Northern Flyers trapped in crawl space

[goldfishie]

Hello HOFs,

I have had FS's living in a weird attic type space in my home for a couple of years. They have never bothered us and they were great to watch on the bird feeder at night so we have enjoyed each other.

Finally saved enough money to fix up the house and have new siding, soffits, etc. put on. The hole next to an exterior bathroom fan vent that was their entrance was covered up on Monday, Feb. 1. Window guys worked on the house the week before making a tremendous racket, pounding, sawing, actually shaking the house. Noise continued with the siding. I told them to look for any sign of squirrels coming or going from the hole. They said they never saw anything, but were positive that the noise drove them to a new home.

On Thursday night I found both cats sitting on the vanity in the bathroom staring up at the fan in the bathroom ceiling. Immediately I popped the fan vent cover and crammed some peanut butter in the less than half inch space between my popcorn ceiling and the metal fan housing. I was worried about water, but there was no way to get it up to them, so ran to grocery store and got watermelon and cantelope and sliced into thin pieces which I could force up there.

This space is weird, there is no access and I didn't know how to get the fan out without electrocuting myself. My son came over on Friday night and we sawed a hole through the drywall in an adjoining bedroom, which allowed me to put a huge bowl of bird food (a lot of sunflower seeds) and water and fruit and vegetables and more peanut butter. Used a flashlight and couldn't see anyone, just lots of fiberglass insulation and studs. Space is about 10 ft x 5 ft x 4 ft. I had to hammer up a piece of wood over the hole so they won't get out, which means no light. Next morning most of the sunflower seeds were gone and little of the peanut butter. They didn't eat hardly any of the fruit of veggies and just a little of the peanut butter.

It is dark in this space and they have had no fresh air for over a week. I left the lights on in the bathroom today, so a little light will filter up through the fan for them. I am picking up a Havahart trap today, but will have to make a bigger hole in the drywall to get it into the space. I also have purchased a flying squirrel box from the Wild Bird store. I have no idea how many are up there and I am hopeful I haven't lost any (can't smell anything bad).

It is very cold outside right now (blizzarding here in MN) and I don't know what to do. Do I catch them one by one and let them out? The rehab place said to do so and that they would be fine. But HOW will they stick together and find a place to live in this cold. I could mount the house up in a tree and hope they find it. Or should I keep them in a cage until I have them all? I wouldn't be able to have a very big cage ? Or do I try to turn this crawl space into a bit of a cage until it warms up a bit? I could make the hole bigger, put a screen over it, so there would be light in the daytime and fresh air. I could put a wheel in there for them. Maybe even the FS Box so they could get used to it. Or is the fiberglass a bad thing? Remember they have lived there for two years (maybe more). I also know I will have a litterbox to clean out after I get them outta there. I was encouraged by this link, as far as transferring them outside when the time is right:

http://agreatspot.com/FlySqrl/flysqrl.html

Sorry this is so long. I just want to help them. I will get a cuttle bone and some yogurt as well as the chow from the Pet Store that you all recommend. Any advice is appreciated.

[pnerissa]

It would seem the live trap would be your best bet. If you're hesitant about releasing them into the freezing blizzard you could place them in a temporary cage until the thaw.

I don't have a lot of ideas tonight... brain dead from work. Hopefully someone will be along shortly to catch my slack.

Thanks for trying to help them.

[flyer_1]

If your sure they will die in there and can't get in and out, I would use the live trap because I know how hard it can be to get a tame flyer to come to you when they don't want to much less wild one's. If you keep them give them more veggie's and not so much fruit, if you decide to let them go right away get a cheap bird cage or something, no use spending lot's of money on them when there going right back out side. Sorry I don't have much for you I guess I just don't have my good stuff lol.