Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! I certainly hope the Luck of the Irish is with us today. Eliot and I are 24 hours in to what I've dubbed as "Squirrel-Gate". Yesterday, when I came home from sewing class, I discovered we had a red squirrel in our house- specifically my office. Since then, it seems as if time has come to a complete stand still.
I immediately called Eliot and told him to come home. Then, I called my parents who told me to close the door to block the squirrel in there. I did reluctantly, as that's the one room of the house that's mostly remained untouched since we moved in. I still have piles of boxes and stuff that we stored in there where it'd be "safe"... or so we thought. I'm going crazy trying not to stress about what he could be destroying in there. I have so many collectible things and dolls in there waiting to be put in their spots in my office or in other rooms of the house- not to mention my art supplies.
Long story short, Eliot came home with a live trap that he bought at Home Depot. We set it with peanut butter and graham crackers but the squirrel won't go in it. (Or if he has, he's not setting it off.) Yesterday, he freaked out a few times when he realized he was trapped in there. We could hear it bouncing around and knocking things over. At one point, I even saw his paw from under the door while he was frantically scratching at the door trying to find a way back out.
After hours of sitting quietly in the living room, we ended up going into Biddeford to Walmart right before they closed to see if we could get another trap. They didn't have any, but we picked up a few other supplies: steel wool, peanuts, and gloves. He still wasn't in the trap when we got home. After a few more hours of hoping we'd hear the trap go off, we went to bed thinking that he'd get hungry at some point and go inside.
This morning all of those hopes went out the window when we saw the trap was still set. There was a bunch of "sawdust" outside the door and right inside it. Apparently, he was trying to claw his way out under my door where I saw his paw. The inside has a hole big enough for a squirrel to fit in, but he didn't make it through all the way.
So Eliot and I went to our next plan, opening the window and the screen. He hasn't budged, but we do think he's still in there. Eliot's already called a few pest control people and we've got one on standby in case nothing else works.
Eliot is currently filling up the containers we bought at Walmart with stuff inside my office. He's hoping if we can clear some stuff out, that the squirrel won't have as many places to hide. Plus, we'll be disinfecting and cleaning everything before we put it anywhere else. At least in the containers, it's all contained safely away for when we have time to clean and disinfect everything.
We haven't heard a peep today. Eliot and I are not even sure if it's still alive. We've read varying reports online about how long they can go without water. We've upped the ante since he won't go out of the window willingly. I've been blasting the Hamilton soundtrack and making tons of noise cleaning things in the kitchen. We also put my cell phone in my office playing really high pitched noises that squirrels hate from Youtube. I'm kind of shocked that he hasn't found the window now that the house is getting obnoxious. That's why I'm wondering now if he's even able to get out or if he's already succumbing to not having any water for 24 hours.
We just don't know what to do. We really thought we'd be able to catch and release him and that would be that. I'd hate for him to die because he got trapped inside of my house. I'm usually such a huge lover of squirrels. They're cute and I love to watch them scurrying around the yard. But they're not cute inside of my house. As Eliot said, "there's a special place in hell for this squirrel" after the stress and trouble he's caused.
This is a huge inconvenience, but I'm trying to stay positive. I'm hoping this is just the universe's way of forcing our hand to get us cleaning my office and to work on the house more. We'll have to clean and organize a lot of stuff while we're trying to figure out how the heck he got in here. We've walked around the outside of the house twice and nothing looks out of place. The only idea we have is that he somehow got in through the attic. There aren't any holes or openings in the siding. We don't have any trees close to the house that he could have jumped from. We're completely at a loss...
Here's hoping our St. Patrick's Day is filled with a little bit of luck. Eliot and I don't want much, just for the squirrel to get out of the house (preferably alive and safely) without much more hassle. I'm off to Walmart to buy more containers since Eliot's run out of them. Meanwhile, Eliot will be here waiting and hoping that the squirrel will finally go out the window. And both of us will be praying that he hasn't done much damage in my office. I wish you all a wonderful St. Patrick's Day, and one free from squirrels! °o°
