Squirrel 3, Building 0
My work has a squirrel. Actually at first they thought it was a rat, then a squirrel, then a rat AND a squirrel, then they decided it was just a rat, and now it's a squirrel again. Confused yet? I'll back up.
Several weeks ago, one of the bigwig guys in my office discovered he'd had a nighttime visitor who hit his secret stash of junk food and left little droppings behind. The assumption was that a rat crawled under the door and squeezed into the drawer full of food. The pest control people were called. Traps were baited and set.
No rat.
In fact, not only did the traps not catch a rat, but there was evidence that something had been sitting ON TOP of the traps (they were enclosed). Also, foot prints were found on pipes in the room, indicating the perpetrator was coming from the ceiling.
Okay, not a rat, a squirrel.
More traps were brought in--bigger, 'live' traps. Still nothing. At this point, the guy was getting pretty upset with the lack of results, and the fact his NEW stash had been hit. (No comments about the fact the smartest thing to do would have been removing ALL food from the room. No food, no reason for the visitor to return.) Anyway, pressure was put on pest control to fix the problem.
The exterminator, a very nice lady who also works in wildlife rescue, went up into the ceiling to further investigate. She found evidence that a rat had been around recently, but the squirrel droppings were old, dried.
Okay, no more squirrel, back to the rat.
She put glue traps in the obvious path the rodent had been taking, and left for the night. The next morning, she discovered the traps scattered around the room. Our squirrel was back, but he only got one foot stuck, and apparently dragged the trap around the room until he got free. He lost a couple tuffs of grey fur, and a whisker, but he escaped.
No sign of the rat.
I feel rather bad for the squirrel. We are guessing he came in an open window one night, and now he's stuck in the building. So far he is winning, but for his sake, I hope he walks into one of the 'live' traps soon so he can be released back outside. We will see what happens--or maybe it will be a rat again. ^_^
Several weeks ago, one of the bigwig guys in my office discovered he'd had a nighttime visitor who hit his secret stash of junk food and left little droppings behind. The assumption was that a rat crawled under the door and squeezed into the drawer full of food. The pest control people were called. Traps were baited and set.
No rat.
In fact, not only did the traps not catch a rat, but there was evidence that something had been sitting ON TOP of the traps (they were enclosed). Also, foot prints were found on pipes in the room, indicating the perpetrator was coming from the ceiling.
Okay, not a rat, a squirrel.
More traps were brought in--bigger, 'live' traps. Still nothing. At this point, the guy was getting pretty upset with the lack of results, and the fact his NEW stash had been hit. (No comments about the fact the smartest thing to do would have been removing ALL food from the room. No food, no reason for the visitor to return.) Anyway, pressure was put on pest control to fix the problem.
The exterminator, a very nice lady who also works in wildlife rescue, went up into the ceiling to further investigate. She found evidence that a rat had been around recently, but the squirrel droppings were old, dried.
Okay, no more squirrel, back to the rat.
She put glue traps in the obvious path the rodent had been taking, and left for the night. The next morning, she discovered the traps scattered around the room. Our squirrel was back, but he only got one foot stuck, and apparently dragged the trap around the room until he got free. He lost a couple tuffs of grey fur, and a whisker, but he escaped.
No sign of the rat.
I feel rather bad for the squirrel. We are guessing he came in an open window one night, and now he's stuck in the building. So far he is winning, but for his sake, I hope he walks into one of the 'live' traps soon so he can be released back outside. We will see what happens--or maybe it will be a rat again. ^_^
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