A Critter In My House. I'm On The Hunt!

[indianafrank]

For an hour this aftenoon I chased this chipmunk through my house. The little bugger ran from room to room as I ran behind it with a broom. I didn’t wanna kill it. I just wanted to shooosh him out the door. He ran under the couch, under my lazy boy, through the kitchen, the living room, the bedrooms and bathroom. Just when I had him cornered, he slipped by the broom and ran down the stairs into my basement. I couldn’t find him.
After a while I got tired of looking. So I poured myself a glass of wine and sat in my basement, watching. Quietly I waited. My plan was to shooosh the little rascal out through my garage. I waited, and drank wine. I sat, and drank for an hour. That’s when I decided to go to the hardware store and see what they had for traps. When I got back home, my wife was there.
"Hi. We have a chipmunk in the house." I told her.
"NO WAY. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? GET IT OUT OF HERE. WHERE IS IT?"
"Take it easy. It’s just a small chipmunk. It isn’t a panther."
"I DON’T CARE. GET IT OUT OF HERE.”
“I’m going to.”
"How will you get rid of it?"
"I’m gonna capture it“.
"How are you going to do that?”
I held up the new nifty trap I just bought. "With this." I said with a big smile.
"How much did you pay for it?" She asked.
"Thirty two dollars." I told her.
"ARE YOU COMPLETELY CRAZY? WHY DID YOU SPEND SO MUCH?”
"Take it easy." I told her. "This trap is the cats ass. Look, it’s called "The Little Game Hunter", it’s got all the bells and whistles. And see. It says right here. Guaranteed to catch your critter without injury."
"Remember?” My wife answered. “You’re the guy who has trouble catching mice with a mouse trap. Your crazy to spend that kind of money on a stupid trap for a chipmunk. Besides, you’ll probably hurt yourself setting it up.”
"Look." I said. “This baby comes with all of these instructions. I won’t hurt myself. And see. Lots of pictures to help me. This is the real deal trap. And look at the happy man on the box cover. See what he caught with his Little Game Hunter trap."
Anyway, my wife walked away mumbling and I headed down to the basement to set up my new Little Game Hunter.
I read the instructions and studied all of the pictures, but figured I missed something when my index finger got jammed in the spring loaded release. After I pulled my finger free and bandaged the cut, I managed to set the trip wire that released the pins to the bait tray.
I bought some real expensive cheese. I figured the better the cheese, the easier to lure Alvin into the trap. I reached into the trap up to my wrist to place a chunk of expensive cheese on the tray. That’s when the door slammed closed on my wrist. As the door slammed down on my wrist, the little vermin ran across the basement floor not more than five feet from me.
"That’s it you little S.O.B." I yelled as I tried to pull my stuck wrist out from the Little Game Hunter. I’ll get you.“
So the traps set...loaded with expensive cheese. I'll let you know tomorrow if I catch the little bugger.

 

[toobfreak]

You could just lay a few small nuts out, leading to the door and leave the door cracked open and stay out of the room for a while, frank. That little critter will find his way real fast.

 

[iamn8]

I love projects. If the trap fails, I recommend you nerve gas the basement. Them chipmunks gots rabies.

 

[agnosticpipe]

I've been fighting mice and rats for years in my carport. Tearing up the wiring in the car and truck, got into the heater of the car a few months ago, what a mess! So I modified a trap and made it better. Waiting for the world to beat a path to my door...

Here's the results:

 

[jpmcwjr]

A toofer! Very impressive. Now, where's the video??

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

I had a mouse crawl up and make a bed in the pump on our washer last month. I had to call out the repair man, he fixed the washer, and I got the mouse the next day. Citters can do some damage, so I hope you get him before he decides to do his thing. The Little Game Hunter sounds like it should do the trick.

 

[warren]

I live in the country so a .22 makes critter clearing a sporting adventure. You gotta be quick and use a large capacity mag. There's patching and painting during the year. Small price to pay for the hours of entertainment.

