A
couple of weeks ago, the burglar alarm went off in the warehouse
that my office is in. It was light out and 7 a.m. I figured it
couldn't be burglars. I put on a jacket and went out into the
warehouse and saw my two Squirrel neighbors scurrying around.
I figured they tripped the alarm as there were no windows broken,
nor doors open. So then and there I decided to quit feeding the
rascals and maybe they would leave the way they got in. But after
a couple of weeks they just learned to knock jars off the shelves
outside my office. Then they could get into the food that spilled
out. They found my one-pound plastic bear filled with honey (that
I had misplaced) and they had carried it off to the center of
the warehouse and chewed into it and ate it all up. I didn't
know they were so smart. Then I put nuts near the door for a
few days. They found them and devoured them. Next I left the
door open a few inches and put nuts there again. I hid quietly
and watched. They went and ate the nuts but wouldn't leave the
building. I got the landlord down and we went on the roof to
look for a hole they could have come in through. We couldn't
find any holes. So we figured they got in last fall, when canoes
were delivered to the warehouse. I decided I'd better trap
them so that they wouldn't set off the alarm when I wasn't there
to shut it off. I had found an old heavy suit case in a dumpster
a week or so before and decided to use that for a trap. I propped
it open and put nuts inside. In a day or so they found the nuts
and cleaned them out. The next day I put nuts around and in the
suitcase again. Only this time I propped the lid up with an eight-inch-long
wooden dowel and placed the dowel on top of an English walnut.
It worked. I heard a "clunk" from inside my office
and ran out and heard a squirrel inside the suitcase. I took
him outside and released him. Then reset the suitcase. Within
an hour I had the other squirrel caught and released. That was a fun adventure.
The squirrels have not returned. I saved my landlord the cost
and hassle of a trap or an exterminator. Gave two squirrels their
Freedom (which they didn't seem to want). I utilized a discarded
suitcase and may yet find another use for it. It was more fun
than watching TV, going to a movie or even reading science fiction.
Something I'll never forget and will get many good miles out
of, by just retelling my alarm tripping squirrel trapping story.
It was real life, not vicarious fiction BS.
links
A
couple of weeks ago, the burglar alarm went off in the warehouse
that my office is in. It was light out and 7 a.m. I figured it
couldn't be burglars. I put on a jacket and went out into the
warehouse and saw my two Squirrel neighbors scurrying around.
I figured they tripped the alarm as there were no windows broken,
nor doors open. So then and there I decided to quit feeding the
rascals and maybe they would leave the way they got in. But after
a couple of weeks they just learned to knock jars off the shelves
outside my office. Then they could get into the food that spilled
out. They found my one-pound plastic bear filled with honey (that
I had misplaced) and they had carried it off to the center of
the warehouse and chewed into it and ate it all up. I didn't
know they were so smart. Then I put nuts near the door for a
few days. They found them and devoured them. Next I left the
door open a few inches and put nuts there again. I hid quietly
and watched. They went and ate the nuts but wouldn't leave the
building. I got the landlord down and we went on the roof to
look for a hole they could have come in through. We couldn't
find any holes. So we figured they got in last fall, when canoes
were delivered to the warehouse.