I recently bought my grandfather's 3-family house in Cambridge, MA. It was built in 1873 (likely with lots of easy entry points) and my bedroom is on the 3rd floor. For the last few days, from the wall between my bedroom and the bathroom, I am hearing heavy construction courtesy of something that can't possibly be smaller than a squirrel... or racoon. I mean, can squirrels make legitimate *thuds*? 😕 My new roommate appears to come and go at will from the outside because sometimes it's dead silent... but other times it sounds like he's trying in vain to get around the cast-iron tub in the bathroom. I'm concerned that if I don't do something he'll eventually get through the interior wall into my room.
Note the obligatory not-to-scale paintbrush reenactment... the double-lines are exterior walls with a slanted/vaulted roof ceiling directly above them. The red represents the suspected breach. My room is shaped like a "T" so the space to the right of the bathroom is still the bedroom, with the doors to both off the top of the image.
My grandfather was a roofer for 38 years, so we have a 3-story ladder here... but I'm not looking forward to going up 30+ feet in the winter cold just to have a fvcking rabid badger leap out at my eyes claws-first screaming bloody murder. :thumbsdown:
UPDATE 1:
LOL, 1200 views in a single day? Who knew the badger would be so popular... 😛
And I am humbled by your recognition of my bootleg MS Paint skills. *bows deeply* My gf likes "his pedicure". 😛
Anyways, I heard him again this morning. He punched in at the work site at about 10am as usual. This weekend I'm gonna grab my machete and take a peek, and if it's anything ugly, the exterminator will probably be called... stay tuned
UPDATE 2: Ceiling Badger Is Watching Me Masturbate
Well things had been pretty good in the weeks since I last updated. The entire month of January was pretty uneventful, probably due to the unseasonably warm winter in the Northeast. However, when the cold came in within the last week and a half, the noises came back in full force.
Now, instead of just the 3rd floor wall, there's some *serious* activity directly on the drop ceiling of the 2nd floor stairs landing, more or less right beneath the first noted activity. The drop ceiling is the really old style with a wood framework that has tiles attached with finishing nails... there's so much running back and forth that a couple tiles are actually coming loose (:camera:). I called the exterminator, and kept a spray bottle of ammonia on the steps so that if I happen to hear them scurrying while I'm walking by, I can shoot some right in the tile hole to keep them at bay. It seems to have worked so far. Which is good, cuz the last thing I need is to have the ceiling collapse, badger(s) and all, on my head and actually have them running loose in the living space. 😕:thumbsdown:
I figured I'd update since today is the appointment date... the exterminator will be here within the hour. Funny that someone asked for an update yesterday on it. Stay tuned, more crappy camera phone pics likely on the way in a couple hrs.
UPDATE 3: Conclusion!
At last, what should be the happy ending to all this... 🙂
The recent Nor'easter snow/ice storm set the schedule back a good bit. But by yesterday the conditions on the ground were good enough for Scott (the friendly guy from BatGuys) to come by and actually perform the work, which involved addressing two total breaches: one on the east side of the house where the gutter met the roof overhang near the 3rd floor balcony, and the other on the west side of the house underneath a dormer overhang. The premise was simple--because the unwanted guests usually do not source food from inside the house, Scott installed a temporary one-way door over each hole. If you look close, you can see the spatula-like door that is laying diagonal leftwards to the rest of the caging. This door freely lets them out with miminal body force to forage for food, but drops shut after they exit, keeping them out for good.
So now at this point they are hungry and locked outside... enter the traps, which work in much the same way as the one-way doors. These four were placed on the roof, with two at strategic locations near each of the holes. Once baited with corn and placed, Scott said he'd be back tomorrow to check them (this was one thing I liked about their service, they never really needed to ever set foot in the house, all their work is done from outside 90% of the time). I asked Scott to let me know what was caught before leaving the property, so I could poke them with a stick. *
Last night, I heard no activity in the walls. This had to be a good sign!
And this morning, I got to meet my foes face to face. Behold...
Henchman #1
Henchman #2
and last but certainly not least...
The "ATOT Badger" (so dubbed because he was the least afraid of the camera and had the most "personality", and thus was probably the boldest)
So yea, they did turn out to be grey squirrels. Admittedly they are cute little critters, but hey, they ain't paying rent so they have to go. By the time you read this, they will have already been euthanized (rereleasing is not as easy an option for them when you live in the city).
Because only 3 of the 4 traps yielded a catch, Scott believes that most if not all of the intruders are out, so he didn't set any new ones. However, the one-way doors will stay on for a couple more weeks to allow any starving stragglers to find their way out. At that point, he'll return one more time to remove the one-way doors and permanently patch the holes.
