At long last, the Sotto Voce Critter Report

[slipjig3]

Our cabin, which we named Sotto Voce, is wayyyy out on a dirt road in the middle of the great New Hampshire nowhere, which means we are, as they say, Close to Nature. Conversely, this also means we find Nature to be alarmingly Close to Us. Since moving in back in June, we have encountered the following non-exhaustive list of critter-folk:

Inside

Spiders—Our first encounter, even before we were fully moved in. Sometimes on the large end of the casual house arachnid scale, albeit not, as I have on occasion described them, "the size of pot holders." The lovely and brave figmentj is in charge of spider eviction, unless the also lovely and brave belgatherial is around because she grew up in South Africa and thinks we're kind of wussy about the whole thing. She'd be right.

Mice—The current problem. They're tiny and adorable (when we happen to encounter them in person, we invariable coo like sorority girls), but have some bad habits, including getting into the bread bags, pooping all over the damn place, chittering when they know we can't see them and turning up in surprising spots when we can, like the tea kettle or the downstairs toilet. We'll be investing in humane traps soon.

Bats—I want to start by saying we've dealt with the problem by plasticking over the offending closet door, but man, this was an entertaining problem for a while, assuming you find waking up to a bat doing barrel rolls around your bedroom ceiling fan "entertaining." That's not even getting into the "bat in the shower" story, or the even-lovelier "bat meets macaroni" story, which frankly deserves an entry of its own. They're still nesting in the roof, but they no longer have access to the indoors.

Miscellaneous bugs—We has them on occasion. Yay. Relatedly, moths trapped in lampshades are loud.

Outside

Rabbits—Plentiful around the house; probably living under the back porch. Yes, I'm charmed beyond measure.

Deer—Also plentiful, and remarkably unconcerned about human intervention. Jenna damn near plowed into one on the way home one night. We now drive ten miles and hour more slowly on our road.

Wild turkeys—There's a couple of 'em who pretty much live to cross the road in front of your car and give you half-stoned, half-pissed-off looks while they do. (Hey, shadesong, ya want we should scare up a shotgun for November?)

Bear—Rumored presence in the area visually confirmed by Jenna. I feel so much safer now.

Hawk—Just yesterday I saw a gorgeous one doing a low swoop across our front yard, low enough that I could have touched it if it had flow directly over my head. Come to think. I haven't been seeing many rabbits lately. (And there was that one cry of human anguish we heard, he said in-jokingly.)

Frogs and snakes—They're around, but the don't bother us and we don't bother them. Keeping it that way, thanks.

Miscellaneous bugs—We're in the damn woods.

Horses, roosters and ducks—Various neighbors keep them. The folks across the street have a horse who grazes right across from the big picture window in the living room. We haven't seen the rooster, but we hear it when we're leaving the house on occasion. And the ducks are the property of a farmstand out on Route 10 on the way into town; we really must go try some duck eggs soon.

All in all, though, the critter situation is pretty mild, to the point that it's not even a slight concern on most days. Which means yes, you can come up to visit and remain unmolested by random wildlife. Please do.

Comments

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Luckily the bear sighting was (a) not fully confirmed as being an actual bear (it was dark out) and (b) a good mile or two away, as opposed to being in our yard. But yes, we've been keeping the garbage cans locked in the garage just in case.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest investing in a bunch of sealable heavy plastic containers (for mouse targeted food indoors), and a housecat. In no particular order. Mice can carry all sorts of nasty diseases, even if they are cute.

Also tight-lidded garbage cans to discourage the outside wildlife. Last thing you want is a bear in your garbage at 3 am.

[rain-herself.livejournal.com]

I'm allergic to cats, sadly. :/

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

And not all cats are good mousers. :/

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Luckily we're already pretty well canistered up for the most part. And as I mentioned to terriaminute above, the garbage cans are kept in a shut garage, following a spectacular raccoon incident on the front porch shortly after we moved in.

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

My girlfriend, she is mighty!

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

Living in rural BuFu, my critter report is strikingly similar inside -- outside, there are only squirrels and bunnies and birds and the occasional stray cat. No biggie.

But on the mouse front...if you're going to invest in live traps, a word of caution. Several, actually.

1. They WILL pee in the trap. And it stinks like only rodent pee can.
2. Mice JUMP. Don't let them out of the trap until you're ready to set them loose.
3. Relocate them several miles away. More if possible. They WILL come back immediately if you just plop them in the backyard.
4. Find out how they're getting in. If you don't seal up that hole (it can be as small as 1/4" across), you will just keep getting more and more. Rocks, cement, Great Stuff (that expandable foam insulation), silicone sealant, caulk, and even plastic bags are good for stuffing in cracks along the outside foundation or those places where things just don't "meet up" -- remember #2. It doesn't have to be along the floor (though it usually is, and under those tiny overhangs along a baseboard). Don't use paper; they'll chew right through it.

Bats, however....#4 is still totally valid, exchanging "floor" for "roof" and "eaves" with "baseboard." I hope you don't have anything inside that closet, but you might be able to get the chance to evict your bats over winter since they usually fly off to a more quiet/subterranean cave for their winter torpor.

Watching the bat fly around the ceiling fan a few confused times *is* entertaining, but only in retrospect. :P I am definitely interested in the "bat meets macaroni" story!

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately this place is all gaps and holes—weather-tight for all practical purposes, but there are so many exceptions and loopholes we don't even know where to begin. The standing bat solution is to wait until they've fled for the season then seal off their den from the outside to prevent return. And thank you for the mouse advice; I have a feeling we'll be dropping them off in Vermont just in case.