I guess we've been very lucky...

Squirrels are the most common here...all have run out on their own. The red ones upNorth, also.

Birds as a rule do not. But one Xmas eve hubby came in the back door at night and unbeknownst to us 2 house wrens were roosting in a bird's nest I kept in a little Tiffany holder by the back door frame (which is a closed in porch). He startled them, because we don't come in or out that way late at night. They then flew into the house all over in a frantic rush. We just shoo'd them back the way they came and out they went. Turns out they found a small hole in the screen and entered the porch that way!

We've had one bat in the bedroom which went back out the open window we prepared for it.

Chipmunks will go out also, but they take more time about it.
We've also had raccoons, and except for one who wouldn't leave the garage, they left too. The garage one I had to coax out with a turkey leg and other offerings. I made a trail along the floor and when it got out we rushed up behind it and closed the door. We had the door open while doing some work there one day and it moved in during daylight.

I really knew the frog would NOT be smart enough to find a door, so I caught him and tossed him in the lake so the cats wouldn't go back and bring him in again.

We have 2 cat doors, but they can be closed off. We just forget sometimes. In summer I leave my window open because of the heat, and that door is usually how the cats bring them in.

UpNorth this summer, our Weezie found a sparrow at 1am... so his nest on the ground was where he was roosting for the night.
We've never had them catch a bird in the night before this year!

We've had small things in the attic, so we keep a live trap. Also a sonic screaming thingey works well. We had a handyman examine all the high spots on the house this spring and he found 2 entries...and they are now closed.

The most difficult I think are the night flying squirrels. They are very difficult to get rid of.

once in awhile these little beasties come into our houses. My mom had a tiny hole in her laundry room, and a rat snake crawled into her bed sheets. I went to shake out the sheet before I put it in the wash and this huge posenious looking snake dropped right on my toes. I did the freakie deek dance and neighbors could hear my screams I am sure. the snake make a bee line back out side, and that hole sure got plugged up. sorry you had the critter bother you, but try not to let it scare you unreasonably. I don't care for them eithor, and especially not on my toes. Years from now, you may even smile about your encounter like i do. ginnie

Oh, ginnie.... what a surprise that must have been.

I like your term "freaky deek dance"...it is very appropriate.

I have a funny "snake" story too. This does not apply to homes however.

This spring I was shopping at WalMart, and on the way to the check out I passed the toys, and decided to see if they had any large insects made of rubber or plastic. Our kitten then was very playful, and I recalled one cat we had Sheba who recently passed away, playing with a giant ant, my son had once.

So the insects didn't move me, but there WAS a rubber garter snake. Since we have them on vacation, I thought it would be a toy to get Weez used to the concept!

But I didn't expect the checker salesgal to react to it when she found it on the belt! I was talking to the lady behind me and the checker let out a screech thinking it was real. Many people turned to stare, and all 3 of us had a good laugh. I didn't do it on purpose ...but I don't think she believed me when I told her it was for a cat toy. A big reaction all for $.99! LOL
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MrsD, my kids played that joke on me when they were young. They had a rubber snake that looked very real from a distance. They thought it'd be funny to put it on the ground beside my tomato plants in the back yard. That thing scared the daylights out of me. It looked so real - especially when I really wasn't expecting to see it. Needless to say, I looked around carefully from that day on before stepping off the porch into the backyard.
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Oh, that's funny.... probably not to you...but I love stories like this!

You know, my son had several fake insects, and one was a fly.
The plastic fly was not that big really, about the size of a deer fly.

Well hubby's aunt who we shared the upNorth home with was a very testy unpleasant person. She never was satisfied no matter how much we cleaned everything when we closed up.
It is impossible to get everything, and some things do happen during the winter, like dust blowing down the chimney and bugs dying on windowsills, etc.

So one year when our son was a bit older, he decided to put one of his flies in the egg holder in the door of the frig. This is a 1/2 size frig like some mobile homes have. It runs on propane.

Well she really thought it was real...and all the cousins heard that story. And told us and we got a supreme kick out of it all!

Gee Doc, that's so NOT what I wanted to hear.

My landlord CLAIMS he's never heard of it happening in the 30 years he's owned the property. Of course, I might just trust the snake's word over his...

The doors were open in when a repair man was here to (DRUM ROLL, Please!) fix the gap in the back door letting roley poley's in, in the summer, and worms in, in the rain, and the front screen door for many diverse insect life forms.

I had lived at the beach the past 20+ years, until recently, and was spoiled by that fairly critter/bug free envirnoment.

What? Which part?
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I think most climates & environments probably have their associated pests/plagues of mankind, and who can blame them? (Ever seen the Over the Hedge movie?) We humans have got it pretty good. Best to just be acquainted with the locals/neighbors and their habits.

Besides, as can be seen from this thread, they can make some of our best anecdotes (in hindsight, of course.
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Doc

I was actually just trying to kid you about your laundry list of critters was all.

"Over the years, our abode has been invaded by all manner of bugs, birds, bats, mice, squirrels, chipmonks (3 this week alone), stray cats & dogs, raccoons (2 this past winter), and snakes. (I'm probably leaving something out but I just woke up.)"

I used to live in a beautiful old settler's cottage that had been transported from beside the river in my capital city. It was cut in two and transported over 100k and across a tiny stone bridge and put together again situated in a beautiful rural valley.

I also had this Giant Green Jumping Huntsman spider who used to live in the right hand corner next to the screen door on my back landing. It was the scariest thing, but was really just looking for food I guess.
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I bought a Boy Scouts booklet of the snakes in that area when I moved there as I was living on 10 acres. Turned out there were something like 26 different types of snakes and 6 of them were deadly. lol What can I say? It was Paradise.

I wonder if Dr. Smith ever watched "The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes", or "Soylent Green" or "The Day of the Triffids"?

Just with a name like Dr. Smith, I just wondered.

Except for KT (familiar w/ the title - just haven't gotten around to that one yet) those and many, many more. We're both (wife & self) kind of aficionados of cheesy flix. Yup - we're MSTies.
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Doc