Over the years, thanks to various cats. we've had an assortment. They brought in a flying squirrel and it was a comedy to see hubs and I trying to catch it, when it was leaping/flying from curtain to curtain, with the cats trying to help. Finally, I put the cats out and we were able to catch and release the cute little thing in the pine grove. Then we've had bats, snakes and birds. We always try to release them unharmed.

A neighbor's cat "Oliver" came in the front door, , walked all around, hissed at my cat, then left thru the front door.

We had a squirrel and a couple of birds in our house along with some mice in the past.

Had a big old cricket wandering around this weekend. Usually the cat plays with it, kind of herds it along to get them to move but this time she picked it up in her mouth and carried it to the middle of the floor and d dropped it to play some more. Gave me a chance to smash it. I hate crickets.

I had a chipmunk and I uncharicteristically FREAKED OUT. To this day we don't know how/where he got in or out. Let's hope he's out anyway.......

We typically get lizards and birds in the house. And the dreaded crickets all the time. ugh.

Jodi-

in my kitty's younger days she brought in frogs all the time had my frog catcher handy (a butter tub and lid, lol) once they brought a bird..omg had feathers everywhere...

then have had my fair share of racoons who have used the cat door, an open window, ect...

had a squirrel once who sat on the porch and watched dh work!

When we were kids we had bats in the house every once in a while. We had a big old house with several fireplaces they could get in through. My mother was scared to death of them so dad would take the broom to them.

My first day in Okinawa I put my daughter down for a nap and when I went to check on her, there was a tarantula spider in the crib with her. Thank heavens my DH was home because I would've grabbed her and my purse and headed for the airport and first flight home. I'm still afraid of spiders because of that.

Then we had a possum in the house in Dunedin. Not something you want to face at 6 a.m. We get lizards in the house every once in a while when the weather's cool enough to have the back door leading to the screened porch open. They don't last long though and I usually find the bodies when I vacuum.

Lizards, spiders, frogs, a neighbors cat twice when we lived in our old house. The weirdest thing was when I lived in GA and opened the front door and I bird happened to be on the door wreath and flew in the house. Had a real hard time getting him back out!

Gosh country living here. Wasps, Birds, Scorpians, Spiders, Frogs, Lizards, Squirrel and not to forget the Cooperhead Snake in the Laundry Room.

Every once in a while we end up with baby snakes, no idea how they get in here. And after working on the chimney to put the pellet stove in we ended up with a bat. Moosie (the cat) got it!

Well, it wasn't MY bedroom but my homestay student found a scorpion in his bedroom yesterday. It's right across the hall from my room....am glad it was in HIS room! :) He was fairly horrified and I don't understand why. It was at best two inches long (tail included) and already dead. He's from Saudi Arabia. The scorpions out there are MUCH bigger! :D

A neighbor's dog got into the house one time and hid under our bed. We had a heck of a time trying to get him out and back home. Another time we accidentally shut the garage door with a dog trapped inside. It was quite a surprise opening the door the next morning.. he was fine. Had a good sleep. lol

I've had a large bird get in the house too when they were adding our room addition on. He got out safely too after a few attempts.

In CA in the mountains, our cats shared--snakes, lizards, mice, slinks, and once a possum in the patio--came thru the doggie door.

Any of you considered moving/retiring to a rural area? Farm?

Such things are commonplace, there. Wouldn't want you to be having kittens over such.

ole joyful

Hey, Old Full of Joy, I do live in the country. This evening we watched a raccoon enjoy the old potato chips we tossed out and he was not a bit bothered by the audience. The cats were not bothered by him either.

Sue

Once I was busy ironing and watchng TV at the same time.
My 4 year old son told me there was a snake in the pantry.

I thought he was kidding me, so I kept right on.
He told me again. I said "why don't you tell your daddy?"

In a few minutes my husband came to show me a still somewhat wiggling 16 inch coral snake draped over an egg turner. The snake had been sitting on a can or Crisco in the pantry.

We've had lizards, snakes, mice, a small scorpion, and once a VERY big spider. So big I first thought it was one of the kids plastic toys until I tried to kick it out of the way and it kept going!

When I was a teenager a squirrel used to come to the tree outside our back door and bark for my cat to come play. It was a dutch door so she would climb down the trunk a bark into our family room. They would run around the tree trunk and fence for a long time. After a while the squerill would go too high or do something my cat couldn't and the game would be over until the next day. It was the greatest thing.

Well this didn't happen to me but my friend had a skunk that wondered into her house from the basement. You can imagine the surprise. They got it out of the house by opening all the doors, going outside themselves and waiting for the thing to wonder out the door and far away from the house. It's surprising but it did not spray. They were very lucky.

A few days before I was to be married I was sitting in my family room watching TV by the fireplace (no fire going). I heard some funny noises coming from the chimney. Turned off the TV and listened further. A bird, I thought. Kept listening to the scratchy, scratchy sounds and then thought: That's no bird, it's a squirrel! What to do? I'm leaving on my honeymoon in under a week and if he died in there, can you imagine the stink? I dragged a large stereo speaker onto the hearth and blasted rock radio music (Stand Back, by Stevie Nicks among others) to try to scare it out. No luck. By now I figured if that didn't scare him away he must be trapped. I called the local Humane Society, known as the S.P.C.A. here in Phila. A total waste of time! I briefly considered opening the door to the outside in that room, closing the others and then opening the damper in hopes that he would come down & run out but decided a frightened wild animal might tear up the furniture or even attack me. Finally I got the ladder out and went up on the roof. I shined a flashlight down the chimney. There sat a big fat raccoon, the light reflecting in his beady little eyes! I lowered a clothesline down the chimney and he grabbed it in his teeth. I started to pull him up (was he HEAVY!) but thought better of it. Instead I doubled up the rope and knotted it every 4 feet or so, draped it down the chimney and tied it around the top. By now it's dark. I went to bed but around 2 AM I heard a shuffling sound in the chimney - it runs up the wall by my bedroom - and then the sound of him jumping from the chimney to the roof. He then must have climbed down the maple tree that overhangs the house. Next morning before leaving for work I looked down the chimney again - no racoon! After returning from Disney World I got a chimney cap.