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Holy sh!t, there's something *large* living in my wall
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DanTMWTMP
Lifer
oh man..once a skunk got stuck between walls. that sucker would spray every single goddamn day. We coudln't get him out. No idea how the hell he got inside between walls (later, we had to plug in a bunch of holes in and around the house. had waaay too many holes along the edge of the roof where rats made. had waaay too many rats). Anyways, that sucker sprayed his thing every day, and kept on scratching against the wall. and one day he died. then came the smell of rotting skunk.
we got someone, but he couldn't get even close to the area the skunk was in. UGH. it was the worse 3 months ever.
on an unrelated note, yesterday, I heard an extremely loud crying noise that sounded like a human baby yelling. It scared the living sh!t out of me as it was just ouside my room wall. I went outside to find two cats...w/ one cat mounted on the other 😱. sheesh. fornicating cats sound like wailing babies.
we got someone, but he couldn't get even close to the area the skunk was in. UGH. it was the worse 3 months ever.
on an unrelated note, yesterday, I heard an extremely loud crying noise that sounded like a human baby yelling. It scared the living sh!t out of me as it was just ouside my room wall. I went outside to find two cats...w/ one cat mounted on the other 😱. sheesh. fornicating cats sound like wailing babies.
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.
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.
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.
You trap them so there isn't a bunch of displaced pests scurrying around on your roof with nothing to do except cause trouble, like looking for a new way in. Same reason police don't just empty a venue that's shut down, they disperse the crowd too.
The squirrels only leave when they are hungry. Apparently they follow the path of least resistance to food, so the traps are placed right near the entrances to maximize the likelihood that the newly-evicted-and-hungry pest ends up in the trap and not a passerby.
Yes, there's a chance that those caught did not live in the walls. But this is why the one-way doors stay on for a couple extra weeks--they have to eat at some point. And given the nightly construction (marital strife?) taking place in the ceiling/walls up til now, I will know in very short order whether these were the culprits.
AnitaPeterson
Diamond Member
Was this an advertisement?! Guy, you're good! 😀
the logical thing to do in your situation would be to simply live peacefully alongside the squirrels. they weren't doing any harm. as an alternative, and with considerable effort and patience, you could have domesticated those squirrels and kept them as household pets, providing you with a unique talking point when visitors call.
SearchMaster
Diamond Member
I sure hope you're kidding...squirrels are rats with bushy tails. Cute? Yes (sorta). Fun to live with? Nope. I have hundreds (educated guess 🙂 ) at any given time within 100 yards of my house. As long as they stay out of my house, they're welcome. Once they come inside, it's a hunt to the death.
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