Babies In the Air Conditioner

Recently I was discussing phantom crying with some new moms and one of them said her mother told her that when she had little kids, she could always hear babies crying in the air conditioner. Yep. Or the heating vents or the washing machine or thin air sometimes.

But I thought of that recently when the squeaks coming from my own bedroom window A/C unit finally roused enough curiosity that I went and looked behind the insulating board we have to take up the window gap and there was a squirrel sitting between my window panes.

The squirrels are always mucking around with our A/C units in the summer. I think they like the condensation dripping off the units on the outside. A couple of summers ago we had styrofoam boards for the insulation pieces and they chewed through them and made a huge mess of little styrofoam bits everywhere in our window sill. So this year we have a sturdy piece of plywood held in place with--of course--duct tape, which has pulled back a little at the corners by now.

I shooed the squirrel away and as she ran off, I realized that she had been sitting in a pile of leaves. Upon closer inspection I saw one of these huddled in a little ball.

I guess that during the couple of weeks we were away, the squirrel decided our bedroom window was a good nest location.

There was also at least one other baby there that looked dead, but I didn't see any others. It could be that they are well hidden in the leaves, though, as I have had trouble spotting the baby since then. Mama Squirrel seems to cover them well when she leaves.

Will they be okay in there, do you suppose? The A/C is continually running which doesn't strike me as pleasant for a nest, but the mother does seem to be doing her job. It's fun to peek in there through the little gap in the duct tape and spy on them. And now that I know what the sound is, the little hungry squeaks from baby/ies is so cute! I have been careful not to startle the mother since the first time I ran her out on purpose. But the one dead baby worries me that it isn't a safe spot for some reason.

I have no idea. I know nothing of squirrels. And I know the last thing the world needs is more squirrels and sparrows, but when they start raising children in your air conditioners, you feel a bit responsible for their survival nonetheless...

Comments

[Lori]

I know what you mean about phantom cries. My kids are now 10 and 8 and I still have the occasion when I wake up sure I hear one of them crying.

My most interesting baby cry story is before we had babies tho. In fact it was when we were trying everything to have a baby. We had just had a failed IVF and I was at home alone. I was in the middle of cleaning and heard a baby crying. Not just a whimper, a full fledged I need to be fed cry.

The TV was on but tuned to a program having nothing to do with babies. Still I heard the constant sound of a very upset baby.

I honestly thought I was losing it. I thought my intense desire to be a mommy had sent me over the edge. I was having this conversation with my self. "You are losing it, you need to call DH at work and tell him you need help" "I can`t be losing it, I am pretty sure if this were a mental health crisis, I would be unaware of the possibility of it being a crisis. I am pretty sure when you flip your lid you are the last to know" "but you are hearing a baby that IS NOT HERE"

OH I should mention that I actually went into our backyard to make sure there was not an abandoned baby.

A few minutes into this I heard a crackling sound coming through the TV, followed by men talking about trash removal. I finally realized we were having a bizarre reaction with our receiver and we were picking up radio traffic etc. I guess the baby crying was a baby monitor we were picking up.

The saddest part is that this went on for several minutes. That poor baby never did have anyone respond.

[Lula]

Don't leave the babies in there! Mothers are very paranoid about their nests, and I wouldn't be surprised if this mom abandons the babies now that you've discovered them. Call a vet to ask if there's a place you can take them or for advice on how to hand-raise them -- we used to do find abandoned baby squirrels all the time in MO, and that's what we always did. Unfortunately that was in the 1970s, so I no longer remember what you're supposed to put in the milk to make it most nutritious for them.

[Lula]

Oh wait -- you say the mom is still covering them, and coming & going from the nest? Then maybe they can stay there until they get fur, if they're that tiny. I say call the vet and ask what to do/when to remove them. They're sweet, but you really don't want them nesting in your house.

[Daisy]

Oh, my, the babies! We had baby bunnies in our backyard last summer. We could look out the window and watch the mom nurse her babies. It was the cutest thing ever! One died (it was crippled), one disappeared, and the third? Lived through the winter under our deck, mated, and spent June eating my hollyhocks.
They're lucky I like bunnies.