Squirrels In My Basement - I hate Squirrels

For those of you that have been following my Facebook and Twitter feeds you're well aware of my squirrel issue. For the past week I've been dealing with a few squirrels that seem to have taken up residence in my basement.

It all started last weekend while I was on the overnight shift. I received a phone call from my wife telling me that a squirrel had someway made it down into our basement. My son and his friend were playing video games when the squirrel decided to make his presence know by jumping out at them from behind the game console. Needless to say, they both started to yell and scream like little school girls with their pigtails stuck in a pencil sharpener. It really must have been a hoot, I can't stop laughing thinking about it. My wife told me not to worry, she had called her father and he had brought over and set up a squirrel trap to capture him.

When I arrived home in the morning the first thing I did was a perimeter search along the outside of my house to see where the squirrel could have come from. I got down on my hands and knees and looked all around the outside of the house looking for holes that the squirrel could have crawled through but found nothing, I then proceeded to basement.

When I walked down into my basement the trap was sprung and the squirrel was inside. I took the squirrel and the trap, loaded them into the car and drove to a local park and let the squirrel go. I was commended by an onlooker for being so "humane" by letting the squirrel go and not killing it. I replied that I wasn't ready for squirrel fricassee just yet, I was just trying to get rid of the little bastard so he didn't come back. When I returned home, my wife thanked me profusely for getting rid of the squirrel and we both thought that's that until....

Two days later I'm at work and receive another phone call telling me that once again a squirrel in the basement. I couldn't believe it, I thought my wife must have been imagining it. Only this time when I got home I could hear it scurrying about. Now my wife had already returned the squirrel trap to her father at the time so the only thing that I could do was open the window. As soon as I walked towards the window to open it the squirrel started bouncing around. It was hanging out on top of the duct work just above my head.  I must have frightened or startled it jumped right at but luckily I moved just enough and the squirrel landed on the windowsill and out the window! Great I thought, squirrel #2 was gone with little effort. It was now safe once again to go down into the basement. That was until my wife once again heard the scurrying pitter-patter of tiny feet Thursday morning.

Neither one of us could believe it, a third squirrel is down in our basement and as of this writing is still there. It's become obvious to us that this squirrel has learned a thing or two from the loss of his companions. This squirrel doesn't want to leave.

Thursday night when I got home my wife had already retrieved the squirrel trap from my father-in-law. We baited it with peanut butter and placed it down in the basement. In the morning I went downstairs and was expecting to see the squirrel in the trap. The trap was tripped but there was no squirrel in sight. OK I thought, no problem I'll just reset the trap and come back in a few hours.

When I went back down into the basement yesterday afternoon the first thing I spotted once again was the sprung and empty trap and the little bastard scurrying around! I couldn't believe it.

I was so pissed at this point. I got a roll of old wrapping paper that had been in the basement since Christmas, opened the window as the thing was jumping around my head and proceeded to chase him around the confined spaces of my furnace room, hitting my head on the duct work and banging my knee on the furnace (I really wished I had it on video it must have been hysterical) to no avail, I couldn't get that squirrel to leave out the window.  So, when that didn't work I just took the trap, wiped out the old peanut butter from it and rebaited it with fresh and waited.

This morning when I woke up, the first thing I did was to check on the squirrel.  Of course I was expecting to see the squirrel in the trap when I entered the room. Instead, the trap was once again tripped and empty and I was greeted by the furry critter when it leapt from the duct work to the hot water heater then back to the duct work and ceiling rafters.

At that point I didn't know what else to do (and still don't), so I went out to do a few errands and picked up a bag of peanuts thinking that I could lure #3 into the trap with a trail of peanuts leading to the traps opening. And again, after giving it a couple of hours I checked-in  again to find the trap tripped and empty and the #3 still scurrying around!

I then opened the window and commenced ripping down the little bit of sheetrock that I have in the furnace room, in hopes of taking away any hiding spaces that the squirrel may have and hoping that in the commotion of me ripping down is new found territory, squirrel #3 would be frightened enough to scurry itself out the window, out of the house. But, that didn't happen. The squirrel just hid out of sight somewhere and I got all sweaty and dust covered.

At this time, the squirrel is still downstairs in the basement mocking me, while I wait for a misstep on its part that either lands it in the trap, all ready for an off-sight disposal or out the window the next time I decide to chase it.

If I can't get this thing out of my house before it starts to wreak damage, I may need to resort to the only option left available... poison.

I really don't want to kill it, I would prefer to capture and release it. If the thing dies in my basement and  I can't find it, it will starts decomposing and stink up the house. I don't want that to happen but I am preparing myself for it.

If anyone has any ideas on what else I can do, i'm open for suggestion. In the mean time it's a waiting game. I'll keep you posted.