Squirrel in the house

A few weeks ago, Val and I heard some racket coming from in the wall.

Upon further investigation, we found this dude:

That's the young squirrel that had fallen down the chimney space from the attic. I almost got him with Val's butterfly net, but he got out of reach.

A few weeks and a party later I com into the kitchen to see his scurry away under the counter. The next day I found my butter in this state:

That does not make me happy,
So I put together a little DIY humane trap:

If you can see, the trap is baited with tortilla chips and later peanut butter. When Little Squirrel steps on the board, it pulls out the lid support, and the block keeps it closed. Brilliant! But it didn't work.

Today, I noticed bait missing and nothing was tripped. I decided to get a little more aggressive. I went to his hideout by the window and took away the insulation. He ran out and led me on a good long chase though the basement. Eventually he went for his old getaway, the chimney, but I cut him off. He was stuck in a dead end against the wall. I got in there with the net and pinned him against it. It took a little persuasion to get him to fall into the net, but it was done.

He's a bit hard to see, but there's the squirrel seeing the light of day for the first time in weeks. And here he is running away

Goodbye Squirrel! It was fun, but don't come back!