Rodent wars.
We're in day #64 of our familyroom rehab, and the demolition/rebuilding has opened all sort of interesting access to the local critters. (I never knew that cats would climb aluminum extension ladders.) One such access is a hole in the side of our 2nd story where the rooftop photovoltaic wires snake into the wall and down through the garage attic to the ground-floor inverter. When work started on the roof, I pulled the conduit fitting out of the wall to get the wires out of the way. It's been open for over a month.
A couple weeks ago I heard stealthy/slithering noises in our garage attic, so I staked it out with the usual trap. No takers. But now I knew why the cats were climbing our ladders.
Yesterday morning the roofers finally finished, so I plugged the conduit back into the hole in the wall. Today we're planning to start re-installing the PV panels.
Last night we heard no-foolin' hard-core loud crunching/chewing noises on our roof. Spouse actually got out of bed and went around the property looking for the critter. Nothing seen.
I was awakened three hours ago (12:55 AM) by more vigorous chewing noises. I thumped on the wall to scare the critter away and went back to bed. 10 minutes later work resumed. Now I'm worried that a rodent parent is trying to get back into the house to take care of the trapped babies, who I could imagine were roaming the attic chewing on the PEX water piping for hydration.
I woke up spouse to let her know I'd be on the roof. ("Mumble, grumble, mumble...") Sure enough, the flashing under the conduit-plugged hole had a small pile of wood chips on it. So I set a trap there.
An hour later I could hear more vigorous chewing but the trap wasn't sprung. I went back up on the roof and could actually hear the critter chewing, only to realize he's on the INside trying to get OUT.
I woke up spouse again to let her know I'd be in the garage attic. (Her response was inaudible or not suitable for a family forum.) I went back up into the attic and headed over toward the PV conduit. I could hear the chewing a lot more clearly. As I approached I could actually see the insulation moving around as the rodent attempted to get a better grip on the situation. Luckily before I got much closer he heard me and bolted, and I saw him run away through a stud bay.
So I set another trap. I haven't heard any chewing since. It's 4 AM now, and in a few hours I'll return to see how we did. Hopefully I'll be making a dawn transport to a secure undisclosed location for yet another catch & release.
You may ask "Geez, Nords, why not pull out the conduit for a couple hours, give Ralphie a chance to let himself out, and then plug it back in?" The reason is that I don't know how many rodents are actually in this situation, and I'm not sure if he was really trying to escape or just trying to get the word back to the rest of the tribe that the residence was ready for occupancy...
Can't remember ever doing that not being sick.
