Squirrel Update
As previously mentioned, there were some unknown number of squirrels wintering in the roof of my screened porch. While this wasn't an utter catastrophe since they didn't have access to my house proper, it was still undesirable so an exterminator was retained to deal with this. One squirrel was caught and removed early on, but the noises in the wall that abuts the porch continued. Over the holidays, no further squirrels were caught, but this week my battle with the squirrels turned into a rout.
On Tuesday, one squirrel was in the trap in the morning. When the exterminators arrived to pick it up and reset the traps, they reported that the second trap was also occupied.
On Wednesday, another squirrel was in the trap in the morning.
On Thursday morning, no squirrels had been caught, but when I arrived home a fifth squirrel had fallen for the delicious bait.
I haven't heard anything in the wall since Monday, so I'm going to tell the exterminators to go ahead and seal the hole, and hopefully that will be the end of it.
On a side note, let's talk cost. There was a (fair) initial flat fee to inspect the property, identify any holes and set the traps. The first animal caught was removed as part of this fee. You are charged for every subsequent animal, so squirrels 2 through 5 cost me some money. And there is a repair fee for the hole, which also seems pretty fair.
Where they clearly try to make their money is in daily checking of the traps. If you call them before 8am to say "yes, we caught something, come get it" they charge a fee to remove the animal and reset the trap. If you say, "no, the traps are empty", there is no charge. If you forget to call, they come out to check at either $20 (empty) or the animal removal fee is full. I suspect most people forget to call and are continually hit with $20. It's like Columbia Record House for squirrels. I did not have that problem, but if I'd missed even 1/4 of the days since they first came out that would be another $80.
On Tuesday, one squirrel was in the trap in the morning. When the exterminators arrived to pick it up and reset the traps, they reported that the second trap was also occupied.
On Wednesday, another squirrel was in the trap in the morning.
On Thursday morning, no squirrels had been caught, but when I arrived home a fifth squirrel had fallen for the delicious bait.
I haven't heard anything in the wall since Monday, so I'm going to tell the exterminators to go ahead and seal the hole, and hopefully that will be the end of it.
On a side note, let's talk cost. There was a (fair) initial flat fee to inspect the property, identify any holes and set the traps. The first animal caught was removed as part of this fee. You are charged for every subsequent animal, so squirrels 2 through 5 cost me some money. And there is a repair fee for the hole, which also seems pretty fair.
Where they clearly try to make their money is in daily checking of the traps. If you call them before 8am to say "yes, we caught something, come get it" they charge a fee to remove the animal and reset the trap. If you say, "no, the traps are empty", there is no charge. If you forget to call, they come out to check at either $20 (empty) or the animal removal fee is full. I suspect most people forget to call and are continually hit with $20. It's like Columbia Record House for squirrels. I did not have that problem, but if I'd missed even 1/4 of the days since they first came out that would be another $80.