Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your wall!

[Aoife]

Re: Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your w

I'm hoping that by now your visitor has been evicted, but if not, look on the bright side: it doesn't sound as though it's a flying squirrel, or worse, a bat.

When we lived in Michigan, one of our neighbors would wake up periodically to find a flying squirrel cruising around the bedroom, and it took many traps and visits from a wildlife control specialist to catch the squirrel and then find out where it was getting into the house.

We had kind of an ongoing issue with mice, which the cat we had at the time usually took care of. We would know there were mice scuttling around by the way the cat hunkered down to watch a wall, or the refrigerator, or something, and in the morning we would come downstairs, and there would be a little body, not a mark on it, neatly arranged on the doormat by the kitchen door. Always the same place, except for one memorable time we woke up at two in the morning to find that Lilly had brought her prize onto the foot of our bed to entertain herself with. It was still, barely, alive.

Then there was the bat who crawled down the chimney and hung out on the drapes until the wildlife control guy caught him....

So it could be worse! Did you offer your visitor a glass of the pinot grigio to go with his snacks?

Seriously, good luck, and I hope it's all resolved very shortly!

 

[lliang_chi]

Re: Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your w

OMG, I had a bat incident during my honeymoon in South Africa. I was peeing in the bathroom, and heard flap-flap-flap-ing. I thought it was a bird. Then I saw something fly just above me (in my periphery vision). I look up, and it's a BAT!!!! I ran out into the bedroom and shut the door. We had to ask the staff to do something, he opened the door, looked around and said, "it looks like he left." We slept with the bathroom door CLOSED that night.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Re: Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your w

I am thrilled to report... IT'S A MOUSE! IT'S ONLY A MOUSE!!! NOT A CAT, NOT A RAT, NOT A BAT!!! ONLY A MOUSE!!!!!

Insert crazy happy dance here -- which looks something like a combination of the maccarana and the electric slide!

Well, OK, as I have been informed, it's not JUST a MOUSE, it's mousES. Mice. Meese. Eek. Because no one gets just one mouse. But at least it's not ratS. Or Reese.

Where's that "WHEW!!!" emoticon when you need it?!?

Appropriate measures are being taken for the rest of the population, and memorial services were held in the garbage can in the alley behind my garage in the early morning hours for the first of the mousketeers to go to the Great Mickey Mansion in the Sky. Rest in peace, dear Mortimer.

 

[ksinger]

Re: Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your w

I am thrilled to report... IT'S A MOUSE! IT'S ONLY A MOUSE!!! NOT A CAT, NOT A RAT, NOT A BAT!!! ONLY A MOUSE!!!!!

Insert crazy happy dance here -- which looks something like a combination of the maccarana and the electric slide!

Well, OK, as I have been informed, it's not JUST a MOUSE, it's mousES. Mice. Meese. Eek. Because no one gets just one mouse. But at least it's not ratS. Or Reese.

Where's that "WHEW!!!" emoticon when you need it?!?

Appropriate measures are being taken for the rest of the population, and memorial services were held in the garbage can in the alley behind my garage in the early morning hours for the first of the mousketeers to go to the Great Mickey Mansion in the Sky. Rest in peace, dear Mortimer.

As someone with 21 "fatalities" earlier this year, I can tell you that Victor traps are the best. (And our "population" was due to birdfeeders near the house: birds are messy and scatter seeds on the ground. MMM!! Smorgasbord for meeses...)

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Re: Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your w

So glad to hear it's just a mouse! Though I had so much fun reading this thread that I'm sort of sad the mystery has been solved Please continue writing about your mouse adventures!

What is it about bird seed that mice like so much?? We keep some bird seed in our pantry since I like to keep our bird feeders stocked this time of year. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that mice had chewed through the bird seed bag. I can't seem to find evidence of them getting to any other food in the pantry (who prefers bird seed over Oreos??)

I bought two of the no-kill traps and being the marketing analyst that I am, decided to do a little test. I put girl scout cookies in one trap and bird seed in the other trap. The first night I caught 3 mice in the bird seed trap and 0 in the girl scout cookie trap. What a waste of girl scout cookies.

Now I'm really interested in the food color test to find out if I just keep catching the same mice!

 

[somethingshiny]

Re: Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your w

Yeah, unfortunately, mice don't come alone. Their whole families come with them. And they can sound like a heard of elephants in the walls. Glad you caught the instigator, now for the rest of his friends!

 

[dragonfly411]

Re: Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your w

I am thrilled to report... IT'S A MOUSE! IT'S ONLY A MOUSE!!! NOT A CAT, NOT A RAT, NOT A BAT!!! ONLY A MOUSE!!!!!

Insert crazy happy dance here -- which looks something like a combination of the maccarana and the electric slide!

Well, OK, as I have been informed, it's not JUST a MOUSE, it's mousES. Mice. Meese. Eek. Because no one gets just one mouse. But at least it's not ratS. Or Reese.

