A Young Squatter Squirrel
If you've been following this blog, you know we had a mama squirrel and her babies living in our attic space through the winter and spring. We constantly heard mama running across our ceilings all winter and suspected that she was making a nest for babies. Then, in early spring, the pitter-patter of little feet across our ceilings did indeed foretell the arrival of some babies.
We then found a few areas around our roof and facia where the mama squirrel was entering and exiting the attic space and closed those access points. We caught and released mama but soon found that the babies were difficult to catch.
I think the babies had difficulty finding their way from the ceiling areas between ceiling joists to the attic space where we positioned the trap. When the babies gained more mobility, two of them eventually found their way to the trap following the sweet aroma of some hot peanuts and peanut butter. Again, we released both of these young squirrels in our yard, under the supervision of mama squirrel who watched from the tree over our shed. Hopefully mama squirrel hooked up with her young ones and showed them the ropes to help in their survival in the wild.
We still had one baby squirrel seemingly trapped in our attic space. Actually, I think this one baby couldn't find its way from the insulated areas inside the ceilings and between our ceiling joists to the open attic space directly above. Mama squirrel knew where the access point was but I doubt she had already shown her babies where this access point was located. So this last baby squirrel had difficulties finding its way out to the sweet aromas of hot peanuts that we provided in our Havahart squirrel trap.
Months went by and we hardly heard a peep from this last squatter in our attic. Eventually we forgot about this little guy... until this morning....
Sheila awoke to a lot of noise coming from either behind the house at the shed or in our attic space. She went outside to the shed and she could clearly hear that an animal was trapped inside the Havahart trap up in our attic space.
Additionally, our neighbor's cat... who prefers following me around wherever I go rather than spending time at our neighbor's house... and leaves little gifts for me at my car door (field mice)... was perched up on a saw horse behind our house looking at the attic space, also wondering about all the commotion.
So, I pulled out the extension ladder to gain access to our attic space... I climbed up there as I heard the clear signs of some little critter trying to get out of the trap. I opened the little door at the gable peak to find the last remaining squatter... mama's third young one! Well, we think this third young squirrel is the last of the litter.
After placing the trap down on the lawn and wondering what this young squirrel must be thinking as it sees, for the first time, sky with a misty rain falling (hey... it's Waterbury... it rains everyday), towering green trees, people, buildings, and the lush, green, wet grass on which I placed the trap. All this little young one knows is dark, dusty spaces of wood, drywall, and fiberglass insulation!
I took a walk around the house again searching for any new entrances to our attic space. I certainly didn't want to let this young one loose only to hear the pitter-patter of little feet in our attic space again simply because I missed closing up an open access point. I climbed up on the wet roof and inspected the roof... I could not find any obvious access points.
It was time to let this little one loose. This time, however, mama squirrel was not perched in her tree watching me release her third little one. With all the wet weather and dreariness out there, I wasn't all that surprised though. I lifted up one of the trap doors... the little one hesitated... then hopped out of the trap and feeling the wet grass for the first time in its life... unsure where to run, or even if running was necessary... then jumped into some brush directly to its left.
This little one seemed so unsure of itself that I can't help but wonder if it can survive in the wild. Would it know how to build itself a nest? Would it know where to find food? Would it know how to find food other than the hoards of seeds and nuts mama squirrel left behind in our attic space? Would it know to run and hide from a predator? This little one spent most of its life alone in our ceilings so how much has it learned about survival?
Maybe mama squirrel was watching me from a discrete, dry place as her little one finally found its way out of our enclosed attic space. It will be interesting to see if I can spot this family feasting on our next door neighbor's bird feeders...
We then found a few areas around our roof and facia where the mama squirrel was entering and exiting the attic space and closed those access points. We caught and released mama but soon found that the babies were difficult to catch.
I think the babies had difficulty finding their way from the ceiling areas between ceiling joists to the attic space where we positioned the trap. When the babies gained more mobility, two of them eventually found their way to the trap following the sweet aroma of some hot peanuts and peanut butter. Again, we released both of these young squirrels in our yard, under the supervision of mama squirrel who watched from the tree over our shed. Hopefully mama squirrel hooked up with her young ones and showed them the ropes to help in their survival in the wild.
We still had one baby squirrel seemingly trapped in our attic space. Actually, I think this one baby couldn't find its way from the insulated areas inside the ceilings and between our ceiling joists to the open attic space directly above. Mama squirrel knew where the access point was but I doubt she had already shown her babies where this access point was located. So this last baby squirrel had difficulties finding its way out to the sweet aromas of hot peanuts that we provided in our Havahart squirrel trap.
Months went by and we hardly heard a peep from this last squatter in our attic. Eventually we forgot about this little guy... until this morning....
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| The third baby squirrel is now a bigger young one! |
Additionally, our neighbor's cat... who prefers following me around wherever I go rather than spending time at our neighbor's house... and leaves little gifts for me at my car door (field mice)... was perched up on a saw horse behind our house looking at the attic space, also wondering about all the commotion.
So, I pulled out the extension ladder to gain access to our attic space... I climbed up there as I heard the clear signs of some little critter trying to get out of the trap. I opened the little door at the gable peak to find the last remaining squatter... mama's third young one! Well, we think this third young squirrel is the last of the litter.
After placing the trap down on the lawn and wondering what this young squirrel must be thinking as it sees, for the first time, sky with a misty rain falling (hey... it's Waterbury... it rains everyday), towering green trees, people, buildings, and the lush, green, wet grass on which I placed the trap. All this little young one knows is dark, dusty spaces of wood, drywall, and fiberglass insulation!
I took a walk around the house again searching for any new entrances to our attic space. I certainly didn't want to let this young one loose only to hear the pitter-patter of little feet in our attic space again simply because I missed closing up an open access point. I climbed up on the wet roof and inspected the roof... I could not find any obvious access points.
It was time to let this little one loose. This time, however, mama squirrel was not perched in her tree watching me release her third little one. With all the wet weather and dreariness out there, I wasn't all that surprised though. I lifted up one of the trap doors... the little one hesitated... then hopped out of the trap and feeling the wet grass for the first time in its life... unsure where to run, or even if running was necessary... then jumped into some brush directly to its left.
This little one seemed so unsure of itself that I can't help but wonder if it can survive in the wild. Would it know how to build itself a nest? Would it know where to find food? Would it know how to find food other than the hoards of seeds and nuts mama squirrel left behind in our attic space? Would it know to run and hide from a predator? This little one spent most of its life alone in our ceilings so how much has it learned about survival?
Maybe mama squirrel was watching me from a discrete, dry place as her little one finally found its way out of our enclosed attic space. It will be interesting to see if I can spot this family feasting on our next door neighbor's bird feeders...
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