Saturday, November 23, 2024

Sometimes a simple mouse trap and some steel wool solves the problem.

A few weeks ago, I started hearing soft chewing and scratching noises in the ceiling above our bed. This continued for several nights in a row, getting a bit louder each time. On two occasions I heard an acorn rolling along the floor above my head. Obviously a mouse or flying squirrel (hopefully not more than one) had entered our house and was going about their nocturnal activities in the cozy confirms of the attic.

Srini is away so I carried a step ladder upstairs and set it under the small (2-foot x 2-foot) scuttle to our attic. Two problems. Our attic has no floor and we have 16 inches of blown-in cellulose insulation. I managed to push open the scuttle with a sledge hammer (it is tight) and climb up to look-about. It was cool and clean. The rafters, roof vent, gable end vents, and soffit vents all looked intact and untouched. At the level of the attic floor, the scuttle opening is boxed in with 2-foot high plywood to keep the cellulose contained. Climbing over this barricade and onto the rafters seemed dicey. Especially by myself. I thought I needed some help.

First, I set a live trap outside near a rack of firewood and that evening I caught a mouse. That night I was kept awake as an animal was still in the attic, specifically in corner of the attic right above my head, and the farthest corner from the scuttle. This was the third night in a row and I wasn’t catching any more mice outside. I really needed to get into the corner of the attic so I called a Wildlife Control company.

Chris arrived promptly to assess the situation and provide a quote. He doesn’t go inside the house. He caulks all possible openings with non-expanding foam and sets a couple one-way doors to allow animals to escape but not re-enter. He adds screening to the outside of gable end vents. This for $1,500. He thought it might be bats. I was sure it wasn’t.

I almost thought I would have him do the work as he could set tall ladders and get to places that I couldn’t and I was losing sleep. But several issues came to mind. First, he wouldn’t be dealing with the immediate issue of the animal in the attic. It might not leave. We didn’t need additional hardware cloth as I was sure the gable end vents were secure. And he was expensive.

So, I proceeded to tackle the problem myself. I bought more Victor snap traps; the old fashion wooden ones and the newer black plastic type that are much easier to set without accidentally snapping your thumb. I set one at the same wood rack noted above and several around the house. I bought #1 steel wool and stuffed it into each corner of the house where the vinyl corner covers the plywood sheathing as I thought these could be entry points. I also moved a rack of firewood that was against the house and provided a convenient ladder for mice to reach the corner. I found mouse droppings and acorns among the wood as I moved it to another location.

I caught a mouse in the snap. All quiet for two nights. Such peaceful sleeping. In the wee hours of the third night, I heard soft scratchings. Aargh! Back outside in daylight, I checked traps and looked for more potential mouse openings. I noticed a 2×4 post next to one corner (why it was still there I don’t know) that led to a nice mouse-sized opening in the corner of the house. I stuffed more steel wool in the gap.

I dare say all has been quiet for four nights. I had borrowed a friends squirrel-sized live trap and rat-sized snap traps. None were needed.

Now, my theory is that the first mouse in the attic was one of the two that I trapped by the stack of wood. A few days earlier, before Srini left on his trip, he brought out the snow blower and over to the garage door to make sure it ran well. Mice always build a nest in the top so we proceeded to pull out nest material. One mouse popped out. Srini got the shop-vac to blow out material from hard to reach places and another mouse popped out. Both scurried over to the wood rack (remember the one by the house that provided the perfect ladder to the house corner). The mouse noises in the attic started a few days after this incident.

A few lessons. Install a plywood floor in your attic so you can walk around when necessary. Do this before you add the blown-in insulation. Maybe make your scuttle opening bigger than 2×2. Seal up potential openings with steel wool (additionally, I may also add non-expanding foam). And set some traps. I love woodland mice when they are in the woods not in our attic.

My friend John gave me a Bushnell Aggressor Trail Cam several months ago. I’ve moved it around our yard, turning it on from evening to early morning. We’ve seen a doe, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, cardinals, robins, and a raccoon.

Two days ago, while I was sitting in our backyard, I heard a high pitched whistle from under the old shed. Aw, the woodchuck was back. This fellow has been living next door, we think, with occasional trips into our yard. Early in the summer he dug holes under our woodshed and started eating some greens from our garden bed. I put up fences and plugged the holes under the shed. That seemed to work.

But he was back this week. I moved the camera so that it faced the old shed. The chubby fellow seemed to know the camera was there, striking some fine poses. I call it a male given his bulky nature.

The woodchuck eyes the camera.

He looks well fed.

He decides it is safe to emerge and forage in our back yard.

We try to live with various animals in our yard, even those that eat some of our fruits and vegetables. If physical barriers, such as fencing and raised beds, are effective deterrents, then we happily share. I like watching the woodchuck scurry back to his den on those short legs. Woodchucks are surprisingly fast.

Another animal appeared on the camera the same night. The woodchuck ventures out to feed during the day and sleeps by night. Our other visitor — an opossum — has also used the old shed before. They seem to be sharing the space now. The opossum hunts at night. I wonder how they have divvied up the space beneath the shed.

The opossum leaves at 7:38 PM.

The opossum returns at 10:25 PM.

We typically only notice the opossum in winter, when we can see its unusual track pattern in the snow leading to and from the shed. It’s nice to see this one on camera in September.