Where's that "WHEW!!!" emoticon when you need it?!?

Appropriate measures are being taken for the rest of the population, and memorial services were held in the garbage can in the alley behind my garage in the early morning hours for the first of the mousketeers to go to the Great Mickey Mansion in the Sky. Rest in peace, dear Mortimer.

Would that dance be Futterwacking ?

 

[LGK]

Re: Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your w

I did just about die laughing at the Thing In the Wall process. I'm so glad Thinglet turned out to be a wee mousie, and not a gigantor possum or rat or something. Hopefully Thinglet's family will be removed just as quickly. It's amazing how clever wee mousies can be about stealing food off traps!

Whilst we are sharing our critter experiences...

Years ago, I'd moved back in with my mom between freshman and sophomore year of college. We had a ground floor apartment. Mom liked to leave her bedroom window open so the cat could come and go. Well, one night at like 2 AM or so, mom came charging into my bedroom like the apocalypse was nigh. She said that a freaking POSSUM had crept in the window and installed itself in her room. So, equipped with naught but brooms, we went on a possum evicting quest. It was scary- who knew possums had so many freaking teeth? Or hissed? They look like rats, but uglier and meaner. So we were all freaked out and trying to possum-herd the thing out the front door, amidst all sorts of tooth baring hisses. (Sharks do not have as many teeth as an angry possum at 2AM).

We finally had to huck the possum out the door- mom ended up doing it. Just grabbed it around it's fat middle and heaved. She was totally squicked- said it was all scrubby furred and hard and icky feeling. So after doing the Ew I Touched a Possum dance for awhile, eventually we calmed down and went back to bed. She had settled in and finally relaxed enough to go to sleep when... skritch skritch skritch under the bed.

I came to investigate with her, with flashlight, and sure enough- glowing red eyeballs under the bed! POSSUM HAD COME WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND. Ew.

We holed up in my room for the remainder of the night, and proceeded with Possum Eviction Part Deux in the morning. The not-2AM-variety. It was totally traumatic. Mom is now offically possum-phobic.

Her husband (she married him a few years post-possum-incident) kept threatening to buy her a possum for Xmas one year, since obviously the possum is her "totem animal" and she must clearly have a spiritual affinity for them since they wanted to be with her so badly. (Tongue firmly in cheek obvously.)

He kept up the "I'm gonna go get the possum now!" joke until he actually went to fetch something. Mom was a bit worried by this time I think, my stepfather has quite a sense of humor. So he finally came back and produced the "possum"- it was this cute little ivory carved Harmony Kingdom box in the form of, you guessed it, a possum. It currently sits on her dresser holding earrings, lol.

 

[somethingshiny]

Re: Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your w

lgk~fantastic addition to this thread!!! Maybe I'll add my squirrel capture when my hands aren't so full.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Re: Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your w

LOL LGK! And Shiny, please post your tale!

There have been no additional memorial services to host today, but perhaps tommorrow (not that that I'm looking forward to that... )

I knocked on my neighbor's door to tell them that there was a visitor in our shared wall. Their teenage son answered and I explained the situation, but he didn't seem very interested. I also asked where they keep their dog food (they have two cocker spaniels) and he didn't know. He lives in the house with two dogs and doesn't know where the food is kept?!? Oh well, I hope they don't blame me when they have to hire a bunch of matchbox sized hearsts to cart their unfortunate visitors out to the dumpster!

(Insert a low playing tinny version of taps here... )

 

[ksinger]

Re: Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your w

LOL LGK! And Shiny, please post your tale!

There have been no additional memorial services to host today, but perhaps tommorrow (not that that I'm looking forward to that... )

I knocked on my neighbor's door to tell them that there was a visitor in our shared wall. Their teenage son answered and I explained the situation, but he didn't seem very interested. I also asked where they keep their dog food (they have two cocker spaniels) and he didn't know. He lives in the house with two dogs and doesn't know where the food is kept?!? Oh well, I hope they don't blame me when they have to hire a bunch of matchbox sized hearsts to cart their unfortunate visitors out to the dumpster!

(Insert a low playing tinny version of taps here... )

LOL! Dee*Jay, at the height of "the great mouse-count", we had like...2 or three a DAY. I posted a daily total that was followed by my appalled FB friends. Pretty funny stuff. I hasten to say that all of our mice were OUTSIDE, around the house, but mainly in the garage. My husband had left a bag of birdseed down on the garage floor (and yes, he KNEW better...) and it was just too much for them. When we realized we had a few, removed the birdseed, and started putting out the yummy traps with peanut butter, it became clear we had a whole fam damly of 'em.

We haven't seen any for a really long time now....

 

[Dee*Jay]

Re: Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your w

Nothing new to report this morning, which I find very very strange. Maybe it really was one loan mouse? For some reason the song "Desperado" comes to mind...