I would highly recommend these guys to anyone in Southern New England... punctual, courteous, and reasonably priced, with a 1 year warranty on all work.
http://www.batguys.com/
* This was a joke. Ok, not so much. But for the record I didn't actually end up poking them. Though I did collectively give 'em the finger more than a few times.
Note the obligatory not-to-scale paintbrush reenactment... the double-lines are exterior walls with a slanted/vaulted roof ceiling directly above them. The red represents the suspected breach. My room is shaped like a "T" so the space to the right of the bathroom is still the bedroom, with the doors to both off the top of the image.
My grandfather was a roofer for 38 years, so we have a 3-story ladder here... but I'm not looking forward to going up 30+ feet in the winter cold just to have a fvcking rabid badger leap out at my eyes claws-first screaming bloody murder. :thumbsdown:
UPDATE 1:
LOL, 1200 views in a single day? Who knew the badger would be so popular... 😛
And I am humbled by your recognition of my bootleg MS Paint skills. *bows deeply* My gf likes "his pedicure". 😛
Anyways, I heard him again this morning. He punched in at the work site at about 10am as usual. This weekend I'm gonna grab my machete and take a peek, and if it's anything ugly, the exterminator will probably be called... stay tuned
UPDATE 2: Ceiling Badger Is Watching Me Masturbate
Well things had been pretty good in the weeks since I last updated. The entire month of January was pretty uneventful, probably due to the unseasonably warm winter in the Northeast. However, when the cold came in within the last week and a half, the noises came back in full force.
Now, instead of just the 3rd floor wall, there's some *serious* activity directly on the drop ceiling of the 2nd floor stairs landing, more or less right beneath the first noted activity. The drop ceiling is the really old style with a wood framework that has tiles attached with finishing nails... there's so much running back and forth that a couple tiles are actually coming loose (:camera:). I called the exterminator, and kept a spray bottle of ammonia on the steps so that if I happen to hear them scurrying while I'm walking by, I can shoot some right in the tile hole to keep them at bay. It seems to have worked so far. Which is good, cuz the last thing I need is to have the ceiling collapse, badger(s) and all, on my head and actually have them running loose in the living space. 😕:thumbsdown:
I figured I'd update since today is the appointment date... the exterminator will be here within the hour. Funny that someone asked for an update yesterday on it. Stay tuned, more crappy camera phone pics likely on the way in a couple hrs.
UPDATE 3: Conclusion!
At last, what should be the happy ending to all this... 🙂
The recent Nor'easter snow/ice storm set the schedule back a good bit. But by yesterday the conditions on the ground were good enough for Scott (the friendly guy from BatGuys) to come by and actually perform the work, which involved addressing two total breaches: one on the east side of the house where the gutter met the roof overhang near the 3rd floor balcony, and the other on the west side of the house underneath a dormer overhang. The premise was simple--because the unwanted guests usually do not source food from inside the house, Scott installed a temporary one-way door over each hole. If you look close, you can see the spatula-like door that is laying diagonal leftwards to the rest of the caging. This door freely lets them out with miminal body force to forage for food, but drops shut after they exit, keeping them out for good.
So now at this point they are hungry and locked outside... enter the traps, which work in much the same way as the one-way doors. These four were placed on the roof, with two at strategic locations near each of the holes. Once baited with corn and placed, Scott said he'd be back tomorrow to check them (this was one thing I liked about their service, they never really needed to ever set foot in the house, all their work is done from outside 90% of the time). I asked Scott to let me know what was caught before leaving the property, so I could poke them with a stick. *
Last night, I heard no activity in the walls. This had to be a good sign!
And this morning, I got to meet my foes face to face. Behold...
Henchman #1
Henchman #2
and last but certainly not least...
The "ATOT Badger" (so dubbed because he was the least afraid of the camera and had the most "personality", and thus was probably the boldest)
So yea, they did turn out to be grey squirrels. Admittedly they are cute little critters, but hey, they ain't paying rent so they have to go. By the time you read this, they will have already been euthanized (rereleasing is not as easy an option for them when you live in the city).
Because only 3 of the 4 traps yielded a catch, Scott believes that most if not all of the intruders are out, so he didn't set any new ones. However, the one-way doors will stay on for a couple more weeks to allow any starving stragglers to find their way out. At that point, he'll return one more time to remove the one-way doors and permanently patch the holes.
I would highly recommend these guys to anyone in Southern New England... punctual, courteous, and reasonably priced, with a 1 year warranty on all work.
http://www.batguys.com/
* This was a joke. Ok, not so much. But for the record I didn't actually end up poking them. Though I did collectively give 'em the finger more than a few times.
