This is not about iron or the Norse either.
Here at Wareham, I have squirrels in the attic.
(Some might say *I* show 'squirrels in the attic', but that is another matter.)
It sure beats raccoons in the attic.
(I also have skunks denning under the house foundation from the workshop, but yet again...)
Now, I kind of like the red squirrels. They really don't do that much damage upstairs, mainly coming in through small holes that more are less there already. Piles of pine cones, but not that hard to clean those up once a year. (Again, not like raccoons. Who are horribly destructive. And filthy. And toxic.)
There look to be a pair of red squirrels. They don't co-operate with each other. They do manage to pretty quickly empty the bird feeder.
(Sorry for the image quality. These shot with a zoom lens from the other side of a glass door.)
One night last winter, I was surprised by one of *these* little guys!
I had to double check to be sure, but it turns out these are flying squirrels.
Saw this just once last winter, but several times this season so far:
You can see that there are in fact *two* of them, nicely sharing the feeder. A breeding pair? I can sure hope so.
These are the first flying squirrels I am certain of seeing ever before. I'd like to encourage them to take up residence and stick around.
Of course the problem there is that the raccoons *also* have known about this feeder for generations now. I've taken to taking the feeder in at night to stop those bastards. (Who are 'trap smart', as are the skunks.)
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I had a squirrel in my attic once; a big gray squirrel, not one of these cute brown ones.
If the squirrel had stayed in the attic, it wouldn't have been so bad. This squirrel roamed through our house when we were away. We could tell by the scat he left, and by his attempts to steal a jar of peanut butter and a can of peanuts we'd left on a kitchen counter. (I didn't know before then that squirrels are crazy about peanut butter, but they are. This one managed to wrestle a glass jar with about 1 inch of peanut butter from the kitchen into the basement.)
We tracked down a guy who, for a fee, will humanely catch such critters and take them back to the wild several counties away. I'm glad he didn't have to kill or hurt the squirrel, but all the same I'm glad it's gone!
Trap Smart Skunks and Racoons
For live trapping skunks I have had good luck with putting a heavy dark blanket over the trap with only the door open. A can of tuna fish as the bait worked well. Blanket hides the trap and calms the skunk for transfer. I wait until mid day to take the skunk far away then release.
Racoons similar although I have not had to use the blanket. I am sure they will tear it up tremendously and possibly gum up the workings of the trap. Peanut butter may work as well or fishy cat food.
I think I read some place that racoons can travel up to 20 km in a night and they do try to find their way home.
The flying squirrels are cute and a surprising addition. Any squirrels can be annoying when they are running over your head when you are trying to sleep.
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