Not sure if this is the right forum, but some critter is in my house

It has a medium high-pitched, short chirp or cheep, one-time, stops a bit then repeats, all times of the day or night then stops for lengthy periods. I thought chipmunk, but they are usually more repetitive vocally when they get going. I can't pinpoint where this is, I have a cat so it is probably hiding, suspect the heat ducts but not sure because the sound seems to alternate between the dining room and spare bedroom, kitchen or back hall, it is hard to track the sound. This has been going on for about a week now. I thought I might be hearing things, but my daughter was here and heard it and asked what it was.

I bought a havahart live trap for smallish creatures, had a dickens of a time getting it set, daughter figured out the final step, and loaded it with sunflower seeds and a peanut. Nothing has happened yet.

Reply to
I Love Lucy
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I'll try to be more quiet. But could you leave out some peanut butter and jelly and a couple slices of bread so I can make myself a PB & jelly sandwich ?

Reply to
Srgnt Billko

Since there are many various methods of 'trapping' critters, you need to identify what it is first. Ask a friend and have one (who seems knowledgeable in these matters) come over to help identify it. Then you can ask for the trap (or other method of removal) at the local hardware store.

Reply to
newsguy

A bat.

Reply to
Steveo

No, your grubby paw will break my new trap :-).

Reply to
I Love Lucy

I don't have many friends, and the ones I have I doubt would know. That means animal control. Don't want to call them - yet. They get here and the thing shuts up for hours with my luck.

I already bought a trap, hope it is not the wrong one. I may have put the wrong kind of bait in it or it is just going to hide and cheep. Hope it isn't a bat.

Reply to
I Love Lucy

Yeah, see my last message. The last two a couple years ago came out and flew around at night, and I was able to throw a bucket over them when they landed in the open, take them out and release them in the morning away from my home.

Reply to
I Love Lucy

Cool that you didn't freak out about a bat like some people seem to do. Bats are my friends out here where I live, they munch the mosquitoes and never bother me. (don't want them in the house tho)

Reckon there is a bat trap?

Reply to
Steveo

Shouldn't be a bat in the daytime. I use hav-a-harts myself. Be patient and experiment with the bait.

Reply to
Srgnt Billko

It's inside the house no?

Reply to
Steveo

I'll have to find out. And what and how to bait it. It unnerves me when people post scary messages about rabies, but ever since I killed one years ago with a broom handle because my husband freaked out, the little thing cried so pitifully, I could never do that again unless it tried to harm me.

I'm worried about how it got in, if it is indeed a bat which it probably is. There are several possible spots. Didn't have any for a couple of years and thought I was past that.

Reply to
I Love Lucy

What about a bird's nest? Chicks?? (Winged type)..

Reply to
Bill

A cricket, maybe?

I Love Lucy wrote:

Reply to
Stubby

I always figure if they got in they can get out - but even in a house they would find a hiding place and just "hang" during the day wouldn't they ?

Reply to
Srgnt Billko

Yeah people imagine dracula due to too many midnight movies. I had to kill one once and it was on my boat about 14 miles off shore of avon ohio in lake erie. This bat was all over us for some strange reason... there was a big coast gaurd research boat watching us kill the bat too. (they were throwing test bats at us i think) :)

Reply to
Steveo

They can get their shift mixed up in the rafters. "hang" is what they do when they sleep?

Reply to
Steveo

That's a long shot, although . . .maybe a baby. I swear it is following me through the house except to the back room where I have my computer. I don't know what could last this long without getting fed unless there are more than one . . ..

Birds have gotten in from time to time. A medium-sized brown woodpecker somehow got in my computer room a few years ago. I have no idea how a bird that large got in. We had a broken window in the attic and a hole in the ceiling where my son's friend stepped through . . .who knows. The window is now replaced, but there is a piece of wainscoating loose in the eaves that needs to be repaired. A bat could easily get in through there. I wouldn't think a bird would want to nest in the attic as it is way too hot. A bat could quickly find its way to a cooler part of the house by the air currents.

I'll try to figure it out tomorrow. I'm out of ideas. When it was in the lr, I thought of just opening the front door and it might leave, but I don't want bugs in here.

Reply to
I Love Lucy

I'm familiar with their sound. It isn't the same, but that doesn't mean they don't make different sounds. I'll let you know if I figure it out. Maybe I will just have a houseguest for awhile . . .I'm growing accustomed to its sound. I just wanted whatever it is out for obvious reasons and that it not starve before it can be caught and set free. If it's a bat, it seems it's in more than it is out. I don't know what happens while I'm sleeping.

Seems odd the cat doesn't show more curiosity about it. She's a good mouser and caught a chipmunk by the tail when one got in my computer room. I made her drop it, it hid in a corner, I isolated it by closing the door and getting the cat out and left some peanuts and water out. In the morning there were peanut shells all over my keyboard. I opened the screen a couple inches and left some peanuts on the windowsill and the next day the peanuts hadn't been eaten and it was gone. I don't think the cat got it.

The woodpecker eventually flew into the top of the closet and climbed into a small computer peripheral box. I clamped the lid down tight when I found it and took it outside and set it free.

This one has me stymied. For now. It's just chirping away as I write, every few seconds.

Reply to
I Love Lucy

I wouldn't put it past them :-). That was funny about the coast guard part. The rest was not. Seriously you had no choice in your situation to kill it if you couldn't get it to leave you alone.

Reply to
I Love Lucy

Yeah I think it was keying on the boat electronics footprint or something, and in the mean time guys in uniforms are watching us thru binoculars from a cutter. It was freaky.

At any rate, hope you come to an agreement with your intruder, what ever it turns out to be. :)

Reply to
Steveo

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