It all started about a month ago. The scratching and pitter patter of tiny feet above our sleeping heads woke us up out of a deep sleep around 4:30 AM. This is the “witching hour” for me. Waking up any time in the four o’clock hour is bad news for me. It is next to impossible for me to fall back to sleep. Then we heard what sounded like a marble rolling in the ceiling above our heads. Then more scratching and pitter patter. I pounded on the wall. It stopped. I tried to drift off again when the scratching and marble rolling started again. And so it went till around 6:00 AM when both my husband and I gave up and got up and showered for the day. A call was placed to “Critter Control” a few hours later.
They were out to our house later that same afternoon! The diagnosis was “mice”. “Mice” ??? Are you sure? Sounded a lot bigger than a mouse to me. I had visions of giant rabid raccoons and possums living in my attic and the Critter Control man said “mice”. He said he would leave traps set in the attic and they would do a walk around the house to see if they could figure out how they were getting in.
Bad news. Your house is full of holes…entry points if you will. We will set traps and seal up all entry points for a hefty fee he tells us. We were desperate for a solid nights sleep so we said Yes to the hefty fee.
They did a good job for us. With their ladders and tools they sealed up every crack and crevice from top to bottom and placed screens over all the vents. They set their traps with bait. Every day for a week the Critter Control Man would show up in the afternoons to check the traps. Nothing.
Then one afternoon he came down stairs with a plastic bag in hand and held it up like a trophy. “Got One” he exclaimed. “And it was not what we thought”. “Oh God" I thought, “What the hell is in that bag”? Oakley our dog was going crazy trying to sniff and get at the bag. “Flying Squirrel” he proudly announced. “They kind of look like a bat.” I immediately thought of the story that I had heard when we first moved in about how one of my neighbors lifted the lid of her toilet in the middle of the night and a flying squirrel flew out at her. Can you imagine??!! That could ruin a person!
A flying squirrel? Eeeeewwww! Well that explains the “marble rolling” sound we heard. He must have been hiding his acorns! The Critter Control Man told us there could be up to six more of them so we need to leave the traps set and wait. Another week later and several trap checks later and still nothing. “I guess there was only one. Problem solved” said the Critter Control Man and we paid him the second half of our agreed upon hefty fee.
About 2 weeks later, around 4:30 AM we hear scratching and the pitter patter of tiny feet. But no marble rolling this time. They’re baaaaaccccckkkk!
“Hmmm, gee sorry but we can’t get out to your house for three days” says The Critter Control Man. (Of course not…you already have our payment in full.) So being desperate for sleep I came up with the brilliant idea to put a flashing alarm clock radio up in the attic and turn on the light thinking that the noise and light would scare them away and it appears to have worked. No noise and we slept like babies. Three days later as promised the Critter Control man showed up and checked for signs of critters and found nothing. He set more traps. Twelve of them in fact! Twelve! That is where things stand up to today. Twelve empty traps and no critters. I will keep you posted on our wild animal situation and I will also be keeping the lids on our toilets down. I suggest you do the same. :)
