I found wiring in attic kneewall that has been chewed through the insulation to bare wires. I am in process of pulling new wire but would like to know if there is anything I can do to make wiring less tasty.
Does rat poison work for squirrels? Why do they like plastic? I hate squirrels.
Marion
Replies
Dowse the new wiring with the cheapest Tabasco-like product you can find.
Some of the wiring I have had to replace the squirrels ate.I pulled out 3 nests and several dried ones.The the problem is that they pee around the nest so even killing some the next family moves back in.I use a Hav -a - Hart humane trap baited with a cracker topped with peanut butter and a prune.Works usually by the next morning. once in the trap I toss the whole rig in a barrel of water .When they stop bubbling they are done.Wring them out and land fill them.Tack wire mesh over every entrance.Rat poison is too slow they have to eat a lot of the stuff .Now racoons thats another story!!!
<I use a Hav -a - Hart humane trap . . toss the whole rig in a barrel of water.>
Think squirrels understand irony?
Forrest
Could be the last thought that goes through their head ;-)
Poison is too slow, the damage will already have been done. Best is to plug the holes.
I asked a veterinarian. Something in the plastic attracts them. Same thing with cats and plastic grocery bags and cellofane wrappers and gift bows.
Squirrels will also chew your rafters down to furing strip and shim sizes. Don't ask me how I know, but pellet gun shots bounce off their heads and piss them off.
Yeah, and if you get them angry they attack your mailman.
Seven blunders of the world that lead to violence: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, politics without principle. --Mahatma Gandhi
OIL CITY, Pa. (AP) -- Letter carriers occasionally have to deal with angry dogs or maybe even a spider's nest in a mailbox, but a mean squirrel?
Barb Dougherty, a 30-year Postal Service employee, said she was attacked and bitten Monday by a squirrel while delivering mail in Oil City, about 75 miles north of Pittsburgh.
"It was a freak thing. It was traumatic," Dougherty told The Derrick newspaper. "I saw it there on the porch, put the mail in the box and turned to walk away and it jumped on me."
She said the animal ran up her leg and onto her back.
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"I eventually got a hold of the tail and pulled it off me," Dougherty said. "No one was home at the house where I was delivering the mail, but the neighbor lady heard me screaming and came over."
An ambulance took Dougherty to a hospital, where she was treated for cuts and scratches. The squirrel was killed with a BB gun and sent to a lab to be tested for rabies. Dougherty was given the first series of rabies shots as a precaution.
Postal officials said the attack is extraordinary.
"In about 230 years of postal history, I bet it is not the first, but I've personally never heard of another squirrel biting," said Steve Kochersperger, spokesman for the Erie district.
Well, no rat poison then. I am closing up the hole this week-end. My 24' ladder will not quite reach and I'm buying 28' Saturday. I will check the rest of soffit area for other holes.
Thanks
Don't leave that ladder in place, the little suckers will grab your DeWalt, an auger bit, and you're right back to where you started...
"Don't leave that ladder in place, the little suckers will grab your DeWalt, an auger bit, and you're right back to where you started... "The phone tech that was working on repairing the cable that the tree rats had chewed a hole in told me that one used his head as as a "transfer point" as he jumped from the pole to a nearby tree.
Yow! Nothing like being up a pole on the gaffs and having a rat on your head...
Yellow jackets would be worse, though. BTDT.
Cliff
You might check out the Fine Gardening discussion. Probably some squirrel info there....
-- J.S.
For awhile I thought tree squirrels were kind of neat. That, however, has changed when they started chewing the flashing on my roof. I purchased a Kimber .22 with 4X scope and using CB Long ammo from CCI, I can shoot the little buggers at about 50 yrds and nobody even hears it and so far, I figure I've removed close to 75 of the little culprits. Since there are fewer of them around the damage they do has decreased significantly. The number of buzzards has increased but that I don't mind cause they get rid of the carcass in pretty efficient manner. Getting them in the trees is like, well, shooting fish in a barrel.
"Rat and mouse bars" from Wal-Mart. They look like 1" squares of green wax with a hole in them. Nail 'em down so the tree rats can't carry them off. They tend to disappear after a while :-)
If you can find it in the grocery store "Chinese Chili Oil" is significantly hotter that Tabasco. Seems to work a little better.
If all else fails, a .22, and squirrel stew isn't half bad.
Me and my neighbor have shot around 2 dozen, each, in the last couple of years. About this time of year they start chewing holes in soffits looking for a warm place to nest. He uses a 22 rifle with shot shells and I use a 177 caliber pellet rifle/scope.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
I'm hoping that I don't have shoot them, I don't think the police would like it. I'm going to seal up the hole and hope they go some place else. When I cleared out the soffit today there were places that they have chewed through the aluminum seams.
Squirrels are pretty single minded...as long as they're still around they're going to keep trying to get back in the house.
True that! A little rat-b@stard red squirrel made a determined effort to get through a new piece of 1" thick Hardie fibrecement trim that had been used to cover over an old hole. That stuff dulls carbide tools, but his teeth seemed to survive the process without too much difficulty. Fortunately he gave up when he hit a stud. Aluminum seems to deter them though.
Thanks for the help. I got ladder and put in two layers of heavy aluminum on top of hole. The hole was where gable comes into main roof.
I've replaced about 40' of wire so far and will finish last three circuits today. I got the rat poison with the hole. I'm going to screw it in place and I'm going to foam the corner, so I can see at a glance if they get back in.
This has happened before and they fixed the wire with tape, but no one tried to block the entry.