible, gutteral noises because his mouth was full and he couldn't meow. Somebody had to open the door for him to take the creature outside and release it. He evicted tree frogs, moles, a very young squirrel, palmetto bugs, and all sorts of other uninvited guests. Never hurt one of 'em.

[Deleted]

I had to make a runway for the squirrel that got into my last apartment. Basically close everything off and scare it out the door.

That's what we wanted to do, but there was too much stuff that can't be closed off.

Open floor plans are nice except when there is a squirrel to evict.

[Deleted]

I want a Charlie, mmhmm, but I'm guessing the cocker spaniel doesn't. She didn't help because she had to be put up and kept barking and scratching. It wasn't until DH joined her that we got her quiet enough so that the squirrel could come out.

Everyone knows, right, that squirrels are just rats with better PR?

[mmhmm]

I want a Charlie, too, susana! None of the cats we have now "do" bugs, or any other critter. They just sit around and watch 'em. Charlie was also a champion fly and moth catcher. I miss that ol' guy!

[weltschmerz]

You should have see us running around screaming and dropping to the floor evertime it swooped by us!
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Lol! What did you think a bat was going to do to you? They're harmless. I had a pet bat named Count Floyd. I kept throwing him off the balcony so he would build a life for himself in the wild, but he kept coming back, begging for McDonald's cheesesburgers.

[973beachbum]

Sept 3, 2012 16:20:51 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

You should have see us running around screaming and dropping to the floor evertime it swooped by us!
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Lol! What did you think a bat was going to do to you? They're harmless. I had a pet bat named Count Floyd. I kept throwing him off the balcony so he would build a life for himself in the wild, but he kept coming back, begging for McDonald's cheesesburgers.

Not that I am advocating doing anything to it in some parts of North America bats are the primary animal that transmits rabies to humans. In my area they aren't in the top 3 even and we had 3 people get scratched by bats that had rabies just in the past year.

◦Bats are the most common animals responsible for the transmission of human rabies in the United States, accounting for more than half of human cases since 1980 and 74% since 1990. Rabid bats have been reported in all states except Hawaii.

www.emedicinehealth.com/rabies/article_em.htm

[973beachbum]

We have a chimney with a critter cage thing on the top that is supposed to stop them from getting in it but we still get about 2 a year that end up in the insert. A few people here might remember my one thread, on EE, with the first one trying to get it out. There were lots of really helpful posts.

Our stock response not is to get on the roof. We are youngins at only 48. ;D That and the house is a rancher so it isn't exactly very high. We put a regular rope down it with the end tied around a small branch as a weight. Normally within 24 hours they have climed out.

[Peace Of Mind]

Evicting a squirrel . . . have you done it?

Yes, because ours are not paying their rent.

We are about to put a rodent sonic petchaser in our attic because they have been up there lately. We had to use them at our last place and they work great and the device doesn't bother our furbabies.

[TheOtherMe]

I was staying at my DS house while visiting for one of her son's high school graduations. We had a BBQ. Apparently two bats got in. Her wonderful cat Tasha got rid of one before we went to bed. I was sleeping on the couch in the lower level family room. I was sound asleep when the elderly Tasha started jumping all over the room and up the walls. I hollered for my BIL and Tasha was after a 2nd bat. BIL got it out, but Tasha sure was trying.

[KaraBoo]

About a year after moving into our house, DH had to go to a two week training class in another state. (Important to the story, because I was home alone!)

One day, I walked into the kitchen and the largest tree lizard I have ever seen in our area (at least a foot long from head to tail, if not longer) was sitting in front of my washing machine! I was not a happy camper! How would I get it out of the house without it running under the washer or the refrigerator?

I didn't want to make any noise and scare it, so I slipped out of the kitchen and got a bed sheet. Very slowly, I snuck back into the kitchen. We have a galley kitchen with our sink, long counter top, refrigerator and (at the time) washing machine in a long line. I quietly moved a chair in front of the sink and climbed onto the counter top. I then climbed on top of the refrigerator (yes, you read that right) and onto the washing machine. I unfolded the sheet and let it drape slowly down the washing machine and then flung it on top of the lizard.

He escaped my trap!!!!!

He ran into our garage area and I made another throw of the sheet (similar to a cast net throw) and somehow got him tangled up in the sheet. I carried the whole bundle outside and made another cast of the sheet, causing the ends to open up and the blanket to almost land flat. The lizard wasn't on top of the sheet, so I assumed he was underneath it. I ran up, grabbed a corner of the sheet and ran back to the porch.

The last sight I had of him was running up the nearest tree.

DH just looked at me and shook his head when I told him what happened while he was away! ;D

[MarleyKeezy78]

Sept 3, 2012 16:20:51 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

You should have see us running around screaming and dropping to the floor evertime it swooped by us!
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Lol! What did you think a bat was going to do to you? They're harmless. I had a pet bat named Count Floyd. I kept throwing him off the balcony so he would build a life for himself in the wild, but he kept coming back, begging for McDonald's cheesesburgers.

Snort! Cheeseburgers! I would pay to see that!!! ;D

ETA: I would totally love a pet bat, I think their cute! But since this one was wild I didn't want to take any chances

[Deleted]

We have caves in my area. We also have endangered long ear bats. Thousands of them. A lot for something we hear is endangered...

I have a love of them because they swarm the lights at night and eat all the bugs. However, we had one a few weeks ago that hung around on the garage during the day. That was a bit creepy, but when it sun hit it must have realized it was daytime and flew home.

The neighbors go scrape up the guano for the garden, but I will stick to using cow/horse poop. Much less chance of catching something nasty from breathing it... Ewww...

[happyhoix]

When we had squirrels in the attic we put a litter box with cat poops up there for a while.

No more squirrels.

[2kids10horses]

We had a skunk crawl up into the dryer vent. The way our laundry room is set up is the dryer vents down, and there was a flexible duct hung from the basement ceiling that crosses back under the floor to where it eventually turns back up then exits the house.

Well, I guess the critter guard fell off, and a skunk crawled in one night. My wife goes into the laundry room one night and hears strange scratching sounds coming from below, goes down and can see that "something" is in the flex pipe because it sags down. Takes a broom and taps on the flex pipe to get the animal to back up and get out, but he can't back up the vertical portion to get out. At this point we didn't know if it was raccoon, skunk, stray cat or 'possum.

We were afraid it would be skunk and climb up into the dryer and spray!

We finally removed the dryer, got an extra section of flexible dryer vent and attached to the hole in the floor, and hung the other end out the window in the laundry room. Then went to the basement and encouraged him to climb up and out. He eventually did, but wouldn't go up and out the window, So I crimped the flex pipe behind him. Then removed the flex pipe from the floor, and tossed it out the window! He still wouldn't come out! I eventually had to go out an lift the back end out so he would come out, and yes, indeed, it was a nearly all white skunk.

He never did spray. Thank goodness.