My "Wild Critter in the Basement" Adventure

[tunahead72 2,386]

I posted a couple of shouts about this recently, just thought I'd share the whole (long) story.  Not that I think anybody will be interested, but it might help calm my nerves a little...

 

This past Saturday morning, I was sitting in the dining room eating breakfast and enjoying my first cup of coffee.  I heard a noise near the back door, kind of like the noise a local cardinal has been making flying into our windows recently.  Except this was different somehow.

 

I got up and went to check it out, and heard a loud scratching/gnawing noise under the floor right next to the outside wall.  It sounded like a large rodent trying to get out, and I started kicking myself because the day before I had opened up the large doors to the basement to air it out a bit.  I figured something had walked in during the day and just couldn't get out.  I smacked the wall hard a few times next to where I was hearing the noise, and the critter responded by chattering loudly at me.

 

This unnerved me a lot, but gathering all my "man of the house" bravery (because nobody else in the house was going to do it), I walked vewy carefuwy down into the basement to see what was going on.  I saw that whatever this creature was, it had knocked over several small items on one of my storage shelves, AND a 20" window fan that was standing on the floor nearby.  So, this was not a mouse, probably not even a rat or squirrel or chipmunk, probably something much bigger.  I also noticed that a large area next to where our main water line enters the house had been freshly dug out.  That didn't help my nerves much.

 

I opened up the big basement doors to the outside, hoping this thing would just see the error of his ways and walk out the way I hope he walked in, preferably after I got safely back to the main part of the house.  As I looked around the basement, I caught a quick glimpse of the creature in the crawl space next to the basement.  All I really saw was his tail, which was gray and furry, as he turned away from me and walked deeper into the crawl space where I couldn't see him.  He seemed to be about the size of a cat or small dog, but thankfully didn't appear to be a skunk.  And he didn't do anything that I saw as threatening, just walked away from me.

 

I left the basement doors open, but heard noises down there several times during the day, in different parts of the basement and crawl space.  I didn't want to leave the doors open at night, thinking there probably were enough wild animals in my house already, so I closed them before it got dark.

 

Later in the evening, I heard more noises, so I went down to investigate.  The fan had been knocked down again, along with a few small items, and it sounded like my friend was in the basement.  This is where it got freaky, and truly frightening.  Because as I crept down the stairs, I saw him again, same gray furry tail, walking away from me toward a corner of the basement under a large walk-in fireplace.  I knew there was some danger involved in possibly cornering this thing, but I really wanted to get a closer look.  So I very slowly and quietly moved through the basement toward that corner, peeked around my water softener, and saw ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  No animal, no sign of activity, not a clue where he was.  At this point, my mind and heart were just racing, because not only did I not know what kind of animal this creature was, I had no idea whether he was above me, below me, or maybe behind me ready to tap me on the shoulder and watch me p__ myself.  All I really knew was an intense desire to get out of there very quickly, and that if this dude wanted to spend the night in my basement, he was welcome to it.

 

The next morning, more noises as expected.  I opened up the doors again during the day and hoped for the best.  My wife started an interesting conversation by mentioning that we might be able to identify our friend by the way he walked.  Based on that and the quick glimpses I had, we ran through all the different wild animals we've come across in our area over the years, and ruled out skunk, groundhog, raccoon, possum.  And we decided our best guess was that this thing was a gray fox.  The appearance was right, and our critter moved gracefully, deliberately, smoothly, with no hint of panic.  I've encountered foxes in the wild several times before, and I know they're perfectly capable of sneaking up on you with absolutely no warning, and will then walk away from you as if to say "excuse me, just passing through", fascinating animals.  The only thing that doesn't fit right now is the way he chattered at me that first morning, just because I don't know if foxes make that kind of noise at all.

 

Later in the day, we all realized we hadn't heard any noises from the basement in several hours.  Maybe he was asleep, and wanted to leave at night, but I wasn't going to take any chances and leave the doors open at night, so I closed them again and we all crossed our fingers.

