|
Post by reTrEaD on Jun 29, 2020 15:23:51 GMT -5
I have a small (roughly 5ft tall) Blue Point Juniper in my backyard that I keep lit year-round with Christmas lights (don't judge me). The problem is, lately there is apparently a squirrel who chews the wiring (I just lost a second set within the past two weeks). Aside from buying a pellet gun and plinking the dozens of neighborhood squirrels (with my luck I'd kill all the dozens of neighborhood squirrels except for the one rogue who's chewing the wires), what can I do to stop him? HELP!
|
|
|
Post by frets on Jun 29, 2020 15:36:19 GMT -5
Hi Retread, I had a similar problem a couple years ago with the same issue at Christmas time. I made the following and it worked fantastically super amazing. You will have to probably re-treat every month. βOne small bottle of Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce combined with 1 gallon of water makes a generous batch of squirrel repellent spray. Spray wires generously.β I used a regular pump sprayer. Wear eye protection.
|
|
|
Post by thetragichero on Jun 29, 2020 16:05:20 GMT -5
incandescent lights? leave em on all day and night eventually 120vac will rid you of your squirrel problem
|
|
|
Post by JohnH on Jun 29, 2020 16:14:40 GMT -5
Be a thoughtful human and feed the little chap. He'd much rather have some tasty nuts than that yucky old wiring.
|
|
|
Post by sumgai on Jun 29, 2020 18:09:45 GMT -5
The "nature-ist" in me says John's probably right, be a nice guy. But the ornery ol' cuss in me wants to go down the road prescribed by frets . So why not compromise and do both? Tabasco sauce is cheap compared to strings of lights, but it will take time to 'train' the bugger to stay away from them. Shorten that learning period by putting a more attractive dish nearby. Some people have made pets out of their yard squirrels, and quite often that tends to keep the overall population down, 'cause they're pretty territorial. HTH sumgai
|
|
|
Post by newey on Jun 30, 2020 5:57:28 GMT -5
Perhaps your squirrel thinks year-round Christmas lights are an aesthetic issue. I'd say feed him some nuts and be thankful he's not in your garage chewing on your car's electrical harness.
|
|
|
Post by ashcatlt on Jul 1, 2020 12:29:37 GMT -5
Maybe to put this all into perspective:
We bungee corded the can to the porch after the last mess they made. That time I actually opened the door onto the darkened patio and heard the thing huff and run...straight down the ravine where there about 50 feet of raspberries popping up. There were some sad sounds...
Watch toward the end how fast it takes the lid off the peanut butter jar.
(And yes this is how I live. Donβt judge me either!)
|
|
|
Post by reTrEaD on Jul 1, 2020 14:47:39 GMT -5
incandescent lights? leave em on all day and night eventually 120vac will rid you of your squirrel problem If I was sure it would just jolt him and not kill him, I might consider that. Be a thoughtful human and feed the little chap. He'd much rather have some tasty nuts than that yucky old wiring. We have literally dozens of squirrels who frequent our yard. I'd go broke feeding them all. And I don't think it's actually a hunger thing. Shorten that learning period by putting a more attractive dish nearby. I think attracting those who aren't already interested (I think right now it's only one rogue) would be counter-productive. Perhaps your squirrel thinks year-round Christmas lights are an aesthetic issue. I'd say feed him some nuts and be thankful he's not in your garage chewing on your car's electrical harness. If I thought for one moment he was doing this because he thought year-round Christmas lights are an aesthetic issue, I'd feed him his own nuts. (And yes this is how I live. Donβt judge me either!) Never. Hi Retread, I had a similar problem a couple years ago with the same issue at Christmas time. I made the following and it worked fantastically super amazing. You will have to probably re-treat every month. βOne small bottle of Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce combined with 1 gallon of water makes a generous batch of squirrel repellent spray. Spray wires generously.β I used a regular pump sprayer. Wear eye protection. I just tried this. I'll let you know how it goes.
|
|
|
Post by newey on Jul 2, 2020 5:51:09 GMT -5
ashcatltI don't have trash problems with the bears up at my place in PA, since we don't have trash pickup up there, we just haul it home with us when we leave. But my neighbors who live there year-round all have metal cages, welded together from angle iron and expanded-metal grating, to hold their trash until the pickup date. The metal cage is attached to a chain hoist on a telephone pole or other post, and lifted 6-7 feet off the ground. The trashmen then lower it down for pickup. This deters the bears, but does not entirely eliminate the problem- some enterprising ones still manage to get at the tasty trash. And reTrEaD: I doubt if the critter(s) will fry themselves on an energized circuit, they seem to have a sense not to chew on hot wires. I dunno, maybe they can sense a magnetic field around a hot line, but they only seem to chew on non-energized lines. So, maybe keep the lights on, see if that stops the damage. If you don't want to look at the lights at 3:00 am, use a rheostat dimmer.
|
|
|
Post by gumbo on Jul 2, 2020 9:29:00 GMT -5
...wanna see how much havoc these buggers get up to.....
...this is how I live..... :-0 ...forgot to mention that our Christmas lights are on all year too... ...ours get eaten by the magpies... You know, until this thread appeared, I had no idea so many animals were Atheists...
|
|
|
Post by b4nj0 on Jul 4, 2020 6:05:57 GMT -5
Tree climbing rats with bushey tails. Especially the accursed Grey Squirrels (that have almost entirely driven out our smaller indigenous Red Squirrels.) They chow down on our Xmas lights too (which as it happens we also leave out year round!) I keep rebuilding them but it's a war of attrition matched only by moles. No love for squirrels here, I certainly wouldn't feed the little varmints, but SWMBO feeds sackloads of seed and mealworms that the pigeons and starlings eat in the hope that the ground feeding blackbirds just might get a beak in. I reckon the squirrels get a lot of that too. We have a clutch of bambino Blackbirds right now so I guess it's all worth it.
Happy Fourth of July Folks!
e&oe ...
|
|