I'm sharing my bedroom with a flying squirrel! He/she came running into the bathroom at 5:00 a.m. when I was in there (ahem!)! He/she took one look at me, a human being, and made a couple of flying leaps, turned 180 degrees, and fast-glided out of the room only to confront a cat! Smudge startled out of her sleep pounced and must have stunned the flier because he/she lay still beside the closet door. "You got him, Smudge," I yelled, "Good job!"
Smudge kept reaching out to see if he/she was ready to become a snack, and suddenly he/she moved. Smudge pounced again. I was watching all this from the bed where I lay feet up and protected with a duvet from a possible invasion by the flying squirrel. My heart was pounding, and I wanted to cover my head, but I couldn't quit watching.
By now, I am seeing Smudge zigzagging between magazine holders, books, and computer cords tangled up on the floor. Lots of ruckus, and then...silence. Smudge assumed a cat-like position, of course, and looked puzzled glancing over her shoulder now and then to make sure she wasn't missing anything. She looked at me as if to say, "What flying squirrel?"
From my vantage point, I'm sure Smudge has won the battle and that she is only waiting for the squirrel heart to stop beating so she can rip it out of that little rodent body. I don't especially want that to happen with squirrel parts scattered over and throughout my books and files. I carefully get up and approach the stuff on the floor, expecting something to pop up at any moment and surprise me, maybe run across my bare toes or up my leg. I see nothing. I look harder and gingerly reach out and move things around. Nothing.
But I remember seeing him/her lying "dead" in the doorway corner to the closet! I decide he/she must have been only wounded and darted away into the closet to die. Now what do I do? Well, I couldn't sleep when I went back to bed, so I got up, made coffee, and sleepily moved through the morning.
Wayne and his son came over after lunch to do some odd jobs and I asked them to take a look in the closet and see if they could find the flying squirrel who I was sure was dead by this time. When Wayne and Josh started moving things around guess who came running out? He/she did!
Apparently unwounded. Last night, he/she had been playing possum!
All the cats were outside on the deck watching frustratedly through the glass doors. He/she disappeared under my very large dresser! Wayne and Josh were no match for speed!
I had to take a nap I was so tired from having only 5 hours sleep last night. I chose to nap in the guest bedroom. When I got up, I found my live trap and it now sits near the bottom of my dresser baited with Meow Mix. The cats are still out on the deck. I'll sleep in the guest bedroom again tonight and hope he/she gets hungry enough and the room gets dark enough that he/she can come out and enter the trap.
This is the third time the flying squirrels have invaded our Castle Yonder house. They are attracted by the bird seed and suet on the family room deck. It's become so routine that I expect to find the little door on the suet feeder standing wide open. These little boogers have mechanical abilities, also.
In our novice years in becoming partners with these unusual mammals, we suspected that a raccoon was the culprit in the Steal the Suet Caper. We didn't begin to figure it out until a flying squirrel got trapped in the guest bedroom, and we didn't realize we had an uninvited guest until our nose led us to it.
The second time, I thought I was hallucinating several times as I caught glimpses of it climbing up onto my computer desk, catching sight of me, and disappearing and then in and out from under the family room sofa. Eventually it came into full sight, ran across the family room floor, up the fireplace, across the mantle, disappearing behind the top of a bookcase. The next morning, we found cornmeal on the floor as he/she chewed a hole in an extra bag I had stored on a high shelf in the pantry. That's when I bought the live trap and placed it high on the shelf baited with cornmeal.
And now, this time I think he/she came in through opened doors and windows without screens last week when my air conditioner ran out of freon and the outside temps went into the '90's. I'd cool the house off when the temps lowered to the '60's by opening the doors at night, and night is when these little "gliders" come out to eat, exercise, and socialize.
In the Appalachias, this species of a squirrel could be "Northern" or "Southern." I'm not sure what the difference is, but since this year is the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, it seems most appropriate.
I'll let you know when this little booger gets relocated.
