ElCloud Homestead: Waiting on God

Basement Critters ...

12:30, 2006-Jan-24 .. Posted in Homestead Happenings .. 6 comments .. Link

We made our trip out to the farm this past weekend. We had some things to leave there, and we needed to retrieve our lawn tractor from the repair man. It was a short trip, but a good one.

When Steve went down to the basement to get something, though, he noticed wood chunks and wood chips on the floor. Further examination showed that "something" had first gnawed at the pocket door closest to the basement, and then clawed/gnawed at the door right after it that leads onto the enclosed porch. Although it had succeeded in getting through the pocket door corner, it did not appear to have successfully got up onto the main floor.

We knew it was more damage than a mouse could have done, so suspected we had rats in the basement.

Steve bought rat traps and more mouse traps when he went into town that morning. But when he later inspected the basement, he found something entirely different down there. A dead squirrel! He was lying next to an old old old collection of walnuts Steve's grandmother had once stored down there. Who knows how long ago!?!?

Steve got a shovel and prepared to remove the dead squirrel from the basement. But then the question began ... what if it's not really dead?!?! It's not very stiff. It's not bloated. What if it jumps off the shovel and attacks me?!?!

Bargaining began over WHO would do the dirty deed. Alas, this woman is not that brave, however, and Steve had to do it.

Thankfully, it was quite dead, and was easily removed. But that was our weekend surprise. Something we never expected to find down there. Snakes, spiders, mice, even rats ... but a squirrel? And that begs some other questions ... HOW did it get in and HOW LONG was it down there?

However, it did prompt us to do what we've been meaning to do ... set traps all over in the basement.

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12:58, 2006-Jan-24 .. Posted by kayinpa
Wow Squirells. They can be a nuisance, just not the first rodent you would expect! I would have made my husband remove it too. I am bad enough with dead mice, that the cat kills.

EEEEEEKKKKK

03:36, 2006-Jan-24 .. Posted by mominpa
I am very nervous about this.... we are moving into our "little" farmhouse next Wednesday...I am ready for the simple life, gardening, canning, etc... but RODENTS??? Oh my they are a little more than I can handle at times!! Any tips for rodent proofing a farmhouse? We of course are going in this weekend and putting down POSION and traps!! Any other tips for a beginner?????

NO tips here ...

04:15, 2006-Jan-24 .. Posted by ElCloud
I'm new to all this, too. We haven't even moved into our farmhouse yet. I've been blessed in our nearly 12 years of marriage to NEVER have had rodent problems. Or any bug infestations, either. (Well, we had an ant problem once, but Steve put down some stuff in the yard that stopped that.)

Anyway, I'm new to this, too. There have always been mice at this farmhouse ... as long as I've been a part of the family. And they used to deal with it by using poison. Well, with little ones, we had to clean all that up except a tiny bit that's still out in the basement. We don't want toddlers getting into the poison, and we don't want poisoned mice dying in the walls while we are away for 3-4 weeks at a time.

Thankfully, as far as we can tell, there are not currently any mice in the upstairs portion of the house. Of course, there's also not any food stored out there. The tiny bit we leave there we lock in ice chests whenever we leave.

I was told glue traps (2 side by side) worked better than the snap traps, so that is what we've bought. When we go back, we'll have to check the ones we set out in the basement, the stairs to the basement, and the enclosed porch at the top of those stairs. And hopefully, it won't be too stinky.

Edited by ElCloud on 2006-Jan-24 at 05:15

I've enjoyed reading your blog...

08:39, 2006-Jan-28 .. Posted by lancelotacres
...Yikes on the squirrel! I would have had DH do away with it for sure. With my luck, it would have been a time when he was away from home and I'd have had to do it or lay awake at night thinking about it...LOL

So?!?

07:30, 2006-Mar-25 .. Posted by midwesthomestead
Let us know how it's all going!! I'm very curious!

~~

Too funny!

04:44, 2007-Jun-11 .. Posted by HSBFrontPorch
In fact, this won you a free issue of the New Harvest Newsletter! Just email me so that I can get your email addy to Lisa Vitello.
~Nancy
SeniorEditor@HomesteadBlogger.com

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