I have the pleasure of introducing Stephen the Squirrel to the world. Everyone, meet Stephen.
Stephen had the pleasure of living in our attic and walls for about 36 hours. I don't think he liked it. At least, he told me as much through hisses and teeth chomping when I finally met him face to face. The tricky little guy snuck into the hole left by our broken gutter. Dad and I did a fine job replacing the wood that fell down with the gutter.
Turns out, we did too good of a job since Stephen, who snuck in when we weren't looking, couldn't find a way out. He scratched, clawed, and explored every nook and cranny in the house. Up walls, down walls, in the ceiling, below the floor, all over.
Kris did some hunting herself and found a small Havahart live trap, and I set it up with some peanut butter and put it in the attic. I left it on the insulation and crossed my fingers. I checked on it this morning and found it tipped on its top, set off, with no Stephen inside. So I cleared off the insulation, found some old, empty mouse poison cases and an old cane. So I through the poison cases away and used the cane to prop up the insulation and clear a nice spot for the trap. Then I left for a run.
I entered the house after my run and listened. (Stephen was most active when we were away.) I hear a bunch of clunking from the attic. Success! He wasn't too pleased with me though. But I did have a heart and let him go in the schoolyard across from the house. The first thing he did was bolt for a puddle of water, took a few hits, and then to the nearest tree and he was gone, (but not forgotten.)