X#%*&$# Squirrels!

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I moved into a house (built in 1978) surrounded by walnut orchards. An elderly couple (both bedbound) couldn’t keep up with the place and the ground squirrels moved into the main house and the pool house. And squirrels happen to love walnuts!

A few months after moving in, I was working from home one morning and heard what sounded like a herd of elephants in the attic. I called my exterminator and he found squirrels had moved in! They had burrowed under the foundation and made their way into the house — the pool house is built on a slab but has a tile roof, so they managed to get in under the roof tiles. What a mess! Finally got rid of them, but what a mess! They also managed to chew through some electrical wiring, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, I love animals, but not really wanting to live with vermin in the house.
 
The squirrels and chipmunks around here can sometimes be pretty destructive, but they seem to have tamed it a bit. I've been putting dried blood meal in the veg garden and nothing seems to touch them save the occasional bird.

This little fat fella (groundhog?) has taken up residence under the shed in the driveway. I'd love to scare him off then seal it up better, but I don't know if he's living there as-is or if he has a burrow. They say there are 2 exits for a burrow and I haven't seen one yet so if he has one they may both be under the shed.

I was thinking maybe a metal plate with a wood dowel in one corner and a nail or something at the top of the dowel. One wire of a 120V pigtail on the plate and the other on the nail, then coat the nail in peanut butter. However, I don't want to maim him- either scare him off or dispatch him. Animal control says I can either scare him off or call a critter ridder to dispatch him as relocation isn't allowed by law here.

Chuck

perc-o-prince-2020091512061602200_1.jpg
 
I've relocated a number of possums and one raccoon using my Have-a-Heart trap, even though it's against the law.  I take them less than a mile away to a primarily undeveloped park by a creek and turn them loose.  Since they're nocturnal, this all happens under cover of darkness.  There are some areas of the park that have benches and one large playground area, so there are trash cans for the raccoons, and if that isn't enough, there's a retail complex with restaurants across the street, so there's no shortage of foraging options.  I like to think I'm doing them a favor, but more importantly, I've done myself and my cat a favor by eliminating the cat food thieves and water dish topplers.

 

I just wish squirrels were as easy to capture and relocate, but with the way things have gotten so ridiculously out of hand, it would be a never-ending job.
 
Chuck , your groundhog under the shed pic reminded me.. Skunks have settled and bred under our garden shed before. I got rid of them by playing a noisy old transistor radio 24/7 in the shed with the speaker laying on the floor.. It seemed to work a couple of years ago, but about 3 weeks ago my new backdoor neighbor came by to tell me he saw skunks around the shed.. The old radio was still in there so I plugged it in and let her rip.. I think it worked.
 
I shoot under the squirrels with my pellet pistol. It scares the hell out of them without creating permanent damage or death, with the exception of maybe some PTSD. These days, I try not to kill anything with a gun that I don't eat.
 
Well ......

since you guys are using the term "full eradication", my dad did this many years ago and it totally took out the entire squirrel population in the hood. Well it depends how long you keep the trap below going.

 

At the hardware store get 2 things. 1). a couple of blue single gang electrical boxes with the double nails that attach it. Make sure they are the shallow ones and not the deeper kind.  2). A box or two of the green pellet rat poison, it looks like the old school rabbit food. Warfarin I think is the active ingredient. I think nowadays they come in small pouches for easy handling.

 

Back at the house install said electrical box(s) on the side of tree(s) about 4 feet off the ground to hold the rat pellets. In the bottom of the box drop in about 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. All this is for is scent bait. Next, open up a few pouches of the pellets and pour them in on top of the peanut butter. If it rains a lot, fashion a piece of tin or sheet plastic about a foot over the electrical box to shed water and keep the bait dry.  If you live in a fish bowl of a neighborhood, the bait container could be installed on a fence post out of sight. But the bait station as I described above, away from the house, will be more effective.

 

Check the trap daily and you'll find you will have a hard time keeping it filled if there are a lot of the fuzzy tailed rats in your area.

