Ever find a dead animal in your STR?

Question

There is a group of guys renting out a place this evening.  I went there to check everything out and make sure things are in working order.  I found a dead starling in the bath tub.  What dead animals have you found in and around your STRs?

Ken Boone · Answer

I have only had mice occasionally but in the past 2 weeks, I trapped a flying squirrel that got into a relatively new construction cabin cause the builder put the wrong vent panel on one of the bathroom exhaust vents. Thought it was going to be mice but turned out to be the squirrel.   Then about two days later I got a live bat flying inside a different cabin.  Had to call someone to get that out of there.  Guests ended up staying even though they had to wait like 3 hours in the evening for the wildlife guy to get there.

Pat L. · Answer

We had a bat die inside our Lakehouse...no idea how it got in.

But the neighboring STR Cottage had a couple of dead groundhogs in his crawl space & they were tough/nasty to get out. I have a feeling he laid poison down in the crawl space & it worked.

Jonathan Mason · Answer

Mice. Lots of mice. Found a rotted sill plate on my foundation in September and that was a mouse super highway.

John Underwood · Answer

Dead rat in a trap.

Collin Hays · Answer

At one of our cabins, guests were complaining of a putrid smell emitting from the clothes dryer.

Well, a large snake slithered into the dryer through the outside vent, and the heat cooked the poor fellow and ruined the dryer.

A year later, rinse, lather, and repeat.  This time, I got smart and put some metal mesh on the vent outside.