The sprung trap. Is there a creature inside?Bulletin! One of the "Creature Capture" traps on my front lawn was sprung in the night and we've captured a creature, or at least I think we have. The trap doesn't have an open grill, but is like a plastic container, and though there are peep holes, I didn't want to get too close when I went out to get the newspaper at dawn, lest the creature inside is a skunk.
This was Andy, setting the traps several days ago. It is the trap in the foreground of the photo that now has something in it.I had begun to suspect that the creature that has been rooting in my lawn may have made a nest up in the crawl space of my garage. The garage is enclosed, but creatures have ways of going in and out that we know not of.
Since the lawn-tearing-up activity--rooting for grubs the experts say--seems to take place when I've left the house or have snuggled by the fire with a book i.e. when the house is quiet; I made a point of taking an hour off to read quietly yesterday at about the time in the late afternoon when the lawn bandit attacks.
This is what a baited trap looks like, when it has not been sprung by a creature.As I relaxed and read--I'm working on Dracula right now, a somehow appropriate book for a week of creature capturing-- I heard something make slight noises above me: either on the roof or in the attic. I didn't think there was a way into the attic for a creature, but creatures can sometimes find or make a way.
Anyway: when I finally started to make noises and went to the window, the lawn had suffered another attack. Sod had been tossed hither and thither and the pieces were really big: like double-sized divots on a golf course. But the creature had vanished.
Here is what the military calls my lawn BDA--or Bomb Damage Assessment--which in my case is a CDA or Creature Damage etc. Sly fellow!
Last night, I left the garage door open a crack, in case the creature really does have a nest in there--in the rafters or eaves--I wanted to make it easier for the thing to get out. At dawn today one of the traps was sprung.
We await Andy, the great suburban hunter of irritating creatures, to come and check that trap. I haven't told him, but I'm still yearning for a cap like Davy Crockett.
I'll keep you posted.
6 comments:
Would you please release my dog!
Naughty dog! How did that 200 lb Yellow Lab squeeze himself into that tiny little trap? Must be cozy in there for him on this chilly morning. I'll ask Andy the trapper to let him out in a couple of days.
I'm guessing raccoon(s)...
Andy told me that if the trap was sprung and a raccoon was inside, he/she would rattle it a lot trying to get out. If it was a skunk or 'possum, it would just sit quietly playing, you know, 'possum. Honestly, I've looked in there (from a distance) and I can't see anything. I wonder if a smart raccoon sprung it and didn't get caught? They can do that sometimes ... the experienced ones. What a pain!!!
How about a motion-sensor camera?
I was hoping to avoid having further devices in my life, but that is another option. But even if I got a picture and knew who the bandit was, I would still have to figure out how to catch and dispose of it.
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