A Different Life II

[Lily&Me]

The “nuisance wildlife specialist”, aka “the Orkin guy”, just came to pick up todays catch and said these two little ones were this years babies.

There is at least one more young one evading capture, as it has been scurrying around and on top of the cage but not going inside.

If they are all released in the same area, I wonder if they find each other and become a family again?

These little guys were in there about 8 hours today, so when I watered my fall mum this afternoon I dribbled a little water in one end of the cage so they could have a drink…seemed like the right thing to do.

He is required by law to check the trap each day it is set, so will be back tomorrow and again on Saturday, then withhold the trap until Monday morning.

We apparently keep trapping until we stop catching chipmunks.

Maggie

[Dingo Girl]

I had a fellow I worked with years back tell me if you had one Chipmunk you have a minimum of 60 [emoji2962][emoji2962]
I sure hope you keep the head count in the single digits.

[Lily&Me]

Yikes.

I hope so, too.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

After no “catches” yesterday, the elusive youngster found his way into the trap overnight.

That’s #6, and hopefully the end of them, but we’ll see.

My outside rodent deterrent arrived from Amazon the other day, so I’m going to spread that around the entire exterior of the little house tomorrow.

Orkin has some other preventative measures yet to put in place, but chipmunk eradication seems to be moving right along.


It’s been a busy week, all in all, but this morning I’m going to take Lily for an early romp in the forest preserve north of us…where we have not been since we got home.

Things are coming together, and my to-do list is shrinking.

Maggie

[DaveP]

Hi Maggie,

Just completed my first HistoriCorps project this last week. Really had a great time with a great group of people. Here is a link to my little write-up and pictures. https://www.airforums.com/forums/new...reply&t=233679

Thanks for turning me on to this.

[Lily&Me]

Hi Dave!

I was thinking about you, wondering if you had completed your project and how it went, so great to hear back and that it was good.

The link you provided doesn’t give me anything, but I would love to see pictures and your group.

I can’t say enough good about HistoriCorps, really, with 5 seasons now under my belt.

And six weeks of this past trip without travel, campground nor meal expenses really kept those costs down to offset that of diesel fuel.

Tho diesel near me is now at $4.39 a gallon, thankfully…which is still high, but I paid $6.39 a gallon a couple of times this summer.


Came back from errands and a little off leash hike for Miss Lily to now 3 in the trap on my front porch.

The little one may be the wayward juvenile I’ve been seeing, or maybe not.

Now that I have a frame of reference, I could see myself trapping the little critters if another problem occurred, as it seems pretty straightforward.

If I can do it legally here…as I know city ordinances say I cannot trap a feral cat, only hire someone else to do it.

My first experience with “nuisance wildlife”, but for the chipmunk issue in Wyoming with my solar panel.

I have a spray bottle of bionid that I plan to take in the RV to hopefully avoid that issue in the future.

[DaveP]

Hi Maggie,

See if this link works. https://www.airforums.com/forums/new...te=1&p=2630732

Otherwise, it is under On the Road/Care-A-Vanners/Habitat4Humanity on this Airforums.

Let me know if the link does not work.

[Lily&Me]

The link still takes me to a new reply on this thread, but I found the thread you cited.

I wondered if it was Hessie Cabin that you worked on.

Glad you had such a good group, and Bob was part of the near-magical second session at Devil’s Tower that was one of the high points of my summer trip.

I have maybe 20+ project sessions under my belt at this point, and there have been only a couple of noteworthy issues.

People will always be people, is the bottom line.

Glad you had such a good experience.

Maggie

[DaveP]

OK. I think I know what I did wrong. Try this link https://www.airforums.com/forums/f42...ty-233679.html

Let me know if it works. Thanks!

[Lily&Me]

As a copy and paste, that works well.


The Orkin guy was just here to pick up todays catch, and just in time as the little guy seems quite stressed and has worked himself near to exhaustion trying to chew his way out of the cage.

I am impressed by the compassion and care this man has taken with the chipmunks, quite honestly.

Another “parallel universe”…people who trap and remove pests like this for others.

I asked him about trapping them myself, should any return, and once I were to take them off my property it is illegal, and dumping them elsewhere is another illegal act.

It wouldn’t matter unless one were caught, but I generally try not to break laws so will hope the granular deterrent will work.

Who knew?

