Experienced Hamster Mommy

My parents have a rental house with no renters.  There is a freeloader though...some sort of animal in the basement.  Obviously, they didn't need to call animal control since they have four kids, all within a 20 minute drive.

Unfortunately, Christian, my youngest brother, was out of town the day my mom decided it was time to set the live trap.  I was the obvious next choice because of my six minute proximity and love of animals.  I am also an experienced live trapper.  I got one for Christmas when I was eleven so I could catch wild animals at The Land.

We bought our new live trap at Lowe's.  It was the only one they had.  I put it in the back of my car and went home to put it together.  After pulling the smelly box out of my backseat and starting to read the directions, I noticed something funny about them.  It almost looked like the edges of the paper had been burnt.

I thought it was odd, but continued to try and assemble the cage.  After cutting my hand, I enlisted my husband to help while I investigated the mysterious "burnt" directions and odd smell.  I looked in the box to find tons of rodent droppings.  I then realized that I recognized the odd smell from my days as a hamster mommy - rodent urine.  Luckily I had my tetanus shot when I was pregnant.

I guess it was such an awesome live trap that something decided to make it home.  Unfortunately, the freeloader in the basement does not agree with the live trap's former resident.  We set it a week ago and had no activity.  Maybe the freeloader doesn't like used homes...or maybe the freeloader was the dead squirrel that Sammy, my other brother, disposed of a few months ago.  Hmmm.