We’ve had a bit of a squirrel issue this last week. One of these cute little red squirrels took up residence in the garage. This is not a good thing! He (or she) was making a nest of fiberglass insulation in the overhead.
Paul discovered this when a squirrel began chattering away at him inside the garage. He opened the garage door and shooed the squirrel out. Paul searched for the weakness in our fortress and found a spot in the eves where there was a gap in the soffit. He reinforced the spot and the garage is now buttoned up tight. The next morning, as I left the house, a critter was working hard to get out of the garage – through the soffit. The little bugger got back in to the garage when Paul wasn’t looking.
Not to be outwitted by a squirrel, Paul set up a live trap to catch the squirrel who was becoming less cute by the hour. The squirrel didn’t fall for the peanut butter and bird seed and once again, the next morning, I discovered him trapped in the garage scrambling to get out through the soffit where he’d once been able to freely travel.
When Paul found that the squirrel had abandoned the soffit and chewed a hole in the garage wall near the door, he gave up on the live trap and moved on to sticky rodent traps. Placed strategically around the new squirrel door, we were baffled to discover the next morning that the squirrel had chewed on the edge of the sticky trap and then pushed it out of the way, never stepping a foot on it.
Not to be outwitted by a squirrel, Paul resorted to YouTube. Inspired, he built a better squirrel trap and placed it right in front of the squirrel’s latest “door” into the garage.
The squirrel didn’t fall for that one either. Apparently, we have really smart squirrels. Not to be outwitted by a squirrel, Paul pulled out the big guns – a steel conibear trap. Five days, and umpteen hours later, I’m happy to say that my former Marine husband was not outwitted by a squirrel!
During this whole episode, I watched a squirrel (the squirrel?) enjoy the feeder I put out for them over the winter.
It’s a little ironic that it looks as if he’s sticking is tongue out at us!
That picture, how funny! Your ordeal reminds me of one I had in college. Kept telling the apartment manager something was chewing inside the wall. They kept insisting I was hearing the ice maker in the fridge. Woke up one morning to find a squirrel in my living room. Called the manager to tell them the “ice maker” had chewed through the wall and was in my apartment. They came right over. :O)