My daughter loves peanuts in the shell so I had them in the house over the holidays. She nibbles like a squirrel so there were plenty left when she went home. I put the remainder out on the lawn under the bird feeder this morning. It’s been pretty cold here and there’s a bit of snow on the ground; but even so, I was surprised to find seven squirrels chasing each other around the yard. Each one seemed to feel the peanut cache was his personal pot of gold and tried to ward off newcomers from stealing a nut or two. It was fun to watch them leaping around the yard and doing their tightrope act on the electric wires along the back lot line. Fortunately there seemed to be enough peanuts to go around and carrying them off kept the furry critters busy for most of the afternoon.
As I was watching the fun, I noticed one squirrel scamper up my neighbor’s roof and disappear. Awhile later I saw him scamper back, choose another nut and scurry off, leaping from the fence to my neighbor’s patio trellis and up the roof again, disappearing into the shadows of the eave as before. Mmmm. Having had squirrels in my attic before, this didn’t bode well for my neighbor. Cute as they are scampering around your yard, they’re a downright nuisance nesting in the insulation in your attic. They made a mess of my attic a few years back, urinating and defecating in the insulation, leaving rotting wormy nuts around, and bringing fleas and parasites. Nothing I’d wish on a friend. A quick call to my neighbor verified that they had heard the scamper of tiny feet across the bedroom ceiling last night and wondered what was going on.
A scampering noise in the ceiling or wall is never a good thing. When it’s cold, animals look for a toasty place to snooze and your attic (or basement) are ideal. If you hear footsteps overhead, it’s time to call the exterminator!
If you want to enjoy some of the funniest squirrel videos on the net, click the post title. You may have to load Real Player to watch them, but it’s free and installs with a couple of mouse clicks. Enjoy!