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Friday OT #2 - Animal House

Angie

Angie

Tugboats and arson.
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Mar 27, 2006
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So grateful for @cyclones500 for this one, too! It was inspired by @CoachHines3 's bizarre bird story.

What are your stories of odd animal-related incidents inside the home?

When my brother @Jeremy and I were young, we had a hamster. I think it was more that Jeremy had a hamster, but I digress. At one point, it got out, as hamsters always do. Our house at the time was built in 1921 or so, and had all kinds of old duct work for it to crawl through... which it did... until it got to the furnace and chewed through some crucial wiring.

That hamster accomplished two things that day:

1. When the HVAC man came to check it out, he found out that we needed a new furnace - which wasn't a bad thing, because apparently our old one had just started pumping out carbon monoxide .
2. Since they were getting a new furnace, we got central air for the first time ever in that house.

Thanks, Hammy.

What are yours?
 
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JM4CY said:
You haven’t lived till you have dealt with a rat in your house. Not mouse, a full grown adult rat.
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House? More like sewer
1806406.jpeg
 
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At my old house: the squirrel in the sewer pipe and squished blackbird upstairs mentioned in the other thread.

Then had a squirrel that got into the house. Those things are lightning quick inside a house, let me tell you. Chased it around into the dining room, and couldn't see it. Looked over and my three year old son was pointing at the wall and it was up on a shelf. Finally chased him out.

Also 2 bats. One flying around the main level. Also quick lol. Got him with a tennis racket (not full overhand) and laid him out on his back. Went to pick him up with a towel and he came to and screamed at me. Did the Ace Ventura run outside with him. Upper level bat was pretty easy. He was looked like a big ball of mold growing on my railing. Just scooped him up with a towel and ran outside.
 
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This past winter, I noticed one of our bags of trash in the garage had been eaten through. Figured I had a mouse or something since the garage is connected to the crawl space under our house. Turns out, its one of the town stray cats. On occasion, we'll hear it meowing under the house which drives our pets wild. My wife has since named the cat and leaves food out for it in the garage.
 
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Last November we moved and the night before closing we had cleared everything out and decided to stay at my wife's grandparents since they had space and were out at their house in Vegas. Get the kids down and go upstairs to get some water and my wife hears fluttering. Turns out there was a bird in there. Too bad they don't have cameras in the house otherwise we would have some amazing footage of us trying to get it out.

Never did find any sign of it nesting, eating, droppings.
 
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When I was a kid I got one of those Grow a Frog kits as a gift. Google search it if you want some background on it https://www.growafrog.com. They start out as a tadpole and grow into a small frog. They aren't supposed to be too big and typically I don't think the lifespan are supposed to be that long either. Even on the website it says "morphs into a baby froglet that always lives in the water and never hops out!" Well I must have got one with some great genetics as he grew bigger than would fit in the biggest tank they sell so we had to put him in an actual fish aquarium. It gets even better... he eventually starts hoping out of the water of that big tank! So we had to put a screen over the top of the tank to keep him from hoping out otherwise would randomly find this little frog who supposedly doesn't live outside of water hoping around the house. I think my mom even called the company and asked if what we were experiencing was normal and they said no they shouldn't get that big to where they will hop out of the water or need a bigger tank. I think by the time he finally died I was ready to be done with it too.
 
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My brother has worked for Yosemite National Park for quite a few years. His house is basically carved out of the woods on the side of a mountain. And in the time he's been there, has maintained a rather acrimonious relationship with the region's wildlife. My children relish hearing "Uncle Mat vs. wildlife" stories.

For starters, every time he goes into his laundry room, he has to be on his toes, because on multiple occasions he's had rattlesnakes get in, attracted by the warmth of the dryer.

He continually has black bears who will visit his property and make sure that his trash is secured properly. It's not uncommon to be talking on the phone with him, and hear his dog going bananas, because a bear is out on his front porch. My kids can't get enough of that

Once, he got too drunk and passed out on the floor of his house, forgetting to close his front door all the way, and woke up to the chore of chasing out the good number of raccoons who had entered while he was asleep. That's actually what prompted him to get a dog.

My favorite story also involves a raccoon. This was before he had a house. The park provides optional housing for workers, which basically amount to permanent tents. Anyway, one evening, he had just stopped at one of the few restaurants in the valley and had purchased a burrito and a bottle of Dr. Pepper for his dinner. He sat down on a bench, and called me on the phone, telling me how beautiful and peaceful it was where he was at.

Suddenly, through the phone, I heard him shout "HEY!!! Drop it!!! HEY!!!" followed by a lot of rustling and muffled cursing. When he came back to the phone, he was totally dejected and upset. While he'd been extolling the virtues of this pristine wilderness he was enjoying, he'd set his burrito down, to take a drink of his soda. And in the blink of an eye, a raccoon had darted out from some hiding place, grabbed his burrito, and scampered off to the woods.

I was laughing, and told him "I guess you need to go get another burrito." Unfortunately, that wasn't an option, because the restaurant had since closed for the night, and there were no other places open within the park. He had no other food in his tent, so he had the option of driving out of the park, (about an hour to the nearest town with something open) or going hungry for the evening. He chose the latter. My kids absolutely love that story and often will sign off of phone calls with him by saying ,"Goodbye Uncle Mat. Don't let any raccoons steal your burrito!!!"
 
