Squirrels!!

[Frozentreehugger]

my

American elm doesn't produce nuts...

This. My neighbors' feeding squirrels cost me $3000 in damage to my roof and interior walls, from squirrels and raccoons. Feeding the damn things encouraged them to lose their fear of humans, which in turn, encouraged them to begin pulling the siding of my house off and gain entry into the walls. Squirrels were first. They chewed support beams and electrical wiring. They were followed by raccoons because raccoons are asshole opportunists. The raccoons peed and crapped on the attic side of interior drywall on the ceilings of two bedrooms--the space between the ceiling and roof is eight inches or so, so it's not an attic. One also gave birth to a little of kits up there, further damaging the wall space (which is in accessible from the interior of the house) I looked into filing an insurance claim against my dipshit neighbor for attracting the animals in the first place (feeding wildlife is against the law BTW, especially when it causes property damage, or creates a health concern--I had both), but it was too hard to prove.

Your love of wildlife will be put to the test when you walk out your front door one hot August day and feel something dripping on your head...you look up and see a panting raccoon leaning out of the hole he's made in your roof panting from the heat, then you realize the little effer has drooled on you...Yeah, it's cute to look at but you may have just contracted rabies--and I'm only half joking.

my animal war . Mainly is mice and hornets . My house was built I. 1896 and had a 40
Year old addition . The hornets Like the juncture of the 2 to enter the walls and the attic of the addition . Winter is eviction and dealing with any visible nests and evidence . I have it down pretty good . After the first few years . Otherwise when it starts to warm a bit I. Spring they start coming out of the walls . In cracks around trim and wall floor . Juncture. Into the house and wake up in heat . The mice are a battle unfortunately discovered to late . Years ago in my winter storage . Eating cambium . and at my cottage moving in for the winter . Have a effective trap device for the cottage I can share if others or interested . Very effective in a place you don’t want them decomposing . Problem greatly reduced for the last 3 years , as the local female red fox makes her den under the cottage . Raccoons are the worst assholes . Can be very destructive .

 

[Carol 83]

Raccoons, especially deeply urban raccoons are absolute menaces...

We had a raccoon get into our attic through an old chimney from the previous furnace. On Christmas eve a few years ago I heard something banging on the attic stairs. When I opened the door there was a raccoon at the top of the stairs tossing jars from a spice rack, frustrated I guess because he was hungry. When I called my husband and told him he thought I had lost my mind. We set a live trap, my husband considered shooting it (bad idea). They are nocturnal, so you could here it rustling around at night. Eventually he chewed through the soffet (sp?) and got out. He did chew through a wire for the air conditioner but the damage could have been worse. That chimney is now covered!

 

[TinyArt]

So my balcony is screened in, apparently there is a rip in the screen where it attaches. GD little bastards came in and tore up my plants, up rooting them, digging holes in some and causing a huge mess of topsoil and mangled plants on the brink of death. They left the trees alone. Moving the crazy looking spiny olive over there where the rip is...hopefully it pokes them and they decide my balcony isn't the best play place. If they mess with my little trees this is war! seriously has anyone had an issue with squirrels? I mean it couldn't be anything else? and here I was thinking they were cute and fun to watch with the cats...lol.
I mean yes I'm going to call maintenance and have them come ( eventually...they are slow as heck ) but in the meantime any squirrel deterrents? ideas?

For a screened balcony, a mint concoction might help. So far, in an enclosed attic space, I've found cotton balls soaked with old baking-aisle peppermint oil worked short-term, but there's a "Mighty Mint" spray on Amazon with very good reviews.

And meanwhile, a friend highly recommends having a rubber-band gun with you, while you're sitting on the screen porch -- hasn't hurt hurt his screens, but gives him great satisfaction in startling the hell out of the squirrels!

 

[Flowerhouse]

A long time bonsai friend . Once told me after trying everything there was to discourage . Them including shooting them . ( don’t work as if it’s good territory) the best defence is friendship . She feeds them nuts , even gives them a garden bed to dig and burry there nuts In . They are territorial . She will feed them buy hand . But she chases them away from her tree . Branches . Once they learn her and establish there territory . They leave her trees alone . Until she has to train new ones .

My grandmother lived in mountains west of Denver when I was a kid. She hand fed the golden-mantled ground squirrels and chipmunks around her place. They rewarded her friendliness by eating everything she touched. After a few years she gave up on growing anything other than plastic flowers.

 

[HorseloverFat]

For a screened balcony, a mint concoction might help. So far, in an enclosed attic space, I've found cotton balls soaked with old baking-aisle peppermint oil worked short-term, but there's a "Mighty Mint" spray on Amazon with very good reviews.

And meanwhile, a friend highly recommends having a rubber-band gun with you, while you're sitting on the screen porch -- hasn't hurt hurt his screens, but gives him great satisfaction in startling the hell out of the squirrels!

GOOD TO SEE YOU!!!!!!!!!

 

[HorseloverFat]

We had a raccoon get into our attic through an old chimney from the previous furnace. On Christmas eve a few years ago I heard something banging on the attic stairs. When I opened the door there was a raccoon at the top of the stairs tossing jars from a spice rack, frustrated I guess because he was hungry. When I called my husband and told him he thought I had lost my mind. We set a live trap, my husband considered shooting it (bad idea). They are nocturnal, so you could here it rustling around at night. Eventually he chewed through the soffet (sp?) and got out. He did chew through a wire for the air conditioner but the damage could have been worse. That chimney is now covered!

