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having trouble with squirrels


chris mashburn

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I Dont know if anyone up north has this problem, but squirrels keep chewing on my string of lights. Does anyone else have this problem?

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We have a rental that the tenant kept calling and complaining about the electricity not working in various parts of the house. We called an electrician who couldn't find anything wrong, so we called the electric company. They sent someone out twice because they couldn't find anything wrong, until they checked the wires running through conduit up the telephone pole. Then they found not one but two dead squirrels which had met their death by chewing through the wires at the top of the pole. Yep, zapped em good. Little bastar...

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Are your squirrels in your trees? Or on the house? Where are the lights i guess is what I should ask.

My Father In Law created this great thing for keeping the squirrels out of his bird feeder that stops them from climbing the poll. It basically looks like a Can with the top cut out of it. He put that on the pole about half way up and they crawl up there can't get any further and crawl down again. Plus the can itself is to wide for them to grab onto so they just slide down.

If your squirrels are in a standalone tree you may try implementing the same thing around the bottom. I know it sounds hockey but it might work. Or Get some deer net and cover the place where the lights are to stop them...

Hope those ideas help.

-Evan

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The problem here is that I have Oak trees, and the squirrels jump from tree to tree..

I have lights on my roof, and also on the ground...They "feast" on my lights every day, and I keep having to splice lights back together...It is a pain in my butt..

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Chris,

Have the same problem here with rabbits and I haven't found anything that works when I have wires running all over the yard. What makes it really difficult is when they don't bite it in half, but only through the wire itself, not through all the insulation. Makes it harder to find the fault.

I see you are in Clearwater, I grew up just North of you in Dunedin.

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The general concensus when this was discussed over on PC was to give them something else to eat and they are more likely to leave the less tasty wires alone.

The old If you can't beat them, join them strategy.

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We have lived in Clearwater 14 years now, and very familiar with Dunedin..We will probably be moving to Sevieville Tn which is close to Gatlinburg/Knoxville next year.

We hate leaving the area, but kind of ready for a change..

Thank you for your feedback Denny..

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Hey Brian. That sounds like maybe my only choice. I just hope that when I put the treats down, it want attract more squirrels!! Thanks for the help...

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chris mashburn wrote:

Hey Brian. That sounds like maybe my only choice. I just hope that when I put the treats down, it want attract more squirrels!! Thanks for the help...


Brian/Chris,

That didn't work for rabbits. I have a horse in the backyard and always had hay around. The only thing the hay did was attract more rabbits! (Notice, I said "had hay." I now feed her pellets which has dramatically cut back on the number of rabbits. Now, if I could get a coyote to make a regular trek through the yard, that might help with the rabbit population!)

Chris, I liked FL when I lived there, but don't think I could handle the humidity now. A few years ago, I had to go to Tallahassee on business in April and thought I would suffocate with the humidity.
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Living in Southern Florida means no rabbits to worry about chewing on the wires. But recently Ive had some pesky Alligators nibbling on my christmas lights.. lol

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If you can come up with some fox urine, this should do the trick. Of course, catching the fox could be a problem!!

Try a Tractor Supply store, or feed store for the urine. You can dilute it a little bit to make it last longer, but I would not dilute too much. You want the tree rats to smell it.

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The fox urine goes by the name Liquid Fence around here in Wisconsin and the midwest. Check your local hardware as we pick it up at Menards and Fleet Farm which you don't have in Fla. The critters are crafty when it comes to some things but aren't very smart in what is edible. The squirrels think the lights and plugs are acorns or nuts and don't know any better. The smarter ones eventually figure it out, but every now and then one will keep eating them. Bunnies also don't intentionally chew on wires. At first they think its a stem of a plant or a twig and being very inquisitive, something to taste. Problem is by the time they find out it isn't, with their teeth they have snipped through your string of lights. We have had a house rabbit for 18 years and always bunny proof the cords. Luckily none of ours have been snippers, but they have plenty of other things to eat to the point they wouldn't need to test nibble the wires. Fox urine while it works around shrubs and stuff for the rabbits I'm not to sure will help for squirrels IF they are doing it up in a tree, other than to spray down your light sets before you hang them. With jumping tree to tree, unless it's a lone tree that they have to climb the trunk, just spraying IT won't work. And this stuff smells NASTY until it dries. Not anything I want on my hands for sure.

Lenny

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denny With the work that i do, half of it is outside. It's brutal out there,all i want to do on weekends is sit inside

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Chris,

I live in Texas and have about eight 60-70' tall pecan trees in my yard. The squirrels think this is the local deli and jump from tree to tree eating pecans and hollowing out the trees. We lose one tree about every 8 years due to their nesting habits.

During Christmas they have chewed through countless strands of lights and even 16 guage electrical cables.

I haven't found anything that prevents this. If you find something that works short a shotgun, let me know.


Charles

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Charles Belcher wrote:


I haven't found anything that prevents this. If you find something that works short a shotgun, let me know.


Charles


Charles what about a pellet gun :dude: :dude: :dude:

Just kidding
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Hey, found out if there are any people around that own Birds of Prey around that would like to exersize their birds. Or become a Hawker yourself.

Just a thought

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I prefer a 12ga or 22 myself, but if no guns are allow feed them something they like on the other side of the yard (your neighbors two doors down). You could catch them in a crap and tranport them to the other side of town. Or make a paste using hot peppers and spread that on your entire strings of lights (too much trouble).

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