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Mr Janny said:
My brother has worked for Yosemite National Park for quite a few years. His house is basically carved out of the woods on the side of a mountain. And in the time he's been there, has maintained a rather acrimonious relationship with the region's wildlife. My children relish hearing "Uncle Mat vs. wildlife" stories.

For starters, every time he goes into his laundry room, he has to be on his toes, because on multiple occasions he's had rattlesnakes get in, attracted by the warmth of the dryer.

He continually has black bears who will visit his property and make sure that his trash is secured properly. It's not uncommon to be talking on the phone with him, and hear his dog going bananas, because a bear is out on his front porch. My kids can't get enough of that

Once, he got too drunk and passed out on the floor of his house, forgetting to close his front door all the way, and woke up to the chore of chasing out the good number of raccoons who had entered while he was asleep. That's actually what prompted him to get a dog.

My favorite story also involves a raccoon. This was before he had a house. The park provides optional housing for workers, which basically amount to permanent tents. Anyway, one evening, he had just stopped at one of the few restaurants in the valley and had purchased a burrito and a bottle of Dr. Pepper for his dinner. He sat down on a bench, and called me on the phone, telling me how beautiful and peaceful it was where he was at.

Suddenly, through the phone, I heard him shout "HEY!!! Drop it!!! HEY!!!" followed by a lot of rustling and muffled cursing. When he came back to the phone, he was totally dejected and upset. While he'd been extolling the virtues of this pristine wilderness he was enjoying, he'd set his burrito down, to take a drink of his soda. And in the blink of an eye, a raccoon had darted out from some hiding place, grabbed his burrito, and scampered off to the woods.

I was laughing, and told him "I guess you need to go get another burrito." Unfortunately, that wasn't an option, because the restaurant had since closed for the night, and there were no other places open within the park. He had no other food in his tent, so he had the option of driving out of the park, (about an hour to the nearest town with something open) or going hungry for the evening. He chose the latter. My kids absolutely love that story and often will sign off of phone calls with him by saying ,"Goodbye Uncle Mat. Don't let any raccoons steal your burrito!!!"
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Poor Uncle Mat. Thank goodness he has a good sense of humor about everything.
 
Daughter had an elementary school project where she baked two kinds of cookies; One batch using real butter, and the second batch with margarine.

Our yellow lab figured out while we were gone one night how to open the outside door to our house. The lab completely devoured the cookies made with butter and only one or two of the margarine batch.

Daughter had to tell her teacher " the dog ate my homework"

True story.
 
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If you've never had to try corralling a sparrow that flew into your house through the door to the garage while in a suit and tie 5 minutes before leaving for a relative's wedding, failing miserably, spending much of your time at the wedding thinking about said sparrow and the task waiting for you when you got home from said wedding, continuing with the corralling once home for at least an hour while half drunk, to finally succeed in ushering it out the slider after a three-person effort involving a stretched out bed sheet... consider yourself lucky.
 
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i've caught 2 skunks in live traps within the last year or so and let me tell ya.. that's not fun.

i finally got smart and would tie some twine to the trap and roll it out about 20 ft so i could just pull that if i caught another.

the first one i caught was in a live trap that i placed inside an old farrowing building that was pretty dilapidated. It was tucked back in the corner behind a piece of plywood. i tried to get in there and throw a blanket over the trap once i knew the skunk was in there but that didn't work.. i missed and it sprayed. sprayed everywhere. so strong to the point your eyes are watering.

i finally found an old piece of steel and i bent the end of it and was able to at least drag it out into the yard at this point and it was PISSED.

Got the .22 rifle and shot him in the live trap but when you shoot them they release all of their gross sh*t. there was a pile of yellow crap in the yard for about 2 weeks and the smell would make its way up to the house if the wind was just right. i stripped in the yard, burned my clothes, and lived another day.

(yes i shot and killed the skunk because they will eat your chicken eggs)
 
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CoachHines3 said:
i've caught 2 skunks in live traps within the last year or so and let me tell ya.. that's not fun.

i finally got smart and would tie some twine to the trap and roll it out about 20 ft so i could just pull that if i caught another.

the first one i caught was in a live trap that i placed inside an old farrowing building that was pretty dilapidated. It was tucked back in the corner behind a piece of plywood. i tried to get in there and throw a blanket over the trap once i knew the skunk was in there but that didn't work.. i missed and it sprayed. sprayed everywhere. so strong to the point your eyes are watering.

i finally found an old piece of steel and i bent the end of it and was able to at least drag it out into the yard at this point and it was PISSED.

Got the .22 rifle and shot him in the live trap but when you shoot them they release all of their gross sh*t. there was a pile of yellow crap in the yard for about 2 weeks and the smell would make its way up to the house if the wind was just right. i stripped in the yard, burned my clothes, and lived another day.

(yes i shot and killed the skunk because they will eat your chicken eggs)
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Skunks are nasty and destroy a lot.
 
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