Sounds in my basement
 

Something in my basement is driving Roxy wild. Yesterday, she was barking like crazy & I thought - boy she's loud, but I thought she was clear in the living room looking out the front window barking. But when I got up she was standing outside my basement door barking.

I opened the door - didn't see anything or hear anything. Bubba & my Siamese cat could care less.

Now today Roxy has been in front of the door almost all day whining & even pawing at the base of the door. I thought for a second I heard something - but the furnace was running too. I even thought I heard a meow yesterday & today - but it could have been Roxy making one of her strange whiny noises. I did go downstairs walked around couldn't see or hear anything. I even took Roxy down & let her walk around a bit.

I'm not sure what to do. The only thing I could think of was to put out some peanut butter and see if anything came & ate it :rolleyes: - What other ideas do you have??

Several years ago, some squirrel got in my basement -- I have no idea how! Roxy went nuts then - but I even saw the squirrel paws come out from under the basement door :eek: -- That time I tried opening the basement door and trying to force a path from the door thru the hall & dining room into the kitchen & propped open the back door. The squirrel got as far as the hall & got scared & ran back downstairs. I rented a cage to catch an animal in, got him caught & talked this guy into dispossing of the squirrel. But this guy just set him free in my front yard :rolleyes: --- Well, you guessed it! The squirrel got back in my house!! :eek: I had to go thru everything all over again!! The next time though the squirrel was taken to a big park about 2 miles away

Still to this day, I do not know how the squirrel got in - the only thing I can think of was thru the chimney, but I don't know how he got out of that in the basement - I do not have a fireplace.

I haven't had mice in years, so I don't think it's just mice - and I think my cat would notice them :confused:

HELP!!!!!

Yikes!! Maybe it is a stray mouse?? Hope you can figure it out.

Maybe the squirrel finally found its way home?LOL Just kidding.....do you think possibly its the sound of the furnace kicking on that scaring Roxy? The only way i could think of a animal getting in my basement would be thru the laundry vent? Do you have your dryer downstairs? :confused:

I hope it's not a MOOSE.. check this out:Moose crashes into basement bedroom

Ok, all joking aside... (not a joke for those poor people who got a baby moose in their basement yesterday, though. LOL! :eek:).....

maybe a humane trap to see what you catch in it? (of course keeping cats & dogs out while the trap is in there goes without saying...:) )

A body? *cringe*

I'm just kidding! It's amazing the sounds they can pick up that we can't hear....my suggestion would be to put a trap down there for a couple of days.

I did think maybe it was the furnace - but it's like she can smell something or knows something! She is one smart girl & she is the watch dog! :aimeeyork She has excellent ears!

Yes, my dryer is downstairs - had not thought of that & the vent

Is there a carbon monoxide detector down there? Maybe she smells gas? Make sure theres a screen on the vent shoot on the outside of the house so animals cant get thru there and make sure its free from the snow...so the gas doesnt back up .

Is it a full basement? Do you have a crawl space outside that a cat could have gotten into?

:eek::eek: Thank goodness, I do not believe we have moose in Iowa!

I hate to spend the money for the trap - it was not cheap to rent the last time - at least then I KNEW for sure there was something to catch.

I live in a 115 yr old house & the only way downstairs is to open the door & I usually do not leave it open when I go down, because it opens up into the hallway & blocks the hall to a main floor bedroom. So the dogs have never been down there except once or twice for a tornado warning & Roxy when I carried her down today. The cat occasionally goes down there if the door is open long enough - but trust me, it's too cold down there right now for my heat-seeking cat to want to go down. so if I go get a trap, they won't have access to it

Oh, good thinking! I don't think there is a screen on the vent - but really I don't know - it's on the far side of the house & we did just get 5-plus inches of snow last night & it's blowing & drifting -- oh, fun I get to go trapse through the snow :rolleyes:

I pray it's not a gas leak issue. I don't smell anything. And I need to make sure that the carbon monoxide detector is still working - I can't remeber if they have a tester on them like a smoke detector :confused:

Nope it's not a full basement - there is a crawl space, but there is no opening outside that I know of. I thought about taking down the little door that blocks the crawl space - but I'm a bit chicken :rolleyes: -- Roxy has me so spooked, I think there's something that would get me. :rolleyes:

But, apparently she heard something else - because she has given up her guarding of the door & is now in the living room barking out the front window - probably at someone shoveling snow!

Better not be a body!

That's really odd. :confused: I have no ideas or advice for you... but I hope you find out what it is that's driving her nuts soon.

That is creepy indeed! A mouse got into my dryer from the outside once...then chewed it's way through the lint filter and ended up in the actual dryer part where the clothes are. I about freaked when I opened the dryer to find this loopy mouse sitting there....all goofy from being on the fluff cycle. Have you done clothes or opened your dryer door lately? Try turning on your dryer and see if there's any scratchy noise coming from it. If so, leave it go for a while before opening it.

Other than that, I just don't know what it could be. I would think Roxy is used to the normal sounds in your house and this is a new sound she is picking up. I am anxious to hear if you get it figured out! In our city, we can get live animal traps from the animal control...maybe you could check into that. We have to give them back once the animal is caught, but it's sure cheaper than buying one.

Good luck...keep us updated!

Maybe her favorite treat or toy is in there, and she's barking for it?