Thursday, April 21, 2016

R is for Racoons, rabbits, and... No, not happening...

My reputation as a country kid followed me when I went to college.  I suppose it was when I tried to raise corn on the window sill that it was cemented in that I liked nature.  (Or that I was a nutcase, but I like to think the other...)

This was a two-edged sword, as I was then the "expert" for any animals roaming about.  Especially those that managed to get in people's apartments.  We had a period of time when the landlord was working on people's bathrooms, thereby leaving holes that would lead outside.  At least if you were four footed.  Or not...

Also, quite a few folks, during the spring and summer, would leave the front door, or the back window open during the day.  This lead to my helping someone get a bird to leave... This one was pretty easy, had them turn off all the lights, then open door and window.  Then walk toward bird.  Bird took off, pooping as it went, which upset the person.  I shrugged, explaining, it's what birds do.  I found out she started telling others that I was some sort of  'animal expert'.

I went on to help someone remove: a cat, a couple rabbits, and one opposum.  (You'd be amazed what you can do with a cookie pan and a large blanket.)  A raccoon was a bit more tricky, we managed to do that by closing the door to the bathroom where it came up, and getting some stinky food, (cheese?  I don't remember, but it smelled...) and putting it by the vent nearest that bathroom.  Sure enough, about 10 or so minutes later, the furry bandit's nose was twitching 'round the corner.  After a nice lunch for the critter, we started blocking vents.

Thought we had blocked them all...

I was doing some homework, when there was a knock on my door.  A tiny lady that lived at the end apartment asked if I would help her with an animal in her tub.

Uh, sure...

We walked back to her apartment, one of the last ones to be repaired, and in the tub, nearly as long AS the tub, was a boa constrictor!  Please note, I am not afraid of snakes.  However, this critter was big, and I don't know how to handle large snakes.  I turned, and told her that this was a time to call the police.

I kid you not, she looked at me like I was nuts, and said, it's a snake, not a burglar.  Nonplussed, I replied, yes, but the police know who to contact for animal control.

Oh...

It was rather a good thing we did call the police, as someone a few houses away had called that their pet snake had wandered off while sunbathing.  (!!!)  So, I waited with the lady, who WAS afraid of snakes, and didn't want to be alone, if it got out.  We waited by her front door, until the police, and animal control arrived, soon to be followed by the owner.  This parade went in, the owner came out with said animal.

That's when I decided to tell the landlord I was going to start charging him for animal removal if he didn't get all the holes plugged up in the apartments!

5 comments:

Sharon said...

Oh my, think I would have stopped at the raccoon.
There are a lot worse names, yours was good!

LaShaune said...

I would have stopped at the opposum. Goodness!

messymimi said...

Raccoons and opossums can be dangerous, i'm glad you got them out safely. As for the snake, i like boas and we used to have some as pets, but you still don't grab a snake that isn't familiar with you, it will latch on and either bite (not poisonous but painful and can get infected) or try to squeeze you to death out of fear. You made a wise call to contact the police.

Cperz said...

I think raccoons are so cute but they can be mean so I wouldn't be too eager to try removing one from somewhere. Snakes just freak me out so that would of definitely not happened. I love animals but any wild animal will likely get mean when frightened so I am pretty quick to call Animal Control.

stephen Hayes said...

We haven't had any critters come inside our house, but a few years ago a rather large bobcat was prowling about in our yard.