I've learned a few new things these past few days thanks to the new tenant under my home.  Recently I'd been hearing knocking near my front door in the early evening.  At first I thought someone was knocking on my door and when I opened it, there was no one there! I was starting to get a bit worried until I realized that the knocking was coming from inside the wall nearest the door.  Now that I knew where it was coming from, the question became, WHAT is causing it.

Now I have to say that most animals don't scare me enough for me not to investigate but with the idea of crawling under the house and coming face to face with whatever was under there....I was ready to call in the professionals!  Although I didn't want the animal under there, I didn't want it harmed in anyway either so it took a little doing to find a company that humanely trapped and would relocate whatever was under there.  Alas, I found them...Critter Control in Raleigh, NC.  Eco friendly, willing to relocate, and fast as can be.

It was because of them that I realized there was much more danger to these critters than just them knocking on my walls!  They had torn out the insulation in the wall, pulled down the heating ducts so that my heat was directed under the house, not into it, and of course the dangers to my pets!  My pets!

I wasn't too worried about my dog coming face to face with whatever was under the house because it takes a crowbar to get her outside in this cold weather so I knew she was going to be outside a very minimal time.  My cat is completely indoors so I wasn't worried there either.  What I didn't expect was just how this critter could effect them inside the house!  I had noticed that my cat had begun to chew his hair out, my dog was scratching more and I woke to find a few little red bites on myself....fleas.  I knew the signs well, unfortunately.  The fleas came from my new friend under the house!

Another thing I hadn't thought about, what if whatever was there died? I wouldn't know until the smell would come into the house, who would get it out and would the smell go with it?  The thought if this thing dying and then bring smell and bugs into my house turned my want to not uproot something from under my home to GET IT OUT!!!

The Critter Control people set the trap.  What I thought was fun was they used marshmallows as bait...typical right?  Everything loves sweets!  The next morning, I checked the trap and lo and behold were two little eyes looking at me.  One big ole opossum took the bait.  He didn't seem very happy about it either.  I called Critter Control and within the half hour, they picked our friend up.  I know this doesn't seem like much to most but it meant alot to me.  I knew that the big guy wouldn't have to sit in that cage without food or water.

A second trap was set.  Just in case.  The next morning I checked it again and darn if there wasn't another opossum!  How many were under there!?  A third trap was set and so far (knock on wood) there is still an empty trap under my home.

Is there a moral to this story?  Yeah!  Do not just think that these critters are just pests...they can cause real damage and they should be removed or controlled.  They can present real dangers to you and your pets.  Never try to catch something on your own, call in the professionals so no one gets hurt, including the animal.

Here is another article about these dangers - Wild Animal Dangers