has wildlife ever found it's way into your inn?

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DaisyMae

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So me & DH go out this evening for dinner and a motorcycle ride. Stress free evening, or so we thought!. We get back about 10pm. As we drive in the yard, 2 guests are standing in the driveway. The guy says," uh, we got a bit of bad news for ya." I thought, ugh, they want to check out early for some reason ...he says, "we think there's a bat in our room".Oh, for crying out loud!
they had come back from dinner she came in and left the door open for him while he got something from the car. all we can assume is it came in then and somehow made it down the hallway and into their guestroom before they closed their room door.
This is a very young couple that has been here for a handful of days now and have a couple more to go. They are friendly but also seem to have a snooty way about them. Anyway, so DH heads inside and the couple come in and leave the door wide open behind them. Hmm, wonder how the bat might have gotten in... Dh heads into their guestroom(our 1st floor room) with a broom and the girl says she is going outside because she is scared, he says he'll goe with her cause he is scared too. The bat is flying around their room. Dh whacks it with the broom. (I know, i feel bad it had to end that way for him just because the guests were not bright enough to close the door behind them)
Takes me back a couple of weeks ago to when guests were checking in. I see them standing in the yard looking at something but i could not see anything. I opened the door and said hello. They said they were watching a raccoon. he was crouched behind our outdoor stairway on the back of the house (probably 10 feet from our back door). I said well maybe you should come in because if he is mad then he could possibly bite. So they came in a few minutes later, and what did they do?, that's right, left the door wide open! I am not going to be a happy innkeeper at all if i have to chase a raccoon at 10pm at night.
I can't stand it, how in the world do i get guests to realize they NEED to close the door behind them? I realize I'm not gonna win this one. it's just driving me nuts that 10 times a day i can walk into the dining room and the back sliding door is wide open!
 
3 baby racoons tore a huge hole in our screened in porch and made themselves at home.
 
we had a skunk family (ewww) build a nice little house under our porch and they found their way into the basement. i had to pay $25 a piece for 7 have a heart traps that were set by the animal control officer who returned after a few days and removed the skunks to another location. we blocked off the area where they got in with boards and screening.
the next day, about 6 am, having a cup of tea on the outdoor deck, watching the haze lift, i watched a big skunk and a little line of babies come trotting down the road ... no!!!!!!!
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don't know if it was the same skunks or not. i ran inside and told myself i didn't see them.
 
Just at an inn in the mountains last night and the innkeeper tells me on the tour to be sure to close the screen door to my little deck as squirrels make a bee line across it at times to get to a bird feeder. Apparently, they had to employ the inn dog to round up a squirrel recently.
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The only "wild life" we get that comes in the tiniest cracks in our old house is of the Southern bug variety. ugh. And, the porch cat can sneak in very, very quickly thanks to an unsuspecting guest.
 
We had also a bat in our house once. My DW called me to catch it. It was quite difficult and I was trying for a while until one of our cats got tired to see me struggeling and caught the bat in no time. She just hold the bat with here paw down without injuring the little creature and gave me this look… “see it´s so easy”.
Anyway at this time my DW was really getting nervous telling me "quick, quick take it out the cat could get bitten and the bat could have all kinds of diseases". So I took the bat out the house back to freedom. I can tell you these little creatures have some sharp teeth.
The lesson I learned, is not to close windows, it’s more now I know my position in the pack. I come right after the cats.
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I currently have garder snakes living in the holly hedge that surrounds the front porch. They sun themselves on the holly branches. I know they are harmless and eat annoying things like mice and bugs, but they do tend to give the guests a scare!
In case anyone needs to know for the future: The most effective way to catch a bat is with a tennis racket. Their radar goes through the webbing so they can't "see" it. Once you have one grounded, toss a towel over it and take it outside.
 
I currently have garder snakes living in the holly hedge that surrounds the front porch. They sun themselves on the holly branches. I know they are harmless and eat annoying things like mice and bugs, but they do tend to give the guests a scare!
In case anyone needs to know for the future: The most effective way to catch a bat is with a tennis racket. Their radar goes through the webbing so they can't "see" it. Once you have one grounded, toss a towel over it and take it outside..
I learned my lesson the hard way as well. I used to leave the back door open while I was carrying in groceries from the car. That is until I got a mouse in the house. I didn't notice it at first. I was lying on the couch and thought I noticed a blur across the carpet. It happened several times before I caught on. I thought I was seeing things. They are very fast. Then the hunt was on. I finally caught it with a trap but not before it found its way through evey closet and piece of furniture in the house. I found out they love to climb, not a pretty trail to follow.
I also had a bird fly in from off the upstairs deck into a bedroom. I tried to guide it back out the door with a broom but the poor thing just wouldn't cooperate. I finally made contact and got it out the door. I thought it was fine but found it dead on the deck the next morning. I guess the stress was just too much for it.
 
