Squirrels - the down side?
I am in with the crowd that loves watching squirrels, but I have also had experience with the downside they can present. Squirrels can have VERY destructive nesting habits if they can find a way into your nice warm house.
When we bought our house 2 years agon the guy who had fixed it up had installed an attic vent louver upside-down, so that it caught rain instead of keeping it out. We found out later that when we had him fix it he didn't install the screening behind it.
About 3 months later, we heard an intermittent scrathcing in the walls in the kitchen, and I immediately started setting out the mouse traps. None of them were ever touched. Within three days they had found their way into the ceilings and walls of every room in our house, and you could hear them scratching and chewing and pulling insulation & wood for nesting and probably to get more access. Every morning at 5:00 I would hear them in the wall right next to our bed!!!
This thouroughly freaked out my wife, and made me more that a little grumpy!
It took about a week total before one of the neighbors saw how they were getting in. (And that was also how we found out they were squirrels!) I was particularly concerned that would decide to chew through a wall into the house, or worse chew into a wire and die in the wall or start a fire.
I bought two of those ultrasonic jobs a lowes for ~$35 I think, and plugged them in where I thought they would do the most good. No scratching the next morning!
The following night I felt sure enough theat they were out to install the screening. Dead, starved rodents smell awful, and I was pretty sure a desparate squirrel would do a good bit of damage if I trapped him in there.
Once I installed the screen, I unplugged the sonics, since if you leave them on for a week or two, the "pests" get acclimitized, and they will never be effective again. They worked great fro me, but my feeling is that they are only a short term solution to get pests out or to buy you time to implement a more permanent solution.
That all said, I still like wathcing the little guys, as long as they are OUTSIDE!!!
-Lance
I am in with the crowd that loves watching squirrels, but I have also had experience with the downside they can present. Squirrels can have VERY destructive nesting habits if they can find a way into your nice warm house.
When we bought our house 2 years agon the guy who had fixed it up had installed an attic vent louver upside-down, so that it caught rain instead of keeping it out. We found out later that when we had him fix it he didn't install the screening behind it.
About 3 months later, we heard an intermittent scrathcing in the walls in the kitchen, and I immediately started setting out the mouse traps. None of them were ever touched. Within three days they had found their way into the ceilings and walls of every room in our house, and you could hear them scratching and chewing and pulling insulation & wood for nesting and probably to get more access. Every morning at 5:00 I would hear them in the wall right next to our bed!!!
This thouroughly freaked out my wife, and made me more that a little grumpy! It took about a week total before one of the neighbors saw how they were getting in. (And that was also how we found out they were squirrels!) I was particularly concerned that would decide to chew through a wall into the house, or worse chew into a wire and die in the wall or start a fire.
I bought two of those ultrasonic jobs a lowes for ~$35 I think, and plugged them in where I thought they would do the most good. No scratching the next morning!
The following night I felt sure enough theat they were out to install the screening. Dead, starved rodents smell awful, and I was pretty sure a desparate squirrel would do a good bit of damage if I trapped him in there. Once I installed the screen, I unplugged the sonics, since if you leave them on for a week or two, the "pests" get acclimitized, and they will never be effective again. They worked great fro me, but my feeling is that they are only a short term solution to get pests out or to buy you time to implement a more permanent solution.
That all said, I still like wathcing the little guys, as long as they are OUTSIDE!!!
-Lance
Years ago when I lived in the UK there was a nature program that invented (?) a sort of obstacle course with a nice reward at the end. It was a really wild affair, with ropes, tunnels, spinning thingees; in other words things that had to be studied to figure out the "tricks" in order to get to the food. The whole thing was video taped. Most gray squirrels took about 30 minutes and maybe two or three "tries" to figure the whole thing. They not only seem to be smart but also appear to be able to analiZe a problem and then apply the answer. It was a hoot to watch. They never did find a squirrel that couldn't eventually get to the reward.
LCHIEN
Loring in Katy, TX USA
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