The Chipmunk in our Laundry Room
Last Wednesday, I saw a chipmunk run into our laundry room. This really caught me off guard! I shut the laundry room door and have tried to avoid the room as much as possible since then. When I go in, I wear long pants, shoes, and usually carry a broom just in case the chipmunk has gone mad and tries to attack. There is a screen in the top part of the door so we have been able to look in and monitor the chipmunk when it is on the move.
We borrowed a live trap from someone at Ontario and had continued to reset it since Thursday, but had been unable to catch anything. (Apparently, the chipmunk was too small to set off the trap. It just went in, ate all of the peanut butter, and came back out of the trap again.)
As a few days have passed, I was getting nervous that the chipmunk would nest somewhere, so our desire to catch it has only grown stronger. (It had already gotten into the recycled bin and torn some cups into a million little pieces on the floor.) Tonight, Rajeev went to Menards to get a different trap, but all he was able to find was a glue trap. We put it in the laundry room and in less than an hour, we had caught the chipmunk.
You'd think I'd be thrilled, but while I'm glad that there is no longer a chipmunk in the house, it was incredibly sad when we looked in and saw the helpless little creature caught in the glue. In our eagerness to remove the little animal from the house, I guess we hadn't really thought about that. And once it was caught, there was nothing we could do to free it. I guess I will probably think twice about using a glue trap in the future.
Last Wednesday, I saw a chipmunk run into our laundry room. This really caught me off guard! I shut the laundry room door and have tried to avoid the room as much as possible since then. When I go in, I wear long pants, shoes, and usually carry a broom just in case the chipmunk has gone mad and tries to attack. There is a screen in the top part of the door so we have been able to look in and monitor the chipmunk when it is on the move.
We borrowed a live trap from someone at Ontario and had continued to reset it since Thursday, but had been unable to catch anything. (Apparently, the chipmunk was too small to set off the trap. It just went in, ate all of the peanut butter, and came back out of the trap again.)
As a few days have passed, I was getting nervous that the chipmunk would nest somewhere, so our desire to catch it has only grown stronger. (It had already gotten into the recycled bin and torn some cups into a million little pieces on the floor.) Tonight, Rajeev went to Menards to get a different trap, but all he was able to find was a glue trap. We put it in the laundry room and in less than an hour, we had caught the chipmunk.
You'd think I'd be thrilled, but while I'm glad that there is no longer a chipmunk in the house, it was incredibly sad when we looked in and saw the helpless little creature caught in the glue. In our eagerness to remove the little animal from the house, I guess we hadn't really thought about that. And once it was caught, there was nothing we could do to free it. I guess I will probably think twice about using a glue trap in the future.
posted by Karen at 9:36 PM
7 Comments:
Aww that is sad, though I understand.
Hope all is well!
Charlene
Well, your sister imported MICE into her dorm. The whole floor converged, plus some guys from another dorm, to trap and eliminate 2 adult and 4 junior mice. The nest was in her sofa-bed. No one likes critters in the house!
Remember when there were baby mice in Grandma and Grandpa's house, and our solution was to lock Maggie in there for two or three days without any food?
So what happened to the chipmunk? Did you just toss him outside glued to the trap?
There was an easier solution.
I learned it from a hamster book.
It's a primitive live trap.
You build a stairstep of books or boxes up to the lip of a bucket. It should be a largish 3+ gallon bucket, I guess the kitty litter ones work well.
Then you put food, birdseed, dog food pellets in the bottom.
Critter falls in, can't climb out.
A little excitement is good for you. Life is truly an adventure.
I saw Arya's picture on Lij blog.
It looks like you have family fans. I will be one of them today.
That is a great story!
I tried to capture one with a big rat trap once. I never caught it but I think I scared it out of the house.
Tim
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