Squirrel in house: Strange, but true story

Finding a squirrel in a house in Danbury is really not a big deal.  In fact, squirrel control is a service that we offer on a fairly routine basis.  However, recently we were called to a popular doctor’s office for a live squirrel running around the basement.  This also happens regularly but this story has a twist.

Typically a squirrel in the house in Danbury, CT would be a call we’d field in the spring time.  During the spring squirrels will head into homes looking for areas to have their young.  A typical squirrel in the house call will involve the homeowner hearing running in the attic or seeing chew marks on the outside of the home.  Some squirrels are even caught gaining access to the building during the daylight hours.

When fielding a call for squirrels we typically will ask a few questions.  The questions are to ascertain whether we’re dealing with a grey squirrel which are typically active during the day or a flying squirrel which are typically active at night.  There are exceptions to the rules but these scenarios are fairly common.

This particular call was different as it took place in the middle of the winter and we had trouble finding any visible entrance.  As it turns out this squirrel in the house gained access through the chimney.  Evidently what this little guy did was fall down the chimney flue  and then found his way into the basement via the damper above the boiler.  Like most jobs of this nature in order to catch this squirrel it was going to involve setting live traps and/or kill traps in the basement.

After 3 nights and days of zero success, but continuing sightings, we decided that we were going to have to catch this squirrel with a net.  This is neither easy or fun.  To catch a squirrel with a net is a difficult process as they’re tough to find and corner.

On the morning of the service the staff at the customer’s office was complaining that they had a foul odor coming from the basement.  The odor was an obvious sign that the squirrel had succeeded to some type of injury.  We we’re unsure of how the animal was injured as none of our traps had “hits” which could have caused the injury.

When we entered the basement the odor was extremely strong but we were still unable to locate where the odor was coming from.  After about an hour of searching we were frustrated and decided to break for lunch.  Just as we were going upstairs something caught the eye of one of our service people.  The leg in the stuffed animal pictured below  appeared larger than it should have been.  When we grabbed the stuffed animal it was obvious we’d found the squirrel.

If you look close the squirrel in this building chewed a hole through the stomach of the stuffed animal and burrowed its way down to the leg. This is where the animal finally succumbed to its injury.

Squirrel in house found in peculiar area
Squirrel in house found in peculiar area

Peculiar, but completely true story.   Contact us