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R. Linda:
When I moved into me home here, there was an ancient bird feeder hanging from one of the small trees by the back porch. Normally, I would not have noticed it, but for the chattering of small tweetie birds every time I passed it. They made an infernal racket at me, very unpleasant sound it was. I, being a city lad did not understand Chickadee and at one point, I did make mention to Tonya about how annoying the birds were.
She got some seed and put it in the old feeder and told me that was what they wanted and now I wouldn't get chirped at. Ha ha. Right. She kept the feeder filled well and everytime I passed the chattering at me got worse -- because I was disturbing the seed loving creatures dining habits. I decided to purchase a new and bigger feeder for the feathered ones, thinking that would appease them. Now R. Linda, me intentions were nothing but good and I even bought a 50 lb. bag of sunflower seeds to attract the cardinals which me wife loves.
Not only did me idea attract bickering and territorial cardinals, it attracted squirrels, chipmunks and worst of all, mice! There is nothing more unappetising first thing in the morning then to see mice hanging off your bird feeder. The hairless tails blowing in the wind just made me morning coffee taste, well . . . like mice had swam in it. I know gross, but that's how I felt watching them, and you couldn't miss that lot. Me cats would sit in the window stretched out with the sun beating down, luxuriating in the heat, completely uninterested in the eight mice hanging from the feeder holes, and the activity beneath consisted of all sorts of chipmunks, squirrels, arguing birds and the occasional deer.
Not only that, the weather turned cold and they all decided to burrow into any openings in me house they could find. I had mice running amuck in me kitchen cupboards, the squirrels in the attic, the chipmunks living in me foundation, and birds under the eves of the house! I tell you I was living in a rodent and bird pooped hell I was.
I'd venture to me car in the morning, briefcase in hand, to be twittered at by mice, chattered at by squirrels, with the final insult being birds dive bombing me head and sometimes pooping on me head or coat.
I set kindness traps because me wife complained the snap traps were messy and I got a few of the critters, only to release them in the woods (I refrained from lobbing them at tree trunks), to find they had built-in homing devices because within the hour they were back! How did I know this? Because one of the mice had a distinct whitish spot on it's back and I had caught it in the trap, and next thing it is hanging off the feeder!
Now I be very, very good with a slingshot. I know you will get as upset as me wife did when she caught me, but I killed at least eleven mice from me porch window with the cat sitting on the railing watching. No, the cat did nothing but support me efforts, except when I took the paper bag out there to clean up. No, the cat didn't come with me, she sat on the railing watching until I had all eleven in the bag and was on me way to the trash bin. THEN she came over meowing that I should share the spoils, WHICH I did not. BUT, one of the rodents must have been alive and stunned, because me wife went to the trash bin to empty some veggie peelings when she saw me handiwork and the mouse going around and around in a wicked circle inside the can.
She figured it out all by herself what I had done and berated me for "murdering innocent life."
I went out and spent a lot of money on a "thumper" that is supposed to be silent and keep the critters away. It worked, it kept everything away, including the birds. Me wife had a fit because there was no birdsong in the mornings. So, I bought a silent "rodent keep away" a soundless ultrasonic low frequency machine that only the rodents could hear. But apparently the cats could hear it too. It drove them to craziness. They would run around the house, up the walls, over the furniture until I turned it off. Their ears must have been smarting because they wouldn't let us touch their heads.
Finally, because I couldn't take it anymore, I set the snap traps in the attic and one huge kindness cage. I baited them all and caught 67 mice, and five very ferocious squirrels. The scariest was taking the squirrel trap out. The handle wasn't far from the cage and they were mad they were. I threw a towel over the cage to disorient them, stuck them in the boot of me car, and nervously drove five miles out where I unloaded five angry tree rats.
When I opened the cage two scrambled away instantly, but three of them stayed in the cage. I had to pick it up and shake them out, but their little rodent hands held on and their sharp yellow teeth were snapping at me fingers. I threw the cage in desperation and fear of being bitten, and they flew out. Only to turn around and eye me. I ran for the car not looking back because I was certain they were coming. I jammed the gear into drive and peeled rubber on a dirt road (difficult thing to do), and never looked back. For some insane reason, I was sure they had caught up and were hanging on me bumper for the wild drive home. But when I got home, it was clean, no paw prints, no hair hanging off the license plate, nothing.
So far so good. The deer haven't come back I think because of the thumper, and the only thing I have in rodent form at the moment, are chipmunks. I thought they hibernated, but apparently they do not if the feeding is good. The birds are varied and me wife is happy. I watch the cardinals attack each other and am amazed that such beauty can be so ugly to each other over seed. The only bad to come out of this is the woodpecker population seems to like the seed as well. They rap away at me house in the wee hours if there is no seed in the feeder. I have to tell you me eyes are red rimmed from lack of sleep and when I do sleep, me dreams are about an army of mice and squirrels descending upon me bed in the middle of the night tearing yours truly to bits.
Time to move I say! Any ideas how to rid me house of woodpeckers?
