Look What I Caught.....

With a face like this does he look guilty? In a previous post Who has been eating my arugula, I talked about my vegetable garden invasions in the night. Yes, some critter was stealing my produce right from under my nose while I was sleeping. I had no choice I borrowed a Have a Heart Trap from a friend's dad and set it out in my garden baited. I thought that I might catch the critter who was guilty. I caught a squirrel!! My dogs went bonkers when they saw it. My first thought was that it was impossible to be a squirrel doing this....I have thousands in my yard. They breed, like rabbits, up in my huge Oak trees that fill my yard. They are a nuisance in many ways, they eat all the bird food that I put out so I had to stop, and they torment my 3 dogs constantly, especially Niko, my biggest hunter. I think I was hoping to catch a Rabbit or something cute.

As I again took a glimpse at my plants chewed down to just nubs, I just knew I needed to move forward with my plan and remove what I caught from my yard, however I was starting to feel guilty about it. Could this squirrel be a mom with a nest of babies up in the tree close by? I do not know how you would tell the sex of a squirrel, however as I stopped to take the photo of my little trapped critter, I did notice that he looked like he could be a boy squirrel therefore I was not responsible for potential orphan squirrels. This should make me feel a bit better right? Wrong, as we got into my car to relocate the little fella, I thought about in my heart, I don't believe he is the guilty party, but just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and he fell for the bait! I know I surely have been in that position. I found my self talking to him about the ride in the car as he sat in the trap in my back seat. I knew for sure this had to be his first ride. I put on the music for him to calm him...some Jazz. It would be alright, I was taking him to a better neighborhood about a mile away and across 2 major roads. Upon arrival to my destination, I removed the trap from my car and I opened the door releasing him on the Seminole County Bike trail. He was gone in a New York minute and up a tree. Good luck little guy, I hope you are happy in your new digs.

Back to my problem, When I arrived back home, I did speak to one of my neighbors the one behind me, who told me that she has been seeing rats in her yard and her hubby was trapping them. Now I know for sure, who is stealing my veggies and that makes sense! I just have to decide if I want to deal with attempting to trap them and deal with it if I do, or just do nothing and see what happens.

The " Have a Heart Trap" is the most humane trap to catch an animal without causing them any harm or danger. They come in various sizes, are fairly easy to use and can be used over and over.