This House is Only Big Enough for ONE Family

Wednesday, I got up early to paint in our living room (pictures to come very soon). I heard a thumping noise and thought maybe it was a cat on our porch. I looked outside and saw nothing. A little while later, I heard the noise again, except it sounded like it was under the floor I was standing on. About a half an hour later, I heard like a scratching noise coming from the basement. So I shut the dining room doors and the living room doors thinking that if there was an animal downstairs, I didn't want it upstairs so I could just open the front door and let it walk out.

I called Dave at work and told him about it. While on the phone, I snuck downstairs to check it out. My whole body was shaking. I don't like animals, especially wild animals. I looked around (from the steps...I wasn't going the whole way down). Didn't see anything. Then I heard it in the wall beside me.

When Dave got home he went down to check it out. We have drop tile ceiling down there and he could hear and feel it walking on the ceiling. At one spot, there is a little hole between the ceiling and wall. He put the flashlight there and saw a baby opossum. Later in the evening we heard noises from two different areas. We thought "great there are 2 of them."

Dave called an exterminator (or something) to come and get them. It would cost $185 for them to come set traps and $85 for each time they came to check the trap. Dave was like no way, I have a shot gun. Just kidding! That just seemed like a lot of $$$$$$.

So last night my father-in-law Bob came over to check things out. Dave and Bob found a mommy and babies living between the foundation and wall of our basement. Let me tell you the odor is not very pleasant at all. One of the babies got close enough that Bob picked him up (with gloves on) and put him in a 5-gallon bucket.

Princess and Little Guy were so excited. LG kept looking at it and laughing. Princess was not too sure at first, but then wanted food for it. She gave it leaves, maple seed, and a carrot. She then sang "the Wheels on the Bus" to it. And asked, "Can the opossum sleep in my room tonight?"

Since Bob couldn't reach the other opossums. He decided to set a trap outside thinking that the mommy would leave at night to get food. They found 3 places under our porch where the lattice was broken. They set a trap at one and blocked off the other 2.

Before we went to bed last night, the mommy was in there with at least 4 more babies. Dave read on the Internet that baby opossums cling to their mother. We haven't heard any more noises from the basement so hopefully they are all gone.

Don't worry, no animals have been hurt in this process. The baby last night was taken to a secluded area and let go. That's the plan for the mommy and babies tonight.