Shed can be a home for creepy crawlies
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- October 24, 2022
- 510
Our shed is a sanctuary for a few creatures that need shelter, especially in winter. Taller Half has seen several rabbits exiting the underside of the shed, and I have observed a few squirrels diving underneath that shed when hawks are flying overhead. Last year we had a suspected shed-sheltering raccoon who tore up one of our bird feeders and stole another one. A neighbor saw a groundhog crawl under the shed during last winter, but we never saw him.
Our daughter had a shed that was a magnet for some rats. They managed to get inside that place, no matter how quickly she patched holes. They were terrible tenants, making awful messes, tearing up anything they were able to reach. When a kitten our daughter adopted grew up, the rats were given a choice: leave or be eaten. They left.
One year friends opened their shed door to see an owl perched inside. As they stared at the creature, it spread its wings and flew over their heads out the door. They have no idea how or when that owl got into their shed.
Another friend was shocked to find a whole little family of chipmunks settled cozily into a corner of her shed. They scattered as soon as they were discovered and then disappeared. My friend searched for hours before she found how they got inside. It was a small hole in a dark corner of the shed. She claimed she left the hole unplugged because she wasn’t sure they had all escaped. Later she admitted she hated to think of the little creatures being left out in the cold.
We aren’t very worried about any creature actually getting inside our shed. It is so full of “stuff” that there is barely room for a spider to crawl in. But just in case, I sprayed the inside with bug spray.