Maggie

[mimiandrews]

Obviously the people who make the laws aren't having their buildings chewed up by the darn critters. When I lived in the greater Ft. Worth area, we could trap them and take them to the local animal control people. Here in the East Texas woods, it's a bit more simple.

Fortunately, chipmunks don't live here.

[Lily&Me]

Yep, tho these types of laws are likely born of inhuman treatment of animals.

I’m hoping that I have no more problems, once this posse is gone, as the granular deterrent I bought is reportedly very effective.

It will mean laying it down regularly, and monitoring for signs of future invasion, but I can do that.

The garlic spray into the hole at the base of my garage door seems to have been effective, too, as they did not re-dig there.

Maggie

[mimiandrews]

I'll offer one more tip, in case you're ever bothered by skunks. They hate mothballs. Granted, the smell of mothballs isn't great, but it's a whole lot better than skunk. I had problems with them under the mobile home I lived in while I was building this place.

[Lily&Me]

That’s good to know, Mimi, and thank you.

It almost seems that one needs to carry an assortment of critter deterrents with them in an RV these days.

I put down the Bionide that I bought this morning, as we had heavy rains overnight, and it has an interesting smell to it…a bit musky, for lack of a better descriptor. Kind of animal-ish.

The Orkin guy was here early this morning to reset the trap, but so far there are no captives within, so maybe them that haven’t been caught have run off.

That would be fine.

Maggie

[Airtandem]

Got to tell; happened with brother in law and his mother. She was having trouble with monks. Asked him to eliminate them. He was going to poison but she objected he got out BB gun, but again mom objected. The final decision was to trap and relocate, which he did. On release, a hawk came down and got the monk. Dinner was served and pix were taken as proof.
Nature has it's way.

[FLCoast]

Originally Posted by Airtandem

Got to tell; happened with brother in law and his mother. She was having trouble with monks. Asked him to eliminate them. He was going to poison but she objected he got out BB gun, but again mom objected. The final decision was to trap and relocate, which he did. On release, a hawk came down and got the monk. Dinner was served and pix were taken as proof.
Nature has it's way.

I should’ve tried that with the Irish nuns I had in S Cal…
(Sorry, I really couldn’t help it… )

[tallytwo1994]

Originally Posted by mimiandrews

I'll offer one more tip, in case you're ever bothered by skunks. They hate mothballs. Granted, the smell of mothballs isn't great, but it's a whole lot better than skunk. I had problems with them under the mobile home I lived in while I was building this place.

Caution please when using mothballs! They are made from chemicals that are highly toxic to humans as well as animals. Most animals do leave the area where mothballs are placed, but the humans in the area tend to adjust to the smell and are poisoned over time. In fact, after a long enough exposure, some humans can’t even smell them anymore. I actually know someone who developed a fatal illness after years of using mothballs in his workshop. They are only intended to be used in containers that are tightly sealed to prevent vapors from escaping. Yes, I know we all seem to have family members that have used them otherwise and lived to tell the story. That doesn’t make them safe, it just makes those people lucky.

Carol

[Lily&Me]

No mothballs have yet been purchased, but thank you.

Still no new critters, so we are holding at 8.


It has been quite warm and humid the past few days, but temps will drop by Thursday with lows in the 40’s.

Almost time to be thinking about that first fire of the season.


I mended fence this morning, and it only took 4 trips back inside to find the right items needed…a heavy hammer and two nails about 5” long.

I know, wood screws that length would have been better, but then I would want my son here to manhandle the drill.

Still, it is no longer loose and sagging, so it is good for now.

It is about time to replace the entire north stretch of fence, which has been up 20 years or so and runs from the back of my property line almost to the sidewalk in front.

But, not today.

Maggie

[Dingo Girl]

Yippie, still in single digits!
I used mothballs to try to get a skunk out from under the porch.
All he did was kick them aside.
Ended up getting someone to trap him.

[Lily&Me]

Orkin is coming early this morning to remove the still-empty trap and lay down their access-prevention materials around the driveway.

Then, hopefully, the Year of the Chipmunks saga will have ended.


I finished “The Image Seeker” of this series by Amanda Hughes last night, and it was excellent historical fiction…so I got the first two, to complete the series, all now in my Kindle app.

Very well written and rich in detail.

https://www.amazon.com/Bold-Women-of.../dp/B0848D7W6F


Maggie