We haven’t quite won the battle over ownership of the cottage. It’s like the squirrel has allowed us to visit periodically over the summer, but she isn’t about to vacate so that we can have the place to ourselves. I thought she was gone after our initial seasonal arrival weekend. We made enough noise to scare anything away. After a few weeks of Pam screaming at me from the rafters, she seemed to exit the premises. But no, Pam is still there, making her presence known (I decided that was her name one day. It seemed to fit). And she is still doing construction.
I know we
have to get the squirrels out of our cottage. I mean, they are likely to chew
wires and leave piles of squirrel poop everywhere, aren’t they? When she kept
appearing inside the house, I alerted my husband (translation: nagged him
repeatedly). I bought a squirrel deterrent kit and he got up on a ladder to
install it. Basically this involved stuffing a large amount of very fine steel
wool in the common entry points. The problem is, there are many more access
points in our cottage. Basically we are living in a large birdhouse that is
full of gaps. When you stand in the kitchen you can feel a breeze even when the
windows are closed!
Pam has
chirped at us as we lay in bed, huddled under the protection of our mosquito /
squirrel nets. She has stolen toilet paper, ear plugs, dog food and socks. She
has hammered and scraped up there in the rafters in the wee hours of the
morning, dropping wood shavings on the people sleeping below. When we went for
a walk, she went into the dining room and peed on the floor. That was a pretty
nasty calling card. It’s time for Pam to go.
Being
farmers, we have a variety of live traps at our disposal. I already know Pam
likes dog food. We will set the trap, catch Pam, and move her to another
location. Then when we know she is gone we will try to find the other main
entry points and close them up so no other squirrels decide to move in.
Time is of
the essence. We have a very determined squirrel and that can only mean one thing.
She is getting ready to birth litter #2 for the summer of 2021. She likes the
cottage my husband built, and she likely had her spring litter in our attic. I
read that squirrels can chew through electrical wires and burn your house down
if you let them settle. This means war, Pam. Pack your bags.
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