Squirrel Saga Part 2 (Headed Nowhere)

So I walked out and found a baby squirrel stuck hanging out of our attic. It was in the same hole that the adult squirrel had been chewing on two days before. So I start taking pictures, shooting some video, and basically just watching, hoping I would catch the moment it would free itself. Well...after a few minutes, it was obvious that this wasn't a casual stuck, and I didn't catch it at some intermediate point of escape. It was stuck! The mom was there working on trying to pull it out. The baby was trying to claw its way out. It was sad...but still worthy of documentation.

So if you have any feelings at all...don't watch the following video. If you are male...and are void of all emotion...here is some footage of the momma squirrel trying to get the baby squirrel out of the hole.



So I start making calls to see who can come take care of the squirrels. I try pest control places, I try animal control, I'm reading things on the internet. Of course everyone has an opinion on what works and doesn't work with getting squirrels out of the attic. But there is no advice for when they get stuck! But there is a good deal about dealing with trapping the momma and the babies dying in your attic. That was universally a bad thing. So I started worrying about this. I didn't want someone to come out and keep the mom out while other squirrels died in our attic. Most of the calls were unfruitful. In the video, you might hear some music during part of it. That's me on hold. A few places say they'll call me back with a quote, several say they don't do squirrels. Of the ones that do, most say they can't make it out today. I'm not heartless...I knew a baby squirrel was not going to survive the day up there. So that was a deal breaker. Got a hold of one guy who said he could come out the next day. I told him I didn't think the squirrel was going to make it so I was going to keep calling around. He told me...well...if it's really stuck, we might be able to get out there today. But I doubt it's really stuck. It's hard for a squirrel to get stuck. They can get in and out of very tight places. He implied that if the squirrel was there...it's because it wanted to be there. I assured him that I had been watching for two hours, and this squirrel was stuck! He gave me the "well, you're looking at it, I'm not" cop out, but I still didn't think he believed me. His prices were a bit steep (or on the upper end), so I told him I'd call back. A few other places gave me quotes for the trapping and removal of squirrels, but they were based on the number of squirrels to be removed and didn't seem to cover patching their entry points. I had read that squirrels can have liters of 1 to 3 babies, and I didn't know if the big squirrel pulling was momma or daddy. So I didn't know how many squirrels they would find. If they have to take 5 away, I'm better off going with the first guy's who gave me a one time fee, but it was "all inclusive" with a 10 year guarantee.

So...I call the guy and he sets me up for an appointment in a couple of hours. I haven't been to work yet, so I go for like an hour, and then come home. During this entire process I've been trying to work out the time table in my head. The big squirrel was chewing on stuff like 3 days ago. The baby squirrels were definitely older than a couple of days. They were ready to get out and start vandalizing the neighborhood. But if it was the mom making the hole...how did she get out? If it was the dad...how did the Mom get in? Was the baby getting in or out of the hole when getting stuck? I had been up in the attic and couldn't see any traces of rodents, though the over hang is in the corner and it's hard to see down into the little area. And lets face it...I'm not going to go crawling around that area of the attic if there are squirrels with a potential protective mother up there. But it seemed like the baby was coming out, not trying to get in. And while watching the stuck squirrel, I was fairly certain that there was another squirrel above it in the attic. I heard scratching when the stuck squirrel was still, and I saw some fur out of a nearby grate hole that I don't think could have been the stuck squirrel's head. So...how did they get in, if they couldn't get out?!? The only thing I could figure is that getting in required some acrobatic feat that is too much for the baby squirrels, but could be achieved by an adult. So when it was time for them to leave, they couldn't get out the way momma got in. So she made a new hole. I kept watching her leave the scene when I came around, hoping she would enter the house revealing her secret entrance. She never did. So I could never figure out how she got in in the first place. But the guy coming out was supposed to do a complete sweep and plug any holes, so I figured I'd have my answer later.

So the guy comes out. I show him the hanging squirrel, and he was astonished (who wouldn't be). It wasn't the guy I was on the phone with, but I felt vindicated that it would at least be a story back at the office. So their process is to start at one corner and check for entry points. When he got to the baby squirrel he had to cut some more grates around it to free it. I didn't feel right video taping the guy doing this, so I have no documentation. The baby squirrel did come out pretty weak looking, and I didn't see what he did with him/her (I didn't study any of the pictures that closely), but he said it was pretty weak and didn't think it was going to make it. So, that's the sad part of the tale. I did feel somewhat attached by the end of the day. But...I don't know what else I could have done. I had tried seeing if there was something I could do from the nearest window, but even if I were to fashion something to try to help hold it up (or pull it out), I would have to leave the window open. And we already discussed priority ONE!

So he continues checking the rest of the house. He finds Nothing. No entry point. Nothing but the obvious one. His guess was that there was an entry point in gutter, but he couldn't get the gutter guard off to inspect. So he sealed the gutter off (I guess there was a place to get under the guard) and put an excluder over the visible hole. The idea being, if the gutter was blocked, they'd be forced out the current hole (he DID open it some more to let them out). An excluder lets them leave but keeps them from coming back in. He also goes into the attic because I tell him I think there's more up there, but he can find little traces that they are up there. At first he was saying that he saw no traces. Generally they tear up insulation, chew on wires, defecate everywhere. Wasn't seeing it. When he went to the corner, I guess he saw a little bit of evidence, but still not a lot. So in the midst of the tragedy for the squirrel, I am again relieved. It could have been a lot worse. But I guess we somehow caught it early (yet late enough for a squirrel to give birth and for them to grow up enough to leave!).

ANYway...he says our house it tighter than any he's seen, and all he can really do is put some traps on the roof, and the excluder over the hole. I ask about traps in the attic, and he says that's a mistake because they can get trapped and then start rolling around and tearing stuff up. Early in his career he put a trap in an attic for a racoon, and it did $3,000 worth of damage. So they don't do that. But then he put traps on the roof, and I asked "Can't they just roll off when they get caught?" and he said, "No, I've got a screw in them securing them." So I was wondering why you couldn't screw down the trap in the attic. But...I didn't argue further.

So things were going well (besides paying a large sum for a guy to say that our house is like a fortress (my words)). He said he'd be back in a couple of days for the traps and to put a steel cover over the hole but to call him if we hear anything else. So besides the money thing, we are feeling better about the situation.

After he left I could see that the hole was stuffed with insulation, and I thought I could hear some noises inside the attic. The momma was still hanging around, and would just play with the traps. So I was sure there were more, and was just hoping that they would find their way out. So I go out the next day and the hole is clear of pink insulation, and I didn't see the momma around anywhere. I was excited that another one made it out, and it appeared that mom and child had gone off to make a new home elsewhere (I was a little worried that she would start a new hole). The next two days we heard no more noises, never saw momma squirrel, and felt sure that the nightmare was over.

Monday (labor day)...we hear noise in the attic.