An uninvited guest was taking over my home. Would the chaos ever end? By Michelle Collins, 38
![Squirrel invades woman's home](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/22/2024/05/Screenshot_20230519_134038_Gallery.jpg?auto=format&w=1440&q=80)
I was lounging on my sofa with my dogs Poppy and Willow when, all of a sudden, I heard a noise coming from the kitchen.
Scratch, scratch.
Poppy’s ears pricked up.
‘What’s that?’ I said.
I got up and peered into the kitchen but there was nothing there.
That’s strange, I thought.
I left it but, the following morning when I went to fetch the dogs’ food, I spotted something. There was a tear at the bottom of the bag, like it had been chewed open.
Mice! I thought.
I put down a humane trap with peanut butter inside to try to catch the critter.
‘Time to leave, Mickey,’ I said.
But the next day, the trap was empty — and the dog food had been raided again.
Then I noticed unusual piles of sawdust around the room, and bite marks on the skirting boards.
My heart dropped to my feet.
What if my mouse is really a rat? I thought.
![Squirrel invades woman's home](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/22/2024/05/20230330_122314.jpg?auto=format&w=1440&q=80)
I called pest control and the man I spoke to agreed.
‘Sounds like a rat infestation,’ he said.
The following morning, I felt anxious walking into my kitchen.
What if my intruder had gnawed my food? Or chewed its way through wires?
But I was relieved to see the worst damage was a chewed tea towel.
My home in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, was next to some woodland, and when I went outside later, I spotted a squirrel jumping from a tree to the roof of my carport.
Suddenly, my brain went. click, click, click.
Could a squirrel be my unwelcome visitor?
A week later, the man from pest control arrived and he found a hole under my porch, which was a gateway to the inside of my walls.
'We need a squirrel trap'
He filled it in, but said: ‘These holes are too small for rats. We need a squirrel trap for this one.’
Aha, I knew it! I thought.
He put down a trap with some peanut butter to lure in the squirrel.
But I said: ‘I don’t think it likes peanut butter.’
Instead, I placed down a chunk of dog food.
That night, I slept restlessly in my camper van on the drive — evicted from my home by my uninvited guest — and when the man from pest control returned in the morning, I tentatively followed him in.
Just as I’d suspected, the peanut butter was untouched, but the dog biscuit was gone.
The pest man was bemused, but I knew we were dealing with a smart squirrel!
After all, he was still getting into the house.
![squirrel invades woman's home](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/22/2024/05/20221116_121629.jpg?auto=format&w=1440&q=80)
Desperate to outwit the night-time intruder, I went online and did some research and discovered that squirrels hated the smell of garlic and bleach. So I put down garlic cloves, and scrubbed the surfaces.
And I stuffed towels under the living-room door to stop it going in there.
I thought: That’ll stop you.
But when I looked out the window, I saw the squirrel, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, staring back at me from the tree outside my house.
![Squirrel invades woman's home](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/22/2024/05/20221121_080742.jpg?auto=format&w=1440&q=80)
Sitting on its hind legs with its hands touching, it looked like it was plotting something devious.
‘Is that tree helping you get in?’ I asked through the glass.
I cut down the tree, but still it kept on getting in to my house.
To make myself feel less anxious about it, I gave the squirrel a name — Sidney.
One night, as I lay in bed at 9pm, I heard footsteps and scratching above me.
‘Sidney!’ I cursed.
![squirrel invades woman's home](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/22/2024/05/Screenshot_20230429_102027_Gallery.jpg?auto=format&w=1440&q=80)
The dogs weren’t fussed by Sidney’s presence inside, but if they spotted him running across the garden fence, they’d chase after him.
As the days got warmer, I heard less from Sidney. But when autumn arrived, the noises started up again.
‘Welcome back, Sid,’ I said.
Sidney’s now been with me for three years. I just can’t get rid of him.
He doesn’t cause as much damage as he used to, which is a relief, and in a way I’ve got used to him hanging around. He’s part of the family now.