 

[prairiedruid]

I can loan you 2 cats though you're wife might not appreciate the game of chipmunk hockey the cats will play until the chipmunk dies. My cats are the Hanson brothers of hockey.

 

[indianafrank]

You could just lay a few small nuts out, leading to the door and leave the door cracked open and stay out of the room for a while, frank. That little critter will find his way real fast.

toob, I don't think that will work. This is one smart chipmunk. He's smarter than I am. I heard the trap door close tree different times. He's taken my expensive cheese each time, and ran off with it. I'm really getting perturbed over this little S.O.B. That cheese is expansive!

I've been fighting mice and rats for years in my carport. Tearing up the wiring in the car and truck, got into the heater of the car a few months ago, what a mess! So I modified a trap and made it better. Waiting for the world to beat a path to my door...

Orley. WOW!!! That thing looks dangerous!

I live in the country so a .22 makes critter clearing a sporting adventure. You gotta be quick and use a large capacity mag. There's patching and painting during the year. Small price to pay for the hours of entertainment.

Warren, believe me, the thought has crossed my mine.

 

[brian64]

I live in the country so a .22 makes critter clearing a sporting adventure. You gotta be quick and use a large capacity mag. There's patching and painting during the year. Small price to pay for the hours of entertainment.

Warren, believe me, the thought has crossed my mine.

I can't wait to hear what your wife thinks of that idea.

 

[brian64]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2UV4QYdn7g

 

[didimauw]

My little .177 bb/pellet gun is deadly accurate and much less damaging to the indoors. I can only imagine what it would do to a chipmunk. Hope you get pics of your catch!

 

[gmjabsky]

Good luck! I have an annual autumn visit from flying squirrels, they're amazing critters when they glide down from atop the fridge or a bookcase. Since they're a bit short of a snack, I've become adept at herding them in to large Rubbermaid containers fear a catch and release. My cats are lazy oafs.

 

[mso489]

Twenty years ago, my late father had a series of creatures that wanted to come into his upstairs bedroom through the screened window. He used a no-kill trap to capture a long string of would-be intruders. He might have opted for hunting them but he lived in town and that wasn't an option. For a while, when he was still working, he had a regular routine of carting his captives to the Forest Preserve on his way to work as a part of his morning routine. The critters included squirrels, raccoons, and 'possums, but no chipmunks that I recall. He had it down so he could release them without risk and throw the trap back in the car and drive away in a minute or two. It was his wildlife relocation program.

 

[toobfreak]

The solution is simple, frank, you need to get yourself a pet owl. ::

 

[akfilm]

There is nothing alive on my property, my hunting dog kills anything that breaks perimeter, and what little gets past him, the cats get in the house. Not even butterflies have a chance.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I would love to follow Frank around for just one day. I would have stories for years to come! :clap:

 

[davet]

a .22 makes critter clearing a sporting adventure.

.22 birdshot is the answer, much less damage to the drywall :mrgreen:

 

[pappymac]

Frank,

Stop using cheese. Use Peanut butter instead. It's sticky and the chipmunk won't be able to get it off the trap without tripping the doors.
We didn't have a problem with rodents until after Hurricane Katrina. The 4 block area of the street I live on in Slidell didn't flood but rest of the subdivision did, that meant all the wildlife moved to the higher ground we live on.

Tried all sorts of mouse traps and had the most success with the live catch traps but the problem persisted for about 5 years until a couple of squirrels found their way into the attic space. That chased the mice out. Then we just had to find and fix the small hole in the eave where the squirrel was getting in.
Two other things helped with our rodent problem. First we started noticing a hawk sitting on our fence and the grand-kids playset. Second, a neighbor down the street moved and just left her cats so they became feral.
One of my sons lives in a rural community on the other side of Louisiana and they fought a mouse and rat problem for several years. Dogs are useless when it comes to controlling rodents. Once they adopted a house cats the rodent problem started disappearing as the cat grew fatter.

 

[davet]

Dogs are useless when it comes to controlling rodents.

My little Border Collie was death on mice and Red Squirrels, Grey Squirrels she couldn't be bothered with :mrgreen: