In the 1970s my house was remodeled by some well-meaning people who tore out the walls to one of the bedrooms and expanded the living room, in the process installing a wood stove. Since we had no intention of using a wood stove, my wife and I got it taken out. The hole in the bricks behind that (by the way, if you ever have to paint bricks, rent a sprayer at all costs) was covered by duct tape. Eventually, we planned to backfill part of the unused chimney with foam or something and put a decorative cap on, maybe hang a picture over it.
Yesterday I heard a strange noise that sounded a lot like an animal trying to get in the house, but the most obvious route--the air conditioner--was in the exact same condition it always was. Our cat Archie freaked out however and went right to the window next to where the Christmas tree used to be (don't ask how recently), which is just to the left of the brickwork and the TV.
Today I heard the noise again, much louder, and I saw Archie run to the window. I ran right downstairs but instead of seeing something at the window worth catching his interest, I saw a gap in the duct tape covering the stove pipe. Behind the gap, partially in darkness, I could see the head of a squirrel.
If you've never had a squirrel in your house you're lucky. I'm normally pleasantly disposed toward them and have been throwing peanuts out for them in the front yard, mostly so the cats will have something to watch. But one winter while living in the mobile home where I grew up, we got a squirrel under the home and its chewing at all hours was maddening. They are destructive and persistent.
After scaring away the squirrel temporarily, I kept a wary eye on the hole and ran to grab the dwindling roll of duct tape from a shelf by the basement steps. With it I hastily repaired the cover over the duct, but the squirrel was still bent on getting in. I flicked the tape a few times, which sounded like the head of a drum, and was left to ponder how I could stop the squirrel from gaining entry. Lacking the tools or material or expertise to come up with a truly good solution, I'd have to do something crappy and half-baked.
Salvation: When I put up our first set of DVD shelves, the fact that we were using them for DVDs and not any CDs or anything meant I had fully a dozen shelf boards left over. I took two of those and duct taped them to the brick. The hope is that even if the squirrel continues chewing and pulling away the duct tape over the pipe, he'll be stopped by the barrier. I just have to hope he doesn't have the body weight to render that barrier moot. I'll be keeping an ear out for trouble.
Awesome post... I'll share a few of my experiences:
- When we first moved to Idaho, the ducks would somewhat freely roam around the neighborhood. One such duck even took refuge under one of our bushes and nested there. Unfortunately, she did not return the next year. - We originally lived next to the creek, and we had a pair of raccoons who would dine nightly on the dog food we left outside. This went on for a whole summer, but one day they stopped showing up. We suspect that they were hit by a car on the busy street about three blocks away. - It was cute to think that a beaver was living on our property and it was a fun challenge to catch on video this elusive creature. However, this fun little creature became a nuisance when we discovered the damage he had done to our property. While other neighbors had damage to their trees, our lawn started sinking into the creek because of this beaver. Apparently, the beaver dug quite a network of tunnels about two feet under and covering about 300 square feet. We called animal services and he was relocated... just in case, we filled the entry to the tunnels with bricks. I just realized that I have about eight or so more animal stories... three will be enough for now ;). | |
A friend of mine had a temporary beach house where he lived while working at a nearby construction site. The "beach house" was, in fact, an old abandoned school that he'd worked over into a residence. He wasn't too concerned about its wellbeing since he planned to bulldoze it after the construction was done anyway.
One night he discovered that some form of large rodents were occupying a space under the floor not too far from his bedroom. His solution? Unload a clip from a semi-automatic rifle into the floor. Throw a piece of plywood over it - problem solved. Another thing, my mother feeds the squirrels at her house routinely, and has been known on several occasions to be attacked by squirrels leaping at or onto her in an effort to get more peanuts. Squirrels are scary. | |
I called my dad for options on dealing with the problem since the sucker started chewing through the boards I put up--I knew it wouldn't hold him forever. According to him, the squirrel probably got in the chimney (which either wasn't capped or had its cap dislodged over the winter) and was stuck there. Since he used to be a chimney sweep, he told me to look for a cleanout door on the outside of the house, at the base of the chimney. I opened that, and that should give the squirrel a way to exit without getting into the house or (possibly worse) dying in the pipe. Unfortunately I have no way of knowing if the little varmint gets out except by the absence of any sound.
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Foomer wrote:
Another thing, my mother feeds the squirrels at her house routinely, and has been known on several occasions to be attacked by squirrels leaping at or onto her in an effort to get more peanuts. You've inspired me. | |
It's been an hour now since I opened the cleanout door and since then I haven't heard any more noises coming from behind the barrier. It might be too soon to tell, but I'm hopeful the squirrel has finally moved on.
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Lame. Tiberath has been holding off much more fearsome beasties for weeks now. What say you?
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Tib would. I used to know a guy in Australia whose house regularly had a huntsman spider the size of a human hand living there. I'd argue, though, that his nemeses are not as destructive as squirrels.
My wooden barrier finally fell down a few minutes ago, fortunately not taking out the TV with it. Duct tape, it turns out, is not ideal for securing anything remotely heavy to painted brick. The paint is, thankfully, still intact. I put a little more duct tape over the pipe just to be safe. I think the problem is resolved, but now I'm out of duct tape. | |
I imagine it might be difficult to find something to position it vertically, but could you place a cage trap at the stove pipe hole with some food? If so, you'd have evidence of the squirrel leaving.
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Huntsman spiders aren't threatening. There's no poison to them, they're just really, really big. The other day we let an "insect bomb" off in my Nana's shed to kill the spiders (red backs, white tales, wolf spiders and huntsmen), there was literally, a wolf spider the size of my hand and a huntsman the size of my face! That thing was huge and was probably the third generation of Huntsman to live there all it's life.
As for squirrels. We have two kinds of possum roaming around our house, Brushtail and Ringtail possums. I've only ever seen Ringtail either hiding in trees or running the fence border of our house. The brush tail however, (as described in linked article) is quite the little menace when it wants to be. There have been occasions when a Brush Tail has either accosted me for food (I'd be sitting outside enjoying the darkness and one would run up to me and claw at my feet), attacking us (mother needled down to give one some food, it took the food, ate it, than leaped at her arm, giving her a firm bite) or entering the premises (we leave the back door open a lot, because the mother is either in her shed with the ironing or I just forget to close it). Not to mention abnormal situations with Koalas... Animals are just so much fun, aren't they? =) | |
Animals are just so much fun, aren't they? =) Possums are only fun when they're at someone else's house. Thank god for possum/cat traps and long dirt roads. | |
Anyways good luck with squirrel security!