Squirrels Moving in for the winter!!!

Tree rats I call em. Don't tell me how cute they are when I haven't had a decent night's sleep for a week!!! Last night was the last straw!!! We are now on the war path. Last night when we went to the bedroom, what did we see but a 3" hole in the wall - yes plaster on the floor and that critter was pushing pink insolation out, had his nose sticking out too!!! Just in the nick of time - we attacked that thing with a shoe and then sprayed pepper spray in the hole. We then taped a board over it and hoped for the best til today. We did manage to locate a 4' hole in the wood of the eve where he had pushed up the screen over the space between the wood and the eve. DH has now gone to the store for moth balls to try to get them out before he seals it up. They probably have lots of other places to get in tho - they are so persistant. I hate them. I am afraid they will eat wiring and burn us out. it's not bad enough they eat my tomatoes and uproot my bulbs, jerk plants out of pots all summer - they have to torture us all winter too!! Sorry - all you critter lovers, but I'm mad as H____ and I'm not going to take it anymore!!!

Azalea, how terrible for you! You can go to the hardware and buy traps to catch them... Do you feed them? We put out corn and nuts for ours and they pretty well stay out of the way but do sometimes dig in my pots to hide nuts...I guess I'm just partial to the little critters, my grandsons found some abandoned babies last year and brought to me to raise and let them go in the yard and really enjoyed taking care of them and worried like a mama when they left!

I hope you can get rid of them without harming them! :(

Cheers!

Hi Becky - yes we do have a "Have-a-Heart trap which they seem to ignore - I have some grapes and Macadamia nuts in it now. I have cought lots of them from time to time and hauled them off a couple of miles. There are just sooo many of them around here - we have a wooded lot. There are lots of hickory nuts and pecans here for them to eat, never mond all the seed they get that they knock out of the bird feeders. They just want to get in to keep warm I think, and start a nest!!!! Horrors.

This message was edited Wednesday, Dec 26th 3:28 PM

Hi Azalea: We had them at our place in the woods. I have 3 suggestions that may help. One, if you're using the "Heart Trap" to relocate them use peanut butter as a bait. Two, definitely get up into the attic and plug their holes. Three, and I'm sure this won't be the most popular, get a pellet pistol and get in some target practice. I'm sorry about that one. But there does come a point where you need some drastic results and when they are causing damage to a home that's when drastic results are necessary. I hope you have access to your attic. You're right..they are looking for a warm spot for winter. But they will tear up all your insulation and then YOU'LL be cold. Perhaps you could get some of that spray insulation stuff in a can to plug up the holes until you can permanently cover them. Good luck!! I've been through it and I completely understand your frustration. I love all small critters but enough is enough. Keep us informed of your progress. "T" :)

Sledder - Thanks, I am just "venting". I have used peanut butter in the past too and it does work. Thought I could tempt them with a Christmas treat but they don't seem to appreciate it. We can't get far enough around in the attic to see where all they might get it, the ceiling is too low. We have used the spray foam in other places in the past - we have very rough stone trim on the cedar house and they can wiggle in between the stone. I bought my DH a pellet gun at a yard sale a couple of years ago, it shot about 10, so I sold it later at a yard sale for the $10.00 I paid for it!! That thing is probably still getting passed around in the original box, lol. He has a Birthday coming up next month, may look for a good one this time. Getting desperate.

PJ,
In the words of former President Clinton:
"I feel your pain."
If you can't reach some of the cracks or holes
(because of low overhead space) try molding
some steel wool on the end of a broom handle,
and shoving it in any cracks/holes that the squirrels
might be able to get through.
Like woodchucks, squirrels are (indeed)
a major pain-in-the-behind!
Years ago, a squirrel got into our house
and broke several old family heirloom ceramic pieces,
then bled all over everything until we finally
found the little turkey and disposed of him.
Destructive, just like woodchucks...ugh!
'Hope your holidays were good,
Melissa :-)

Azalea

They are complete pests aren't they, we don't have quite so much trouble with ours but they eat the plants and especially the blooms. I've heard of some getting a bit nasty too, a friend of mine was chased by one LOL.

THEY CAN BE VERY DISTRUCTIVE! AT HOME I WANT THEM GONE! BY THE WAY THEY MAKE GOOD STEW! HOPE I DON'T GROSS ANYONE OUT BUT MY HUSBAND HUNTS THEM. THEIR VERY GOOD OVER BISCUITS! BUT WHEN WE GO TO CANADA TO THE COTTAGE WE RENT IN THE SUMMER WE FEED THEM. THEIR SO CUTE! UP THEIR THEY HAVE BLACK ONES! DOES THIS SOUND CRAZY? PROBABLY!

Everybody used to hunt them with .22 calibre rifles when I was growing up. Maybe thats why there weren't so many of them. Never did care much for them as food though. There are some black ones here in Florida too. The "locals" (thats people from somewhere else who have stayed here through one or more summers) call the black ones fox squirrels but they look like grays to me except for the color.

I always loved squirrels and thought they were such cute little critters.That is until my DH had to tear my livingroom wall down to find out why the electric outlet wasn't working.He found a nest in the wall that the squirrels built and they had chewed the electric wiring in several places in the wall.He said we were very lucky that the house didn't burn down.Being surrounded by woods we have lots of red squirrels and they are always trying to get in the house and walls.There are just so many of them around we have no choice but to keep a 22 by the window. It's either them or maybe us losing our home or lives in a fire so I don't feel too bad when we have to thin them out.