 

And of course if it is illegal to do this in your neck of the woods, don't do it.

 

***** This info is for educational purposes only. *******

[this post was last edited: 9/18/2020-18:05]
 
Well, Bud, that is interesting information.

 

At one point I was trying to use warfarin (or equiv) laced poison bait, until I acquired a cat that was quite expert at catching, killing, and consuming tree squirrels. I even once witnessed him catch a squirrel on the sidewalk in front of the house, and then drag it between his front legs, like a lion with a gazelle, all the way to the back yard where he eventually  dispatched the little demon. I later found squirrel body parts in the back yard. Anyway, that put me off the poison method, since I didn't want such a clever cat to be poisoned as well. Unfortunately that cat died some years ago so the feline squirrel control method has waned considerably since then.

 

However I have since rescued four feral and semi feral cats. One of whom proved to be useful in the squirrel control effort the other day.

 

I was in the yard trying to get a clean shot at a squirrel that had been depredating the fig tree. At one point I noticed the little black female stray, "Blackie",  was joining in the chase, about half-way up the tree. But the fig tree trunks are too dense for me to get off a shot. Then, suddenly, the squirrel gave a yelp and flew from the fig tree to an adjacent orange tree. I saw the cat had advanced up the fig tree as well. In the orange tree, the view was much less obstructed, and I'll let you guess the rest. Said squirrel is now enriching the compost bin. I'm not selfish; I did offer the carcass to Blackie. She gave it a sniff and a lick, and then a bite, but then lost interest. When the ants started taking over I moved it to the bin.

 
 
There is another fatal trap device that works better for tree squirrels. It mount to the tree trunk, and has a powerful lever that when tripped dispatches the squirrel as quickly and humanely as possible. I have one, just haven't baited for over a year. Maybe it's time.

 

Edit: it's dark and past midnight here, but I'm gonna go get the "Squirrel Butter" and bait that tree trunk trap now.

 

 

 
 
OK, I discovered why the tree trunk squirrel trap hasn't caught anything for quite a while.

 

I went out to bait it, and discovered that the internal portion of the spring had busted... plus the trap is out of stock and I haven't found any way to get a replacement spring. I might be able to weld on another bit of steel to renew the spring, not sure.

 

We'll see.

 

 

 
 
Here's an interesting comment I found on Amazon.com about another trap, and the problem with relocating trapped pests:

 

c9b8495e-df17-4f30-969d-75da3fa5cd64._CR0,0,93,93_UX110_.jpg


<span class="a-profile-name">peter Rabbit</span>

<em class="a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating" data-hook="review-star-rating"><span class="a-icon-alt">5.0 out of 5 stars</span></em> Amazing trap but there is a catch...

<span class="a-size-base a-color-secondary review-date" data-hook="review-date">Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2020</span>

So this trap will catch squirrels like crazy. But they offer a plastic box to fill with water to "dispatch" the squirrel. I didn't want to do this. I drove the squirrels several miles away and let them loose. Yep, you guessed it! They found their way back. And now they will not go near the squirrelinator so it is now useless. These cute little critters are destroying my paver steps, patios and tunneling under my house. I have learned to hate them because of the damage they are doing. If I were to do it all over I would have used the water box. For a brief time I was down to a few squirrels and now I am up to my armpits in smarter and really wary squirrels... and worse.. it's spring time and they will soon all be mommas and poppas. Use this trap and don't even think about relocating the squirrels. They will be back and you won't be able to catch them again.

 
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I wish I had the same success with squirrels as I've had with rats.

 

A family friend inherited a 1930s house that hadn't been inhabited for many years.  After cleaning the place out, and since I was looking for a place to live, the friend offered me cheap rent just to have someone in there to keep things up while the estate was settled.

 

The first night that I tried to sleep in an upstairs bedroom I was kept awake my rat activity in the attic.  They were busy and there were a lot of them.

