Trust me, there’s wireless in here somewhere.
So I’m lying in bed one night and I hear a scratching above in the attic. We’ve lived in this house for over 20 years, and when we first moved in it needed, um, a bit of debugging. Bats were getting into the attic, along with wasps. It took a while, but everything got sealed up and that, I thought, was that.
So I assumed the recent scratching was another bat, especially as these can be seen flying overhead at dusk. Careful watching outdoors eventually revealed a small, dark object falling from a gable vent at dusk – well, that must be the bat. So, up to the attic, and voila, there was a hole in the vent screen. A quick trip to Lowe’s and I replaced the screen.
Sure enough, later that night, more scratching. Did I accidentally lock in another bat? Oh, my. Well, up to the attic the next morning, and, much to my surprise, there’s a hole cut in the screen. Whoa, bats, I thought, couldn’t do that. Back to Lowe’s, and a brief description of this to one of their staff revealed that bats can cut through fiberglass screen, which is what I’d used. But there’s no way they’d get through aluminum screen, my next purchase. Again, wait until the small dark object flies out, up to the attic, replace the screen, and…
Sure enough, more scratching. Again, did I accidentally trap one? Next morning, whoa, again. There’s a 50 mm (two-inch) hole in the aluminum screen! What is this, a bat with a saw?
Back to Lowe’s. More consultations. The staffer suggests that it might be a flying squirrel. I’d never seen a flying squirrel – and as I learned, I wouldn’t have because they are the only nocturnal squirrel. And screens are no problem for rodents. And, sure enough, I actually saw the flying squirrel the next evening in the attic. They are absolutely adorable, a bit like a cross between a squirrel and a chinchilla. Some people apparently keep them as pets. But good looks are not going to buy a room at this hotel.
So, I waited until dark the next night, and sealed up the vent with a piece of plywood. Unfortunately, the FS (I thought there was only one; see below) had not yet left for the evening and now was really scratching. I went back up to the attic and opened the vent again, so he/she could get out – and, unfortunately, back in again.
The problem was how to be sure the squirrel was really gone before sealing the hole again. I can’t stand there, and it’s impossible to hear the creature walking over fiberglass insulation. Solution? The Linksys WVC200 Wireless-G PTZ Internet Camera. This is a remote-controlled (over Wi-Fi) pan/tilt/zoom camera with audio. I set this up in the attic and aimed it at the opening in the screen. At dusk this evening, I watched. Eventually, out went the squirrel, up went I, plywood, hammer, and nail in hand, and that was that. Almost. As it turns out, there were three of them – and I thus had to open the hole up again twice, all the time hoping that one of the others wouldn’t return in the interim. None did, but I’ll have an update for you squirrel lovers if there is one. The camera stays regardless for a few days; it has a record-on-motion-detection feature that I hope I don’t have to use. In this case, anyway.
I absolutely love wildlife and would never hurt an animal unless it was me or him/her. I’m glad this problem worked out well for everyone involved. Well, more so for me than the squirrels, but I’m sure a new home awaits the little monsters somewhere.