We had a bat come in during a rainstorm on hubby one night, flew all around, finally landed on a curtain and he picked it gently off with a leather glove on...took it out and put it on the side of the house under the eaves out of the rain. Poor thing was so scared.
Have had snakes in the basement (I don't mind, they keep the mice at bay).
 
I currently have garder snakes living in the holly hedge that surrounds the front porch. They sun themselves on the holly branches. I know they are harmless and eat annoying things like mice and bugs, but they do tend to give the guests a scare!
In case anyone needs to know for the future: The most effective way to catch a bat is with a tennis racket. Their radar goes through the webbing so they can't "see" it. Once you have one grounded, toss a towel over it and take it outside..
We have all kinds of snake here in the woods. I occasionally kill a copperhead, which is a shame because they are really quite pretty. And we are constantly on the lookout for cottonmouth water moccasins around the pond. The rest of the snake population is people friendly so we let them be.
 
We've had quite a menagerie over the years. Bat in a guest room (they were very cool about it), little garden snake in a guest room, squirrel in my kitchen, bird in the house, racoon trying to get through my dog door in our house, porcupine startled me one night as I walked out my door. Last week a hummingbird was trapped on a guest porch. Oh yeah, and a bear broke my old apple tree...got up one morning and the tree was broken and on the ground with claw marks on the trunk. Guess it couldn't hold his weight. We didn't see the bear, but he did leave his calling card!
wink_smile.gif
 
I currently have garder snakes living in the holly hedge that surrounds the front porch. They sun themselves on the holly branches. I know they are harmless and eat annoying things like mice and bugs, but they do tend to give the guests a scare!
In case anyone needs to know for the future: The most effective way to catch a bat is with a tennis racket. Their radar goes through the webbing so they can't "see" it. Once you have one grounded, toss a towel over it and take it outside..
The Farmers Daughter said:
In case anyone needs to know for the future: The most effective way to catch a bat is with a tennis racket. Their radar goes through the webbing so they can't "see" it. Once you have one grounded, toss a towel over it and take it outside.
well, hopefully we will not need to ever use this info but thanks.
 
We had a squirrel come down the sewer vent on the roof at 2 different times. Had to have a plumber in once, husband opened cleanout in basement other time and he came out. Plumber said he has had only 3 squirrels in the sewer in his lifetime and 2 were at our house. We put wire over our vent. No more squirrels.
Squirrel down the chimney. Put chimney covers on top.
Bat down fireplace a couple of times. Chimney birds nest there too and babys fall down. Put chimney covers on top.
Get garter snakes in basement. They can stay, but dh usually catches and takes outside.
In Guam, shrews used to come in under the screen door, can squeeze in a small place like a mouse. Geko's used to live in house on walls. Kids would chase them and they would run up the wall where kids couldn't touch them and turn around and look at them. Didn't try to get them out.
 
Had a bat in an apartment once - found out there were hundreds in the attic. I had told the landlord I heard scritching noises and thought it was mice. He finally sent in exterminators and bats were dying all over the neighborhood. He HAD to do something when one of the bats got into the beauty shop on the first floor during business hours. I missed the action because I was at work.
I had a groundhog take up residence under my proch a couple summers ago. Found his foorway and one day when I was certain he was not home (I had watched him leave) I put a board and a rock in front of the hole.
 
Bat in the attic, flying squirrel under my sofa in here, mice in the kitchen into the guest dining area with me standing on the kitchen table shrieking.
 
We had a problem with a black bear this past spring. He used to come right up on our deck to get at the bird feeders! I stopped feeding the birds but it took about two weeks for him to stop coming around. I miss feeding the birds but that was one BIG bear!
Oh, and we had a bat in the house once. My DH handed ME the broom and wished me good luck! I opened the door to the outside and it flew right out.
 
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