 

The next day I got a 6-pack of d-Con rat poison, the old type that looked like oatmeal, and pushed up the attic access panel and placed a box just inside, closed things up and hoped for the best.  Of course the first night there was no change, but the next morning the box was empty.

 

I put in another box.  Again, another noisy night, and another empty box. 

 

The third box was put in place.  More rat activity that night, but the next morning the box still had some bait left in it.

 

That night, it was all quiet. 

 

I wish they still sold that stuff because I'm sure it would do the trick on squirrels, and they can't bury it either.  Yes, I've seen squirrels bury marble sized rat bait before.  I'm looking for more immediate results.

 
 
Well, I was able to get in touch with the distributor, and while the entire trap is out of stock, they have some extra springs and are sending me one for about $28 including shipping.

 

Here's a photo of the trap. It's extremely effective. It's called the Kania2000, and appears still to be available from Canada:

 

https://www.kania.net/images/kania2000.jpg
 

Plus, a video:

 



https://www.kania.net/2000.htm
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Chuck,

We have a chubby little guy like that who visits our yard occasionally.
For whatever reason, I have no desire to do away with him. We only see one, and I've never seen him do any significant damage to anything.
We've had one take up residence under our shed. But the same space has also been occupied by skunks, and one year, foxes.
I'm very live and let live with most of the woodland creatures. But the chipmunks and red squirrels could go away.

Barry
 
Eastern Fox Squirrel

The most common tree squirrel in the SF Bay Area is the Eastern Fox squirrel. These were introduced to the West Coast starting around 1900, and have driven the native Western Gray squirrel out of much of its habitat.

 

It's the tree squirrel I see in my back yard. If it wasn't so destructive, I'd be live and let live. But it is destructive. I have two large avocado trees on my property. The fox squirrels with take some bites out of unripe fruit. let it drop to the ground and rot. Where do they come from? Well, there's a condo development on the other side of the tall ivy covered chain link fence at the back of the property. It was built in the 1980's, on the grounds of a former light industrial factory. The developer planted the entire site with Canary Island pines, which are very tall and drop large pine cones. No doubt these are what the fox squirrels are thriving on. Then they come over here and depredate the avocado, fig, peach, apple, etc trees. It's a constant battle against their numbers. I know I'm not the only one to be aggrieved by these little demons.

 

I do what I can, legally, to reduce their numbers. They are not native, they are not cuddly, they are not cute.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_squirrel
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Rich,

That's interesting. If I saw that tree rat that you posted, I would think it was an ordinary grey squirrel.
I would be questioning what I see here most often, except the article that you linked to said that we don't have fox squirrels in New England. Or, very few.
So, the grey or black ones that I see here are most likely variations of the grey squirrel. I'm pretty much okay with them. They seem pretty laid back, for a squirrel. I stopped using a bird feeder because they were destroying it. Now, when I feed the birds, I just scatter a small amount of seed on the ground. When the greys do show up, they eat right alongside the birds, instead of chasing them away, like they did with a feeder.
Then, there's what I'm referring to as the reds.
They're smaller than the greys, and seem quicker and almost spastic in their movements sometimes.
They kind of look like a squirrel and a chipmunk got together.
I definitely don't see as many of them; maybe two. But for me, that's two too many!
And we're crawling alive with chipmunks.
I'll figure something out. I personally don't like the idea of catching them in a humane trap and then giving them swimming lessons.
I've seen a variation of that trap that mounts on a tree or post, and pops them in the head when they go in to find the bait. The one I saw was powered by a CO2 cartridge. They were kind of spendy though, and not easy to find. Plus, it's not like I could post a sign on it "Red squirrels only".
I really don't want to be killing off all the greys in hopes of getting rid of the few reds.

Barry
 
Well, I may have spoken too soon.

 

Animal Control Products in Wisconsin told me they had a spare spring. They charged my credit card for it, and since then have gone silent. I left them multiple voice mails, emals, and even messaged them on their facebook site. Nothing. If they don't respond next week I'll have to contact my credit card company and cancel the transaction.

 
 

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