Last night Megan said she heard some scratching noises in our living room. When Erin went to look around she suddenly screamed, "Why is there a squirrel in our fireplace?!" Sure enough, there was a soot-covered rodent running around. It became blacker and blacker as the evening wore on and as we tried to figure out how to best catch it. Erin at first thought that it was scary, and shrieked every time it came near. She eventually decided it was cute, though, and then laughed every time it made an appearance.
The chimney pipe was too steep and slippery for the squirrel to climb back out. The scratching noise had been the squirrel's nails screeching against the sides of the pipe. Whenever we approached too close to the door, the squirrel would jump up and hide on the upper brick shelf that is about 3 inches from the top. That made it difficult to just reach in and try to grab it.
Meanwhile Mom kept thinking, "I'm a trained biologist. I should know how to catch a squirrel." Utilizing her expertise, she instructed Ian to get our Sherman trap from the clubhouse where he had been using it to catch mice that escape. She then threw out the dead mouse that he hadn't noticed had been trapped (yuck!), baited it with a small piece of bread and peanut butter (yum!), and left it for the night.
The squirrel avoided the trap and was still visibly running around this morning, but soon after everyone was awake and ready to eat breakfast, it finally got caught. Megan took a video of the release.
Meanwhile Mom kept thinking, "I'm a trained biologist. I should know how to catch a squirrel." Utilizing her expertise, she instructed Ian to get our Sherman trap from the clubhouse where he had been using it to catch mice that escape. She then threw out the dead mouse that he hadn't noticed had been trapped (yuck!), baited it with a small piece of bread and peanut butter (yum!), and left it for the night.
The squirrel avoided the trap and was still visibly running around this morning, but soon after everyone was awake and ready to eat breakfast, it finally got caught. Megan took a video of the release.
We're glad it didn't die--but if it had, we could have skinned it, cleaned the skeleton, and made a mount display of the specimen to go along with our tarantula molt. Our little house may turn into a mini natural history museum someday.
3 comments:
That sure was a black squirrel as it streaked out of the trap! Glad you taught the kids to capture, MARK, and release so they can recognize their friend in the future. Thanks for the laugh!
This is literally my dad's worst nightmare. Whenever they leave the house, they shut all the doors (bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.) so that JUST IN CASE a squirrel chews through the ceiling, it will be contained in one room. Until now, I thought they were outrageously paranoid. Now I think they're only slightly paranoid.
Ha, ha! That is so awesome. I'm glad you caught it. Remind me to tell you my story about the raccoons in our study. They got in through the cat door and my stepdad chased them around in his BVDs and a plunger! Pretty funny stuff when animals are trapped. :)
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