 

The next morning, no noises still.  I was starting to hope that maybe he had left, so I kept the basement doors closed.  I came back from work in the afternoon and asked my wife and daughter if they had heard anything, and they hadn't.  Knock on wood, we haven't heard anything since Sunday afternoon, and I want desperately to believe he's gone.  Because if he's not, then he's dead, somewhere in our basement or crawl space, waiting to entertain us with that wonderful dead animal smell that's so pleasant to experience.

 

My wife has a much better sense of smell than I do, and she has agreed to let me know immediately if she smells what seems like a dead animal down there.  That's not particularly difficult for her to accept, because the next step would be for me to go into our basement and crawl space, looking for this thing.  I've done that numerous times before here, and it's a seriously unpleasant task.  There's a large area of the crawl space that's less than a foot high from floor to bottom of joists above, and the only way for me to get through there is to slide on my belly.  I'm way too old for that any more, so I'm hoping he just left, for good.

 

Thanks for tuning in to this story, I'll let you all know if anything changes.

[JimD 3,345]

Ed, listen to this recording, particularly the "gekkering" sound. I think you are right on about it being a fox. Let us know if that is the sound you heard.

 

 

Added the missing link Ed, sorry about that.

 

 

 

 

What's really interesting here is that none of the local lugnuts has post the "What does the Fox say? video yet..

Edited August 20, 2014 by JimD

[tunahead72 2,386]

Jim, I really want to listen to that recording, but I don't see it.

 

As far as the lugnuts and their video, the night is still young, and I actually have an educated guess as to who will be the first to post it.

[JimD 3,345]

Sorry Ed, completely forgot to add the link..   It's there now.

[C-101plowerpower 1,605]

shall i be the one then?

 

sounds like an interesting creature, mate of mine cought a young fox and kept it as a pet

 

 

Koen  

[Lane Ranger 10,853]

I had a squirrel get in my basement through an open window one time.   I never could get it out.    Months later though I had the neatest squirrel skin pelt you ever saw in a cardboard box !

[rmaynard 15,308]

Never had a fox in the house, but when we were kids, we used to camp out in the back yard. One night, a red fox ambled through the yard, and decided to scream just as he passed our sleeping bags. So, what did the fox say? Well, it sure wasn't "ding ding ding ding da ding ding"!

 

Great story Ed.

[Firpo701 407]

Was in the shop night before last, with doors open, and I do believe a skunk relieved himself on the side of the shop! I've seen him a few times scurrying through the yard when I pull in the driveway, and that wasn't the first time I've been blessed with his aroma! I just hope he doesn't get brave and decide to come in for a visit some night while I'm "Horsing" around! :-P

[tunahead72 2,386]

Jim, thanks for the recording.  The gekkering doesn't quite sound like what I heard the other day, but maybe.  I've heard (if I remember correctly) groundhogs and raccoons making the noise I thought I heard, which sounded like they were clicking their teeth together very quickly, my impression was that they were aggressively giving me a warning to get away.  There's parts of the gekkering that sound like that, I'm not going to rule it out.  I've heard most of the other sounds on that recording in the fields and woods around my house, some of them are just chilling.

 

The "What Does the Fox Say" reference went completely over my head, I thought you were talking about the old "See and Say" toy from way before my time.  Koen, you get the prize for being the first to post it here, and I have to confess you weren't my first guess, but what do I know?  That's an odd but fun video (my daughter knew immediately what you guys were talking about).  It's weird, but in a strange way their interpretation of what foxes sound like are actually not too far off from the true noises.  Although I'm pretty sure my wild critter wasn't wearing a white shirt and tie, or standing on his back legs doing a little dance for me.

 

Fun stories so far from you guys, anybody else?

 

[tunahead72 2,386]

Just a quick update for now...

 

My wife and I were away for several days this past weekend.  We got home last night, and didn't notice any unusual odors in the house, or anything else out of place in the basement.  Knock on wood again, I think our critter is gone.

 

I have more fox stories to tell, one of these days soon (they're much shorter, I promise).