Welcome to the Squirrel Relocation Program
By Bosoxy on
Tired from a long drive
Cold from the ice and snow
We enter our home.
Something is wrong.
There is glass on the floor Plants and dirt in the sink.
The blinds in the living room are broken.
Every window on the first floor looks like it has been well, chiseled. There are pieces of wood and paint on the floor around the windows and the sills are bare.
Everything looks secure. Windows and doors are locked
We call the cops.
We have been invaded
By a squirrel!
A SQUIRREL! IN THE HOUSE!!!! AHHHH!!!
Yes, that is a picture of a squirrel in a Havaharttwo door trap in the house .
Once we found out that there was something in the house that we thought was a squirrel, there wasnt much we could do until the next day. It was after midnight, everything was closed and while tired, I can assure you that I did not sleep a wink! I was, for the first time in my life, scared of a squirrel!
The camera I had at the time wasnt that good, so I cannot really show you the damage to the windows, but it was bad bad enough for me to realize how sharp those little claws really are so my eyes stayed open!
The next day my guy was off to Agway to see what he could do. The man in the store recommended the Havahart trap and some peanuts. The trap was about $30 and he threw in a small bag of peanuts for free.
The double sided trap is made of a sturdy wire mesh, as are all Havahart traps. There is a plate in the middle where the bait is placed and then the metal rods have to be set from either side to the plate so that when the plate is disturbed the doors of the trap will close. It takes a couple of tries to set the trap. If the trap is set too well, the critter will be able to retrieve the bait, enjoy it and then go about his merry way. There is also a nice handle on the top for carrying.
We set up the trap with the peanuts and nothing Then I thought why not use peanut butter and stick the peanuts in it as the peanut butter has a stronger scent. After the trap was baited it took less than 5 minutes before we heard a big slam and a lot, and I mean A LOT, of rattling around.
The intruder had been caught!
Now I do not know about you, but there is this terrified squirrel rattling around in a cage a wire MESH cage, with a handle on top. I could not bring myself to get close enough to touch that handle So what if I grew up in the woods. I am still a girl. The kind that doesnt like spiders, and apparently one that doesnt like squirrels anymore either!
So.. the guy had to do it.
The squirrel was loaded up into the back of the truck and transported to a nice park with lots of trees and a nice big pond.
No, we didnt throw the squirrel in the pond! If we were going to do that we wouldnt have gotten a nice humane trap.
There is a little bar that secures the doors that can be flipped up and pulled back to open either door so that the squirrel can leave, and that is what my guy did and the squirrel ran up into a tree.
And this made Bosoxy very happy.
No more squirrel in the house.;-)
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Long story short -Havahart traps are a very humane way of relocating all sorts of critters from your home or yard without worry that children or pets can be harmed from poisons or kill traps. The trap is pretty easy to use and can be used over and over again.
You can check out more about them here: http://www.havahart.com
I love this! What a great, humane way to deal with rodent pests. Just have to make sure to drive far enough away when you drop them off, eh? Thanks for sharing your experience with this trap!
OMG - i would have been scared he would jump on my head on something during the night! Thank you for sharing your experience and the humane way you dealt with it.
Havahart is the standard in live traps for home use. Keep in mind that relocation is only partially wonderful. Sometimes animals will be able to return to their familiar neighborhood. Sometimes they are not accepted or cannot otherwise survive in the new neighborhood. But it does make us feel better overall. I'm not being critical, I've done it myself.
Loved the way you told the story of your experience!
Kudos for opting for humane treatment of these furry lil munchkins. We have them everywhere here. Fortunately most of us believe in trapping/relocation. We've even fed some with dried corn cobs which they love. I hate pesticides and poisons. They harm the earth.
OMG That would have totally freaked me out. I would have to my husband to handle it and I would have gone to a motel.
We have squirrels that have taken up permanent residence in our attic. We have tried everything to block all entrances, etc. to no avail. One day a squirrel chewed through our living room ceiling and stuck his head through the hole he had made. So I understand your dilemma. Unfortunately, we still don't have a solution because no matter what we do they still find a way in. Great story!