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Thread: Blue varmint?

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Default Blue varmint?

    Found this today in an attic - could not get any closer (stuck my camera through an opening to get these shots), the structure to the left is a skylight soffit above a bathroom, the attic is about 4' high at the peak.

    A large "nest" of straw like material extended for 4-5 feet along the floor, above that was a portion of truss web covered with blue "fur".

    WTF?

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    Michael Thomas
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  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Default Re: Blue varmint?

    Appears to be the rare blue variant of the dreaded Norwegian Roof Beaver.

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  3. #3
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    Default Re: Blue varmint?

    Tee hee.....beaver.....tee hee

    "It takes a big man to cry. It takes an even bigger man to laugh at that man". - Jack Handey

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Blue varmint?

    Nick, please. This is a serious varmint discussion.

    Maybe you need to brush up on your varmint science at nearby Arcadia University. (inside joke)

    "There is no exception to the rule that every rule has an exception." -James Thurber, writer and cartoonist (1894-1961)
    www.ArnoldHomeInspections.com

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Blue varmint?

    That school must have had a real complex about that name to change it.

    "It takes a big man to cry. It takes an even bigger man to laugh at that man". - Jack Handey

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Blue varmint?

    In my best Cliff Claven voice:

    It's a little known fact that the Norwegian Roof Beaver invented the game of basketball.

    Bruce Thompson, Lic. #9199
    www.TylerHomeInspector.com
    Home Inspections in the Tyler and East Texas area

  7. #7

    Default Re: Blue varmint?

    I think that was the Canadian Roof Beaver....

    Egbert Jager
    Diamond Home Inspection
    http://www.diamondhomeinspection.ca

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    Vancouver
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    Default Re: Blue varmint?

    Yes it was the Canadain Roof Beaver who was involved with basketball. It's a not well know Canadain fun fact!!


  9. #9
    Tim Mcgill's Avatar
    Tim Mcgill Guest

    Default Re: Blue varmint?

    I'll bet that's a 'possum.
    I can just see it hanging there scraping against the webbing.
    Ugly mug, isn't it?
    -t


  10. #10
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    Louisa County, Virginia
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    Default Re: Blue varmint?

    Michael,
    I have seen similar cases where Starlings or Black Birds brought in the straw to build a nest. It is amazing how much straw they can bring in. The blue fur is a fiberglass mat used in a shingle over ridge vent to prevent weather intrusion (snow). In the past they used a sponge type of material for end caps and sometimes they blew out or were easily removed by the birds. I have used hardware cloth formed to fit inside the end to prevent the entry of birds. You have to make sure there are no birds in the attic when you cover the opening. It also works for the roof beavers as well. The link below has a pretty good picture of the ridge vent and the mat material I am referring to.
    Jim
    Air Vent: Hip Ridge Vent


  11. #11
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    Default Re: Blue varmint?

    Quote Originally Posted by James Harlow View Post
    Michael,
    I have seen similar cases where Starlings or Black Birds brought in the straw to build a nest. It is amazing how much straw they can bring in. The blue fur is a fiberglass mat used in a shingle over ridge vent to prevent weather intrusion (snow).
    I was going to say, that could be Blue Jay's fur, but that would be Canadian baseball, not basketball.

    BTW, what is basketball? Do you run with a ball in a basket? We call that Lacrosse!

    Yes, birds, especially starlings, are often the builders of those straw piles. I believe the roof beavers have no choice but to employ members of the nest builder's union for all their nesting jobs.

    John Kogel, RHI, BC HI Lic #47455
    www.allsafehome.ca

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Blaine MN
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    9

    Default Re: Blue varmint?

    I think you got Smurfs.


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