Little, Brown, Furry Rodent

One of the reasons that we haven't been able to organize the new house and unpack the boxes (aside from general laziness and apathy) is that we have a number of co-habitators of the small creature variety who like to chew on boxes, store away their winter provisions, and leave other remnants of their presence strewn about the attic. I'm talking about squirrels, people.

For over a month now, we've been hearing lots of ruckus up there. Things falling over. Scratching. Gnawing. General squirrel activity. After further investigation, we discovered quite a mess and, more importantly, spotted a little red squirrel scurrying up a pipe on the side of the house which led right into the attic. Busted.

So we borrowed a live trap from Dave's colleague, purchased some dried corn cobs, slathered the cobs with peanut butter, and placed the trap with bait in what seemed to be the center of activity in the attic. We didn't catch anything the first day even though the corn was gone. This was a difficult discovery for Dave, and he spent, literally, three-quarters of the day researching how this could have happened, reading consumer reports on the best bb guns for killing squirrels and other small creatures, and listening to me explain my moral opposition to having a gun of any kind in the house.

Luckily, we caught the squirrel the next morning. He had some words for us about being trapped in a cage but was otherwise cooperative. Dave took him to work and set him free in a nearby park. As Dave described it, the squirrel ran faster than any squirrel he's ever seen run in what seemed to be a straight line for our house, four miles away.

Just to be sure we didn't have a whole family of squirrels in the attic, we set the trap again that night. And we caught another squirrel the next morning. And the next morning. And the next. We're up to four squirrels total this week. And all but one bolted in that straight line back to our house.

Since we didn't develop any effective way to mark the squirrels (aside from comparing their reactions to being trapped in a cage), we can't be sure that we're not seeing the same one over and over. But it seems unlikely. Right? Whatever might be going on, it's become clear to us that squirrels are intelligent beings who should never be shot with a bb gun. Well, that's become clear to one of us.

Today was the first morning without a squirrel, and I'm hopeful that we can finally seal the hole where they've been entering the attic. I have a feeling, though, that even then it won't be the last we see of squirrels (or mice or raccoons or birds) in this old house.