The Squirrels Revenge
I have come to the conclusion that I hate squirrels. I haven’t always felt that way. I used to think of them as cute little animals scurrying around in a benevolent search for the perfect acorn. Maybe it was from watching Chip & Dale (yes I realize Chip n Dale were really chipmunks) cartoons as a child. I don’t know, but I had no pre-conceived Squirrel bias.
Now I know better. I have come to recognize them as the chattering, beady eyed little bastards they really are. It all started a few months ago with a bird feeder.
We started selling Coles gourmet bird seed in the store. So I thought hmm, maybe I should give this bird feeding thing a try. After all, to be a knowledgeable salesperson I should at least try the product. Here the trouble begins. You see I have this neighbor who likes to feed the squirrels. They have corn cobs, peanuts and even pecans scattered all over the yard. A veritable squirrel buffet. We have a pretty healthy squirrel population on my street. I have another neighbor that has 20 cats. You would think there would be some squirrel population decline.
One particular squirrel, for some unknown reason, ignores all of the goodies next door. He focused on my Bird Feeder. So I have been in a BATTLE for several weeks now. I tried metal feeders, squirrel proof feeders and every other thing I could think of. Finally a solution. Coles makes a bird seed called Hot Meats to fight the problem. It seems that birds don’t taste Capsaicin, the compound in peppers that makes them hot. Squirrels do and don’t like it. This bird seed is HOT. I know that because I got the brilliant idea of tasting it. Bad mistake.
I thought that I had won. I filled the feeder. All went well. The birds seemed as happy as usual. And the squirrel stayed away. He didn’t really leave. Just sort of skirted around and chattered defiantly. I took pleasure in my victory. It was short lived.
One night I came home late and decided to grill a steak. I went out to heat up the grill, reached down to turn on the propane tank and was blasted with a cloud of propane gas. I was a little baffled, that hadn’t ever happened before. I bent down to look at the tank and realized he had gotten me back.
I feel your pain. It’s actually how I found out about this blog. I had come in to get some Great Stuff and explained that it was being use as a desperate, last resort, anti-squirrel measure… I believe I also asked if you had any fishnets or some kind of advice about killing it outright. You explained that you had also had a squirrel battle and told me I could read about it. Well, here I am.
My story will only help fuel your hatred: Our house is 30 years old. It’s in great shape, but the siding is wood and a couple of knots have popped out with the expanding temperatures/humidity of the decades past. When we moved in a couple of years ago, I got a can of “great stuff” and filled all the ones I could reach. Well, there was one left but it was so high up that I didn’t worry about it. A couple of months ago, in the coldest week of the winter, my wife and I heard scratching coming from the exterior wall. I tip-toed over to it and put my ear up to it. Sure enough there was a squirrel hanging out in there. Well, I slapped the wall repeatedly while she looked out the window near it. She laughed and told me the squirrel had come flying out of the hole like a missle on a battleship, belly-flopping onto the ground 15 feet below before scurrying into the forest. I knew I had to plug it up.
The next day when it was light out, I propped the ladder up the front of the house and went up there to assess the situation. There was some biting around the hole that had made it big enough for the sucker to fit in. Argh. I traced the hole on some paper, and jigsawed a chunk of hardboard with a tab to screw it into the adjacent siding. After beating on the wall to make sure nothing came out, I put it on and it fit perfectly. That same day I was repairing a dent on my wife’s bumper with Bondo, and I had a glob left… I got the crazy idea and climbed the ladder. I just used a bit to really seal around the hardboard and make the hole even less appealing to potential gnawers. I was so confident, I even went so far as to get out the old house paint and paint over the repair. It looked dandy and I was proud of myself.
Later that week, as we sat and relaxed after our day, I heard the scratching… it was in the wall?!? I ran outside and saw my brilliant patch had been partially bypassed. There was now a new, bigger hole chewed from scratch where the old one was. Even through the rock-hard Bondo.
I’m not quite sure what to do, but I figure the other knotholes with the great stuff foam weren’t touched while the one with freakin’ bondo was… there must be something about that foam they don’t like. I dropped by to buy the great stuff, met you, and went home. The next day I managed to scare it out of the wall, and quickly got the ladder out and went to work. I filled the hole with some steel wool to start with, just for good measure, then proceeded to empty most of the can of foam into the void that bugger had created. I fashioned a catch tray and attached it right uder the hole, ready for what was sure to be a volcano of expanding foam out the front of my house (good thing I did, too.)
That was over two and a half weeks ago. Last time, he breached the wall just a couple of days after my attempt to lock him out. This time he hasn’t tried. That foam must be terrible to chew on.
Sorry this got so long, I just kinda got on a roll (I’m a bit of a blogger myself.)
Squirrels do not like safflower seeds either. I will try the HOT variety soon. Thank you for the tip. Seems I have a few weeks of seed to go through first.
We love the patio furniture. Thanks for ordering the extra chairs.
The basil is growing like wild fire and have used it in salads with the arugula. It is amazing.