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Vermin Hunting

We have a small animal living in our attic.  He’s been there off and on for the past month or so.  We aren’t sure what it is, exactly.  Every time we hear him and try to climb up in the attic to see him, he runs out through a small hole in our siding that no one seems to be able to find except him.

Oddly, I am not scared of whatever it is.  I’m sure it’s a squirrel.  Or maybe a chipmunk.

Speaking of chipmunks, remember that time there was a chipmunk in our house in Connecticut????  I was walking up the stairs to put something in the guest bedroom and suddenly I was face to face with a chipmunk!  I don’t know who was more scared – me or the ‘munk.  He took off running into the guest bedroom and I took off running and screaming downstairs.  Chris was stuck in his car for twelve hours on the side of the road that night in a blizzard, and I piled every piece of furniture from the ground floor of our house on the stairs to keep the chipmunk from coming downstairs and finding me.  Chris kept calling me to give me important blizzard updates like, “I’m freezing and I think I’m about to run out of gas,” and I would nod along while staring upstairs, saying things like, “That’s nice, dear, do you think chipmunks can smell fear?”

(These are the steps at our old house. Look how fat Lucy was! She looks like a body builder with no neck!)

The dogs were so scared they froze on the steps.  Wimps.

Save me.  Save me from the nesting.

Anyway, what’s in our attic now might be a chipmunk.  But I haven’t seen him and he hasn’t seen me, so we are A-OK at the moment.

Unfortunately, our dogs are not okay with this situation.  At night, the mystery vermin gets really active and starts running circles in the attic.  His little nails scratch our ceiling right above our bedroom, where the dogs sleep.  Or, try to sleep, these days.  All night long, Big Molly paces around the bedroom, staring at the ceiling.

And then she growls.

And then Lucy barks.

And then we yell at them both.

And then the vermin moves again.

And then they both bark.

And then the kids wake up.

And then I hit Chris with my elbow and snap, “YOU HAVEN’T GOTTEN THAT THING OUT OF THE ATTIC YET?????”

Let me tell you…  This little thing is causing big problems in my house.  And I’m tired of waiting for Chris to crawl up there and chase him out.  Tomorrow, I’m going up there myself with a little trap in one hand (the catch and release kind), a flashlight in the other, and a football helmet on my head.

I’m goin’ vermin huntin’.

14 Comments

  • Pati

    Use peanut butter in your trap. Critters seem to like that. Years ago my husband and I shared a 3 room house. He was at school and I was making dinner when a mouse ran across the kitchen. I flew out the door and sat on my car until he came home from school. Needless to say, dinner was burned. I think they were Banquet Pot Pies, 10 for $1 at that time or some other ungodly cheap price. Good luck with your critter. Oh, also you’ll have to find the hole or they’ll keep coming back.

  • HeatherM

    Are chipmunks nocturnal? I don’t think squirrels are. But it sounds like whatever is living in your attic IS nocturnal, if that helps you figure out what it is. Hopefully it isn’t a raccoon. My mom had squirrels in her attic, and they made nests out of her insulation, and chewed up her ceiling fan wires (and nearly burned the house down in the process).
    So when Chris gets rid of the thing, make sure he checks out your insulation and wiring to make sure all are still intact.

  • Amy S.

    Our little dog, Lucy, (we think she’s part fiest) is a great mouser. She’s caught numerous mice & moles. You might put your little one to the test!

  • Kathy Z

    Buy mothballs and nylons. Put the mothballs in the nylons, tie them in, tie the nylons to a beam. Your critter will leave and you won’t have to trap it.

  • Fremont M

    We had a critter in our house as well. My wife wondered who knocked the phone off the desk, and didn’t bother to pick it up. We were able to identify that something had come down the chimney and pushed through the glass doors of the fireplace. I saw droppings and mess, but it did not intrude into the pantry like you would expect a mouse or rat. (BTW- We did have roof rats before…YUCK!)

    I put a rat trap with peanut butter on it in the fireplace and used bailing wire to close the fireplace doors. The next day the trap sprung with my wife in the other room. She went and found one very pissed off squirrel in the fireplace trying to get out. Not wanting to risk letting an enraged rodent into our house. She did the only thing she could think of… Let’s just say that it’s a gas fireplace…

    We also felt awful, but what else can you do? Squirrels are rat with better costumes.

  • Sarah P Liz

    We have doves in our chimney. We live in TX so we don’t really need a fireplace and don’t use it. The doves always seem to want to coo when I’m trying to get someone to sleep, or if I’m home alone and its dark and creepy. They need to go.

    Last week my H was out of town and I heard something scratching around in the leaves on the back porch. My solution was to turn the porch light on, close the curtains, and turn the sound up on the TV so I didn’t freak myself out. Its probably just a raccoon.

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