I once thought I had squatters in the attic... The neighbor was shocked when I asked him to hold the ladder and hand me my sidearm when I crawled up through the hole.

It was raccoons, and as I've said, rabies is fairly terrifying, so I called animal control. The DNR warden came with, and he was ALSO scared of contracting rabies... And he had TWO sidearms and a flak jacket. (They really suit wardens UP around here!)

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

(Also it helps if you speak squirrel .. and chase them off in their own language... Sounds funny.. but also has a degree of effectiveness)

Lmao. I was gunna say "have you tried just talking to them" they don't mess with my trees no more cuz I told em my trees are like my babies. I also made friends with the local hawks just in case lmao.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I shattered a couple signed Japanese pots taking shots at squirrels in the yard. I know I'm a bad shot. So now I build cages to keep my trees in, safe from squirrels and other rodents.

 

[Rhomer1]

Now here’s some destructive characters. I keep these guys at bay with bribery. When things get tough they’ll eat anything, so deer resistant means nothing. I feed’em and they don’t have to eat my stuff. View attachment 472668View attachment 472670

I feel your pain ABCarve. I have tried Liquid Fence and it does nothing but make the yard smell really bad. I have to admit, they do a good job of defoliating some of my plants.

 

[Frozentreehugger]

The witching hour!!

View attachment 472923

No one said us humans are intelligent. Besides us that is . Where I live the land is flat . Was a prehistoric lake . Vast hardwood forests when the Europeans arrived . So in a couple hundred years we cut down the forest . And plant farm crops . Lately the trend is to add drainage piping to fields so can be planted earlier . Government. Just finished a multi million so called science study to . Try and determine why the area floods in the spring then is dry in the summer . Natural white tail . Country . So they have less and less forest . But the population is healthy . Lots of farm corn to eat , so they curb hunting because guns are dangerous . So know there is disease problems in the herds . Lots of carnage in the highway . Coyotes population is exploding . Entering towns and villages eating cats and dogs . Reintroduced wild turkeys . We’re hunted into extinction here 100 years ago , limited hunting . So we bounce those off cars also . I see groups of 50 to 70 on my commute . Yep we are a intelligent bunch . When the interstellar aliens arrive. There going to tap into the internet . Then rightfully conclude we need a few more million years of evolution. To become intelligent life . .

 

[Frozentreehugger]

I shattered a couple signed Japanese pots taking shots at squirrels in the yard. I know I'm a bad shot. So now I build cages to keep my trees in, safe from squirrels and other rodents.

You know bro you can wait till there . Away from the pots . Before you fire up the 50 cal machine gun Just a thought .

 

[ABCarve]

Besides us that is .

Watch your pronouns!

 

[ABCarve]

I feel your pain ABCarve. I have tried Liquid Fence and it does nothing but make the yard smell really bad. I have to admit, they do a good job of defoliating some of my plants.

I use liquid fence with success. I think timing has a lot to do with it. Most plants seem to have a “most tasty” time for the critters. I try to preemptively apply then. I’m not sure if it’s the taste or the smell that puts them off. Some doesn’t smell as bad. @penumbra uses it as well. Maybe he could expand on this.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

 

[HorseloverFat]

I feel your pain ABCarve. I have tried Liquid Fence and it does nothing but make the yard smell really bad. I have to admit, they do a good job of defoliating some of my plants.

You just line your property with Thuja... The deer will have no reason to go further...

Quíza?

Thuja is their favorite. (At least round here)

 

[HorseloverFat]

. Before you fire up the 50 cal machine gun

That's it! I'm calling Geneva!

 

[HorseloverFat]

guns are dangerous .

 

[Frozentreehugger]

You just line your property with Thuja... The deer will have no reason to go further...

Quíza?

Thuja is their favorite. (At least round here)

Don’t bank on that . Yes deer eat thuja . Hunters will even tell you the taste of the meat changes when they have been eating it . Plus it’s well documented it’s healthy to eat even for humans . But it must taste like shit . Because deer in general only eat it when preferred foods not avail . It’s a winter staple for them out of necessary .

 

[penumbra]

Deer, squirrels and all the others can act quite differently from one location to the next. The same methods, whether repellents, hunting or whatever, are going to be varied from place to place and from time to time. Generally, for repellents, you need to start using them late winter, before significant plant growth takes place. One they get a taste of a morsel, the repellents are much less likely to work. It also helps quite a bit to switch the repellents around a bit and try to refresh them every couple of weeks. I know the repellents I am using now (aforementioned) work for me Now, but this will change and I will need to change my methods too.
As an example, when I first started using hot pepper wax for deer, applied every other week, it worked very well. But by the end of summer it seemed they preferred munching the sprayed plants.
BTW, I do feed all my critters except the raccoons and bears. They don't show often but when they do there is no stopping them and they make a huge mess. I actually find my birds are the most unruly.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Deer, squirrels and all the others can act quite differently from one location to the next. The same methods, whether repellents, hunting or whatever, are going to be varied from place to place and from time to time. Generally, for repellents, you need to start using them late winter, before significant plant growth takes place. One they get a taste of a morsel, the repellents are much less likely to work. It also helps quite a bit to switch the repellents around a bit and try to refresh them every couple of weeks. I know the repellents I am using now (aforementioned) work for me Now, but this will change and I will need to change my methods too.

This! to the twenty-second power!