Gabe
Copyright © 2006 All rights reserved
R. Linda:
When I moved into me home here, there was an ancient bird feeder hanging from one of the small trees by the back porch. Normally, I would not have noticed it, but for the chattering of small tweetie birds every time I passed it. They made an infernal racket at me, very unpleasant sound it was. I, being a city lad did not understand Chickadee and at one point, I did make mention to Tonya about how annoying the birds were.
She got some seed and put it in the old feeder and told me that was what they wanted and now I wouldn't get chirped at. Ha ha. Right. She kept the feeder filled well and everytime I passed the chattering at me got worse -- because I was disturbing the seed loving creatures dining habits. I decided to purchase a new and bigger feeder for the feathered ones, thinking that would appease them. Now R. Linda, me intentions were nothing but good and I even bought a 50 lb. bag of sunflower seeds to attract the cardinals which me wife loves.
Not only did me idea attract bickering and territorial cardinals, it attracted squirrels, chipmunks and worst of all, mice! There is nothing more unappetising first thing in the morning then to see mice hanging off your bird feeder. The hairless tails blowing in the wind just made me morning coffee taste, well . . . like mice had swam in it. I know gross, but that's how I felt watching them, and you couldn't miss that lot. Me cats would sit in the window stretched out with the sun beating down, luxuriating in the heat, completely uninterested in the eight mice hanging from the feeder holes, and the activity beneath consisted of all sorts of chipmunks, squirrels, arguing birds and the occasional deer.
Not only that, the weather turned cold and they all decided to burrow into any openings in me house they could find. I had mice running amuck in me kitchen cupboards, the squirrels in the attic, the chipmunks living in me foundation, and birds under the eves of the house! I tell you I was living in a rodent and bird pooped hell I was.
I'd venture to me car in the morning, briefcase in hand, to be twittered at by mice, chattered at by squirrels, with the final insult being birds dive bombing me head and sometimes pooping on me head or coat.
I set kindness traps because me wife complained the snap traps were messy and I got a few of the critters, only to release them in the woods (I refrained from lobbing them at tree trunks), to find they had built-in homing devices because within the hour they were back! How did I know this? Because one of the mice had a distinct whitish spot on it's back and I had caught it in the trap, and next thing it is hanging off the feeder!
Now I be very, very good with a slingshot. I know you will get as upset as me wife did when she caught me, but I killed at least eleven mice from me porch window with the cat sitting on the railing watching. No, the cat did nothing but support me efforts, except when I took the paper bag out there to clean up. No, the cat didn't come with me, she sat on the railing watching until I had all eleven in the bag and was on me way to the trash bin. THEN she came over meowing that I should share the spoils, WHICH I did not. BUT, one of the rodents must have been alive and stunned, because me wife went to the trash bin to empty some veggie peelings when she saw me handiwork and the mouse going around and around in a wicked circle inside the can.
She figured it out all by herself what I had done and berated me for "murdering innocent life."
I went out and spent a lot of money on a "thumper" that is supposed to be silent and keep the critters away. It worked, it kept everything away, including the birds. Me wife had a fit because there was no birdsong in the mornings. So, I bought a silent "rodent keep away" a soundless ultrasonic low frequency machine that only the rodents could hear. But apparently the cats could hear it too. It drove them to craziness. They would run around the house, up the walls, over the furniture until I turned it off. Their ears must have been smarting because they wouldn't let us touch their heads.
Finally, because I couldn't take it anymore, I set the snap traps in the attic and one huge kindness cage. I baited them all and caught 67 mice, and five very ferocious squirrels. The scariest was taking the squirrel trap out. The handle wasn't far from the cage and they were mad they were. I threw a towel over the cage to disorient them, stuck them in the boot of me car, and nervously drove five miles out where I unloaded five angry tree rats.
When I opened the cage two scrambled away instantly, but three of them stayed in the cage. I had to pick it up and shake them out, but their little rodent hands held on and their sharp yellow teeth were snapping at me fingers. I threw the cage in desperation and fear of being bitten, and they flew out. Only to turn around and eye me. I ran for the car not looking back because I was certain they were coming. I jammed the gear into drive and peeled rubber on a dirt road (difficult thing to do), and never looked back. For some insane reason, I was sure they had caught up and were hanging on me bumper for the wild drive home. But when I got home, it was clean, no paw prints, no hair hanging off the license plate, nothing.
So far so good. The deer haven't come back I think because of the thumper, and the only thing I have in rodent form at the moment, are chipmunks. I thought they hibernated, but apparently they do not if the feeding is good. The birds are varied and me wife is happy. I watch the cardinals attack each other and am amazed that such beauty can be so ugly to each other over seed. The only bad to come out of this is the woodpecker population seems to like the seed as well. They rap away at me house in the wee hours if there is no seed in the feeder. I have to tell you me eyes are red rimmed from lack of sleep and when I do sleep, me dreams are about an army of mice and squirrels descending upon me bed in the middle of the night tearing yours truly to bits.
Time to move I say! Any ideas how to rid me house of woodpeckers?
Gabe
Copyright © 2006 All rights reserved
