Day 282: I feel like I'm trying to dip the ocean dry with a teaspoon...one with a hole in it. Okay, this guy is a Townsend's Chipmunk, not a Douglas Squirrel like the nine before him, but he is still a wire-gnawing, insulation-shredding rodent, and a free agent at the moment. All up and down the valley (Park included), we are experiencing an invasion of Rodentia on record levels. Our campground hosts and tent-site occupants are reporting mice in enormous numbers, and I've had them in the house where they've never come before to brave the cats in prior years. I have relocated ten "squirrels" (counting Chip's cousin #10) and know that I have at least two more (one each, "chip" and "doogie"), one of which is residing in the wall of my bedroom. It keeps me awake nights, clawing at the wood. The small investment in a Hav-a-Hart trap is paying big dividends, although I'm getting a little tired of driving over the river and up the hill to release the offenders well away from anyone else's home. Cute though they may be, these critters are the stuff of homeowner's nightmares. Go home, you little varmints! You have thousands of acres of open forest right across the road and don't need to move into my house.
I've used the humane/relocate traps for mice but I'm wondering if that actually works--meaning do they live? I don't mind the look or presence of mice but they are so filthy and stinky. So I'm wondering how humane the relocation is, or is a quick snap of the trap better?
ReplyDeleteRelocation obviously gives them a *greater* chance of survival than a snap trap, and in this case, I'm relocating the squirrels to a spot which is still within their territorial range from my house as the crow flies, although the river provides a natural barricade.
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