squirrels...
So, we have a family of squirrels living in our soffits.
See, the general outer covering of the house, except for the roof, is pretty damned old, and beyond the point where we should have replaced it. The siding especially, but the soffits are rotting in places too. We're getting new siding and windows (and soffits where needed too) later this summer/early this fall - after we get a four seasons room put on where our deck is during July/August. ^_^; Yay. (Except for the actual construction, which is going to suck.)
Anyway, earlier this spring Mom heard this noise coming from right outside of her office. Later, she saw a little brown head come peeking out of a loose spot in the soffit there, and then this squirrel just jumped out into the bush nearby. Dad tried to nail it up the next day, but the squirrel just chewed herself a hole instead.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, we heard more noise than usual, and Mom noticed more little heads peeking out, though these ones didn't jump out of the hole. Our squirrel had babies - at least two or three that we could count based on heads and noise. And, well, she didn't really do anything about it.
Then over the weekend, they managed to get to the other side of the big peak in our roof and take over the soffit in the front driveway side corner of the house, so they were easily audible from the living room. And it sounded like they were chewing. This got Mom pretty paranoid that they were going to make their way into the roof itself, or even our not-quite attic. So Saturday she called someone to deal with it, figuring that anything Dad could try to do would just end up making things worse. Not cheap ($95 just to come look, and $40 for each squirrel he catches), but Mom decided that she needed it dealt with now. (Besides, he's going to cover up the holes after we get them all, so we can't get more before we have the rotten and holey soffits replaced.)
So, he came over today around 9. (Too early - bleh.) He set up some traps, and then left, with a note to call him if we saw any squirrels in the traps before it got really late, otherwise he'd stop over again tomorrow morning. Mom and I spent a good part of the afternoon watching the little ones explore the entries to the traps - they kept jumping in, checking out the one-way part, but jumping out before they could get into it. Grrr. Then the mama squirrel did her "jump out of the hole into the bushes" routine... only to go right into the trap. So yeah, he came over to get her later this afternoon - and sure enough, it was a big female squirrel. ^_^ (We assumed she was the mother, but he confirmed it.)
That was while Mom (and Dad, but he had come from work) was out closing on the financing for all of the improvements we're doing later (re-financing/redoing the mortgage, which was almost paid off). By the time they got back, we had another squirrel trapped, though this one was on one of the traps the guy had put on the roof above the holes, just in case. We weren't expecting anything from those traps. He came over again, since it was still before 5 at this time, and we didn't want to leave the squirrel there all night. And, well... turned out it wasn't one of our baby squirrels. It was an adult red squirrel, and she (he's pretty sure it was a female) was pissed. (The family is a family of gray squirrels.) We figure the red squirrel wandered into the trap by accident when she was running across the roof or something. He took her with him, but didn't put the trap back on top of the roof.
A couple of hours later, one of the little ones from the soffits finally made his (or her) way into one of the traps. We've seen two more heads peeking out of the holes since then, so there are at least two more left, but we're not sure if there are more. Too late to call the guy back again, though, so the little one gets to spend the night in the trap.
That said, he's started crying. (Well, squeaking.) It makes Mom wince, and even whimper a little (in sympathy) every time he does it... I suggested maybe she go watch tv downstairs in the basement, where she won't be able to hear the little squirrel, but she ignored me. I have a feeling she's going to be bothered by the idea of the little squirrel (annoying as she finds the family's presence in the first place) trapped there, away from his mama, all night long. But oh well. At least we know that the guy plans on letting them all go somewhere in the woods or something - as a family - once we get them all trapped. (Though I assume the red squirrel will be released separately.)
So yeah, that's my squirrel story for the moment. And to accompany it, I have my Chappy icon... ^_^; From Kachou no Koi (specifically, from the front cover of volume 1). Because Kachou no Koi is soooo much love! I really would like to try my hand at translating this series one of these days... Not that I don't have enough to do already... ^_^;; ...Now I have a desire to re-read the series...
