I hate going outside in the middle of the night with all the sharp-fanged wild beasts running around. I arm myself with a flashlight and head up the side of the house to the front. I SEE SANTY CLAWS! He's running the perimeter of my fence and coming toward me. AWAY from the trap. Drats! Again, he's blinded by my flashlight so he doesn't understand I'm connected to it. It's so freaky to have a wild beast running toward you. He runs behind one of my sheds and disappears. Hmmm...I need him to go the other way. To the trap.
I don't understand why the trap wasn't attractive, but I also wonder where the hell he went. I walk around the to other side of the shed and I heard a noise. Is he IN the shed? I have an open entrance for Peter, although Peter never uses it. I block the entrance. I get closer to the back of the shed and I can see Santy Claws between shed and the fence facing out away from me. I think he's looking for me and wondering if it's safe to leave. I scare him out and he runs away, along the perimeter of the fence and again, past the trap and disappears again. Damn.
I go back into the house and watch from the living room window because he's over by the trap and I don't want to stress him so he forgets he's hungry. Here comes Santy again, right past the trap. He totally ignores it. This makes me mad!
I head back outside to the front yard, he's slowly and cautiously waddling again around the perimeter of the fence toward me. I make some noise and he waddles at little faster. What do I do? Oddly enough, I have a cage over one of my plants to keep Peter from eating it. Ah ha! I grab the cage and as Santy is coming around the bend I THROW the cage on top of him!!
It would have worked wonderfully but he was in the garden and the mounds of dirt are not level so he quickly escaped through a space under the cage. He runs behind the shed again, but this time he totally disappears.
Now I have to say, I had a very large stick in my hands. It's actually the handle to an old shovel so it's less like stick and more like a bat. My weapon-stick. I could have beaten the life out of Santy Claws. Well, actually, I couldn't have. As frustrating as he is, there is a weird cuteness about him I rather like. This may change. It would be in his best interest to get into my trap voluntarily.
I decide the peanut butter isn't attractive enough so I open a can of tuna, take the juice and splash it on the ramp and in the garbage can. I go back to the shed hoping he's back to his hiding tricks, but he's not anywhere.
In the house I can hear him under the house again making tapping sounds! I think there must be a hole behind the shed that goes under and comes out under the house? Hmmm...I wonder if he's using some unknown underground system? I once dug up the garden right next to the shed in preparation for potatoes. For potatoes one needs to dig deep and about a foot down I discovered a huge hole, tunnel to be exact. I was told we have a problem with Thompson voles in this area. I guess they are like a cross between a rat and a mole and they tunnel under gardens to get from place to place, snacking on roots as they go. Creepy. At the time I poured garlic, onion, cayenne pepper into the tunnel and filled it with gravel. Did Santy Claws find an entrance and claim the passage way as his own?
I watch for him to come back out...he's got to be attracted to that tuna. Eventually. Hopefully before it rains again.
He's now tormenting me with his incessant tapping. It's only 4am. One more hour before he retires for the night.
Damn...foiled again.
I'm not giving up! I think tomorrow I'll remove all the chicken wire since he can get under the house anyway. This might give him easier access to the trap. The plan now is not so much to keep him out from under the house since he has secret passage ways, but to get him in the trap.
I am determined.
Note: At daylight I'll add some photos.
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