Mousperado, why don't you come to your senses?
You've been out climbin' fences
For so long now.
Ohh you're a furry one.
I know that you've got your reasons.
These cheese that is pleasin' you
Can hurt you somehow.

Mouuuuuuuusperado...

 

[somethingshiny]

Re: Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your w

The great squirrel capture

I was at my mom's house one afternoon in the fall a few years ago. I was 5-6 months pregnant with my son. We had the doors swung wide open to bring in the breeze. My mom had a cat that was quite the hunter. I saw the cat carrying something rather larger into the house. My mom never shuts up so it took a minute to get her attention. Just as she was seeing what the cat had dragged in, from a safe distance of course, the cat ran up the stairs. Great. Now there is something dead upstairs.

For some reason, I was elected to go find it. Probably because my mom gets 2 votes when it's her house and I was the only other person there. I argued that I should be allowed two votes since I had another person in me. I was vetoed by her mandatory two votes. Anyway, I carefully tread upstairs, looking for a blood trail. But there's no blood anywhere. I began looking in the bedrooms, under the bed, behind the door, any little hidey holes I could think of. No dead thing.

Finally, I came to my baby sister's room. She was probably 16 at the time and at school. I saw something on the floor and went to investigate. Nope, just some junk that teenaged girls have lying around. I realized this room would take longer to search. As I am tiptoeing through her mess something moves. Effing great. As I get closer, I identify the victim as a small squirrel. I also recognize that the victim was still alive. As soon as I approached, the cat streaked from under the bed and smacked the squirrel down again. The squirrel made some god-awful noise and I backed out and slammed the door.

I go calmly back downstairs and sit at the kitchen table. I turn to my mother, "your turn." Her eyes widen. "Well what the hell does she have up there??!!" "It's a squirrel that hasn't given up." "Oh sh!t." "You're right!"

As we assessed the situation, the commotion upstairs continued. Could we call my dad? No, he was too far away. How bout my brother? Nope, at work. My husband? Yeah, that would go over really well. "Honey, please drive 30 mins to my mom's house to chase out a varment." Okay, what about a neighbor? There's an idea!! She goes out to ask the man next door. He laughed, apparently he thought it was a joke. A$$hat.

Obviously this is still up to us. Fine. Again I was elected to evict the victim. I snuck upstairs. For some reason, I though stealth was necessary. idk. I opened the door and ducked inside before slamming the door again. Okay, this plan wasn't so well thought out. The squirrel is breathing hard in the corner and the psychotic cat is watching it. I decide to chuck out the cat so she doesn't rip me apart when she continues to play with her food. FLUMP. That was a little harder than I anticipated, I don't know my own strength when the adrenaline is pumping.

I glance around the room to find some sort of containment device. Aha! I spotted a book bag. The squirrel looks almost finished so I just lob the bag over it. I use a shoe to to lift the flap of the bag and zipper it shut. I take a sigh of relief. I'll just take it downstairs and let it out in the yard. I don't know if it'll live, but at least the cat won't be after it.

As I am walking down the stairs, the squirrel gets its second wind and begins some sort of tornado ninja move in the bag. I freak the eff out and fall into the wall and then continue to slide down the stairs. I stand up and make sure I'm all right. Oh no, I notice the bag has become part way unzipped! I carefully hold the bag out in front of me like it's the world's biggest stinky diaper. I hit the bottom step and the damn thing starts its tae kwon do again. I freak the eff out again and throw the bag as hard as I can out the back door. I made good distance, it went the last few feet through the house and probably 15 feet into the yard.

My mom and I watch for the squirrel to come out of the bag. I know there's enough room through the part that got unzipped. waiting waiting. still waiting waiting. Someone is going to have to let it out. Guess who that someone is. Yup, me again.

Cautiously I tilt the bag to coax him out the hole. He's very still. I tilt the bag more and FLUMP. He falls dead in the yard. I killed him. Apparently getting thrown and landing hard was enough to finish him off. I brought the bag back inside and asked my mom what she wanted me to do with it. Throw it away? My mom, ever the evil-genius, says "No, we'll wash it and put it back in L's room! Don't tell her what we used it for!"

And the story of how my sis found out that her bag was once a ninja squirrel's last home is for another day.

 

[packrat]

Re: Scratch scratch scratch - Hello! I'm THE THING in your w

I'm glad it's just mice in the wall! We've had a couple get in the house-one came running out from under the sink and was scurrying across the kitchen floor towards where I was sitting, so I moved a little and it skidded to a stop and was like running in place trying so hard to get back under the sink and ohh it was so funny. Britta killed it and left it under my computer desk for me..ahh kitty love.

NEL..I'm concerned about the GS cookies..please tell me you didn't waste any Thin Mints. They only come around once a year you know.