A Halloween Homage to Those Things That Live—and Die—in Our Homes

Whether you live in a single-family detached house, duplex, condo, or apartment, we all have something in common: We share our homes with other animals. They crawl in from below, squeeze in through the sides, or fly in at the top. Sometimes they die within, as did this bird in a Poe-esque attic in Ohio. (Thanks to Nate Adams of Energy Smart Home Performance for this spooky photo!)

Some homeowners take it upon themselves to make sure they die within. Those little fur fluffs you see below used to be bats.

Although I don’t have a photo, I once came face-to-fur with a possum in a crawl space. I had disassembled the ductwork and squeezed through a tight spot when I spotted it only inches away. Fortunately for me, it, like the bird and bats above, was dead.

Not all the critters in homes are dead, however. These camel crickets, which like the dark, moist environment created by a vented crawl space, stand at the ready to gnaw on the ears of anyone who ventures too close.

The live animal that scared me most, though, was a flying squirrel. I was pressing fiberglass batts down in the attic of an existing home because they weren’t making good contact with the ceiling below. All of a sudden, a little ball of fur flew up right in front of my face, plopped down on the insulation, and then scurried off to the eave and out of the attic.

Perhaps the most dangerous one I’ve seen was what appeared to be a baby copperhead snake. It looks like it was dangling from a spider web, as if it had jumped up to catch a spider but didn’t have enough weight to break the web afterward. We decided not to explore the crawl space to find its siblings and mother.

I’m sensing that some of you are freaking out about that poisonous snake under the house, so let me calm you down with more photos of dead animals. Here’s a rat!

And a possum! Remember the story I told you about that a while back? Our friends at E3 Innovate in Nashville discovered this treasure.

Well, this has been great fun, and we’ve barely scratched the surface. Except for the camel crickets, I’ve skipped the world of insects and arachnids, some of our most interesting—and numerous—housemates. Nor have I covered the exotic animals you might find in a place like Florida: Burmese pythons, Asian water monitors, and the like.

The truth is that no matter how hard we try, we’ll never rid our homes of all unwanted animals. Our homes are just too attractive to them, and critters are so dang ingenious. With good design and maintenance, though, we can reduce the likelihood of having to face some of the nasties above.

Now doesn’t that make you want to get out of the house tonight to go trick-or-treating?! Here, have some candy. (Try not to think of that rat when you eat it, though.)

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Photo credits: Dead bird in attic by Nate Adams of Energy Smart Home Performance. Dead possum in crawl space courtesy of E3 Innovate. Candy bowl by KOMUnews, from flickr.com. All others by Energy Vanguard.