See, the general outer covering of the house, except for the roof, is pretty damned old, and beyond the point where we should have replaced it. The siding especially, but the soffits are rotting in places too. We're getting new siding and windows (and soffits where needed too) later this summer/early this fall - after we get a four seasons room put on where our deck is during July/August. ^_^; Yay. (Except for the actual construction, which is going to suck.)
Anyway, earlier this spring Mom heard this noise coming from right outside of her office. Later, she saw a little brown head come peeking out of a loose spot in the soffit there, and then this squirrel just jumped out into the bush nearby. Dad tried to nail it up the next day, but the squirrel just chewed herself a hole instead.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, we heard more noise than usual, and Mom noticed more little heads peeking out, though these ones didn't jump out of the hole. Our squirrel had babies - at least two or three that we could count based on heads and noise. And, well, she didn't really do anything about it.
Then over the weekend, they managed to get to the other side of the big peak in our roof and take over the soffit in the front driveway side corner of the house, so they were easily audible from the living room. And it sounded like they were chewing. This got Mom pretty paranoid that they were going to make their way into the roof itself, or even our not-quite attic. So Saturday she called someone to deal with it, figuring that anything Dad could try to do would just end up making things worse. Not cheap ($95 just to come look, and $40 for each squirrel he catches), but Mom decided that she needed it dealt with now. (Besides, he's going to cover up the holes after we get them all, so we can't get more before we have the rotten and holey soffits replaced.)
So, he came over today around 9. (Too early - bleh.) He set up some traps, and then left, with a note to call him if we saw any squirrels in the traps before it got really late, otherwise he'd stop over again tomorrow morning. Mom and I spent a good part of the afternoon watching the little ones explore the entries to the traps - they kept jumping in, checking out the one-way part, but jumping out before they could get into it. Grrr. Then the mama squirrel did her "jump out of the hole into the bushes" routine... only to go right into the trap. So yeah, he came over to get her later this afternoon - and sure enough, it was a big female squirrel. ^_^ (We assumed she was the mother, but he confirmed it.)
That was while Mom (and Dad, but he had come from work) was out closing on the financing for all of the improvements we're doing later (re-financing/redoing the mortgage, which was almost paid off). By the time they got back, we had another squirrel trapped, though this one was on one of the traps the guy had put on the roof above the holes, just in case. We weren't expecting anything from those traps. He came over again, since it was still before 5 at this time, and we didn't want to leave the squirrel there all night. And, well... turned out it wasn't one of our baby squirrels. It was an adult red squirrel, and she (he's pretty sure it was a female) was pissed. (The family is a family of gray squirrels.) We figure the red squirrel wandered into the trap by accident when she was running across the roof or something. He took her with him, but didn't put the trap back on top of the roof.
A couple of hours later, one of the little ones from the soffits finally made his (or her) way into one of the traps. We've seen two more heads peeking out of the holes since then, so there are at least two more left, but we're not sure if there are more. Too late to call the guy back again, though, so the little one gets to spend the night in the trap.
That said, he's started crying. (Well, squeaking.) It makes Mom wince, and even whimper a little (in sympathy) every time he does it... I suggested maybe she go watch tv downstairs in the basement, where she won't be able to hear the little squirrel, but she ignored me. I have a feeling she's going to be bothered by the idea of the little squirrel (annoying as she finds the family's presence in the first place) trapped there, away from his mama, all night long. But oh well. At least we know that the guy plans on letting them all go somewhere in the woods or something - as a family - once we get them all trapped. (Though I assume the red squirrel will be released separately.)
So yeah, that's my squirrel story for the moment. And to accompany it, I have my Chappy icon... ^_^; From Kachou no Koi (specifically, from the front cover of volume 1). Because Kachou no Koi is soooo much love! I really would like to try my hand at translating this series one of these days... Not that I don't have enough to do already... ^_^;; ...Now I have a desire to re-read the series...