Another homeowner's adventure

[Lizzerd]

This isn't quite up to anait's troubles, not yet anyway, but I've got a bit of a crisis in my house too. THERE'S A FREAKIN' CRITTER IN MY ATTIC!

That's right. Early this morning, about 5AM, my loyal canine companion woke me up whining and seemingly in much distress. That's when I heard something that sounded like it was coming from behind the walls of the bathroom. I think it was actually in the ceiling, though, up in the attic. Not much I could do right then, so I went back to bed for a couple more hours. I got up this morning and walked around for a while upstairs listening, but didn't hear anything. I peeked into the attic with a flashlight and didn't see anything. I didn't want to crawl up there yet, just in case I might meet a rabid racoon. Now, tonight, I hear it again. Whatever it is, it is bigger than a mouse and has claws. At least I hope there's only one of 'em.

Question: This a job for an exterminator, right? If I put rat poison up there, it will die and stink. If I get a trap of some sort and catch it I could take it to the country and release it too, I guess. And how the h-e double L did that thing get up there? I'm suspecting that it is a squirrel that crawled in through the vent on the roof. Anybody else watch "King of the Hill"? What's Dave's number? Never mind... He would probably want to use a shot gun. Oh yeah, I have one of those, too.

[lone_groover]

Sounds like a job for Bif# or one of his kin.

:)

[cart7]

Sounds like a job for Bif# or one of his kin.

:)
Sounds like it might be Bif or one of his kin. ;)

:gomer:

[pinniped]

Git out the cookin' oil ma

[RacinM3]

Sounds like one of Bif#'s kin that Bif# might like to cook.

[B3RACER1a]

Most likely a squirrel. They can fit into the tiniest spaces.

Ever hear a squirrel bark? Its pretty funny.

[Gangrel]

In all seriousness, no to the exterminator, no to setting a trap yourself. Call your local animal control department. They will come out and lay a trap, haul the critter away, and let it go somewhere where it won't cause anyone any more problems.

[anait]

In all seriousness, no to the exterminator, no to setting a trap yourself. Call your local animal control department. They will come out and lay a trap, haul the critter away, and let it go somewhere where it won't cause anyone any more problems.

Yup. Go with the experienced trappers!! I'm in the 'don't-fool-around-with-furry-undomesticated-animals-hiding-out-in-your-house-waiting-to-pounce-on-you-with-rabid-fury' camp. Okay, so I'm a bit creature-phobic... :p

We had mice in our house last winter. Hubby didn't seal up the new basement windows we put in. Horrible, awful feeling to lie awake at night knowing the little critters were scurrying around...and horrible also to think of them ingesting the rat poison the exterminator hid in the bowels of the house, and dessicating slowly in my walls and suspended ceiling... :eek:

Looking back, I should have drank more beer/wine/vodka to get myself through such a stressful time... :thumbup:

[Lizzerd]

In all seriousness, no to the exterminator, no to setting a trap yourself. Call your local animal control department. They will come out and lay a trap, haul the critter away, and let it go somewhere where it won't cause anyone any more problems.

I didn't think of animal control. Thanks, Gangrel. Might not even cost me anything that way, too.


Yup. Go with the experienced trappers!! I'm in the 'don't-fool-around-with-furry-undomesticated-animals-hiding-out-in-your-house-waiting-to-pounce-on-you-with-rabid-fury' camp.

Yup here, too. That's why I didn't climb all the way up there in the first place!
:D

And, maybe they'll let me keep it. I'll fire up the grill and call BIF#.

[Dave99]

I say go ahead and set rat traps up in the attic, or lay-out some poison pellets for the rat to eat. The rat will probably die up there but then all you have to do is put a snake up there to eat it. To get rid of the snake up in the attic, simply set loose a hawk up there. For hawk removal, see shotgun. Problem solved. :)

[JT265]

I say go ahead and set rat traps up in the attic, or lay-out some poison pellets for the rat to eat. The rat will probably die up there but then all you have to do is put a snake up there to eat it. To get rid of the snake up in the attic, simply set loose a hawk up there. For hawk removal, see shotgun. Problem solved. :)

BiF# just PM'd me. He says for you guys to stop it, you're making him hungry.

:D

[Warlock!]

My dogs once "tree'd" a raccoon up the brick pillar on my front porch. The lil' bastard musta been fairly frightened (if you ever saw my maniacal animal-killin' dogs in anger, you'd know why), cause he tore into a piece of my soffit and squeezed his way into the attic space over my great room. With no way to get to him (me as I'm building my house, "Hell... I'll never have any reason to get into this tiny attic space... no need to make a access to it :rolleyes: ), I was pretty much at the mercy of the coon's desire to leave.

I ended up locking the dogs in the garage for two days, and I tore off about 6' of my soffit to let him see the light. After the second night, we never saw, heard, or smelled anything from him again.

If you can give him an access to get the hell outta there, he'll take it. Otherwise, call animal control...

Warlock!

[Kiwifan]

Not really wanting to through up the conspiracy theory here but are we sure it's not TG or one of his cronies up there spyin' on ya? I mean you are a dedicated Champ Car fan and all........:)

Hope you get the wee bugger mate, had a similar problem a few years back and we chucked the cat up there. Didn't help but the cat seemed to enjoy a different place to sniff and scratch. Had to settle for rat bait which did work. Good luck.

Rusty.

[oddlycalm]

Animal control and the state trappers for larger animals used to be options around here before the 13th round of budget cuts. Now, unless you have a grizzly bear in your house menacing your kids, or there is a bull elk on one of the freeways, you're on your own. Even if you do have a real emergency, all you get is a recording that tells you to leave a message.

Live traps in a couple sizes for such occasions should be standard homeowner equipment. They give the option to kill it, let it go or fire up the BBQ and call BiF. Remember, in a quiet house, the animal will always sound bigger than it actually is, and if you know that the potential access is limited in size, you don't need a huge trap. I get by with two sizes, a squirrel size and racoon size. The coon trap works for opossums and skunks as well, and the squirrel size is good for rats. I don't even need them once every two years, but when I need them, I don't want to screw around. It they don't take up much space, as one fits inside the other. If you catch the neighbors cat, no harm done, just let it go.
Live traps (http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=2&page=10299&category=2,2190)

Mice and rats and virtually everywhere (for those not in denial), and the best tool I have found is the Rat Zapper. They take four AA batteries, and they have a light that blinks if they are triggered. Not cheap, but they last for many years. I just put a little cat or dog food in them and check them once a day. No mess, no suffering, just 40,000 volts and lights out. I leave them on always, and periodically move them to different locations, but I generally have one in the garage and one in the crawl space. Better to catch them early than to have to clean out an infestation. These are domestic animal and pet safe as well.
Rat Zapper (http://amos2.catalogcity.com/cc.class/cc?main=catalog&ccsyn=260&pcd=5625393&adtg=032904&_ccn_test=1)

The only thing I won't do is deal with skunks. I'll trap them, but I call a guy that relocates them. He charges $75, which sounds like a lot, but the alternative isn't appealing.

oc

[nz_climber]

TNT is the only way to ensure you get that little critter outa your place :D (the more TNT the better chance of success)