Squirrel Wars, The Last Straw

[Monty]

The little vermin have started again this year. I have left them alone at the pleading from my wife Kay even though they have chewed the TV cable lines for the third time. The Cable Guy was out yesterday (Not Larry) and replaced several of the lines to homes. I saw the guilty culprit again yesterday morning digging in some cypress mulch in my flower bed. I figured she was building a nest so I crept up close to watch her. The little tart ran under my car and was gone for several minutes and then came back out to scratch around in the mulch again. I was going to the store for my wife and as I approached she ran up my big oak tree with a bunch of mulch in tow. So, I started my car (2006) Dodge Durango Hemi, and it was running rough and the check engine light came on. I pulled back in the driveway and lifted the hood to find an almost completed squirrel nest on one bank of my V-8 . After cleaning out all the trash and sticks it still ran rough so I got a flash light and checked closer. That little %$%^* had chewed my ignition wires. Several completely severed and the others with missing insulation. Do you have any idea what an ignition wiring harness costs for a Dodge Hemi? You don't want to know! So, the war was on. Without a hint of hesitance or guilt, I fetched my trusty .17 caliber pellet rifle and sent that squirrel to meet Jesus. Sorry if I offended our in house animal lovers, but I was here before the squirrels. I've been here 28 years and there wasn't even a tree in sight on the field where I built my house. They moved in about 5 years ago and have not been good neighbors. Yeah, well the death penalty may have been a little severe, but it was instant and dare I say "humane". Go ahead and hit me I can take it. Monty

 

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[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

A never ending fight.............

 

[Blacksheep]

A trick that may help keep the rodents from under the hood, used this several times with
fairly good results.

Cut two squares from old nylons, place 3 mothballs in the center of the doubled up nylon
squares, fold the corners together and secure with a bread bag twist tie.

Hang this under the hood, its enough to keep the animals out but not enough to notice (the
smell) inside your vehicle.

(I know how much the harness is, replaced for customers with the same issue)

 

[MEinWV]

"Where's Eddie? He used to eat thes GD things. Not since he heard they were high in colesterol, Clark!"

 

[berkshiregold]

It's the only way.

 

[stoney56]

Nail 'em Monty. Don't know how many times parts of the town here were w/o electricity because of squirrels around the substations and power lines.

 

[GL]

I shoot them all the time for far less.

 

[Ray S ECenFL]

My only question is do you use open sights or a scope?



Fire up the Barbie.....

Ray S

 

[warsawdaddy]

A trick that may help keep the rodents from under the hood, used this several times with
fairly good results.

Cut two squares from old nylons, place 3 mothballs in the center of the doubled up nylon
squares, fold the corners together and secure with a bread bag twist tie.

Hang this under the hood, its enough to keep the animals out but not enough to notice (the
smell) inside your vehicle.

(I know how much the harness is, replaced for customers with the same issue)

I'm going to try this! I don't have the squirrel problem,but I do have some field mice that get under the hood and chew the vacumn lines in half.

 

[truckinbutch]

HA!HA! And you thought you might get beat up over 'tree rats'... We all suffer with them and their depradations .
Mothballs and other things work . My remedy is an 8yr old grandson with the feral instincts of a pre 1800 Apache indian . What he gets he has to eat .
Squirrels are much further from the house and he's getting hungry .

 

[BIG61AL]

Monty
I respect that animals are part of this world but I will not allow any creature to cause havac in my life..you did exactly what i would have done.

 

[Zephyr]

You need some cats. Not the indoor types, but the ones who are hunters. 'course, you'll have to clean the squirrel tails off the porch, but it's a fair exchange....

 

[Mich. Wolverine]

Monty there may be a different solution to your problem. Go onto utube and put in squirrel launcher.

Wolverine.

 

[Lowbatts]

You could have just asked me to stop putting peanut butter around your truck and cable lines.

Do you want to rent one of my kids?

 

[Smee]

Sounds like the "pack rat" problem I had when I lived in the country. Tried bait, no success. Then I remembered that Antifreze - while having a sweet taste -- is poison. Under the hood, I secured a cup with a generous serving of the green liquid near to the poison. Don't know if it really did kill them, but they stopped coming back.

Just tell the wife you're leaving them a "peace offering" or something they would rather eat than your wiring harness but don't let her see what it is.

 

[Monty]

Smee, too many domestic cats park under car hoods for the antifreeze and I would guess it's not very "humane". Bleeding out internally sounds a lot worse than a quick dispatch.

Lowbatts, that is the weirdest thing I have seen in a while! A sign of a depraved mind. I like it!

Gosh, I am surprised. With so many proanimal and antihuman posts I've seen lately I thought I'd be stoned to death. I guess everyone has to draw a line somewhere. Even got the blessing from my wife Kay. (It means she'll have to wait another month for her new set of eye glasses)!

I wonder if there is a squirrel heaven? No, surely not. First time they chewed the spokes on the chariot God himself would smite them. Monty

 

[simonds]

I had the same problems. When I counted seventeen at our bird feeders at one time, I had to get them under control. We enjoy watching a few of them, we even have a squirrel feeder for them. They started doing a lot of damage to the bird feeders
I started having my morning coffee out on the front porch and kept my 22 cal. rifle beside me. When I got home from work I would sit on the Front porch with my 22 and sip a couple beers.
After a few months we had 67 less squirrels. Now we have about four that we enjoy watching. Chipmonks were worse. They did a lot of digging under the blacktop driveway and under the basement window wells.
They caused a lot of damage. They are a smaller target, but there are about 60 less of them know.
I felt this was the most humane way to control their population.

 

[truckinbutch]

I had the same problems. When I counted seventeen at our bird feeders at one time, I had to get them under control. We enjoy watching a few of them, we even have a squirrel feeder for them. They started doing a lot of damage to the bird feeders
I started having my morning coffee out on the front porch and kept my 22 cal. rifle beside me. When I got home from work I would sit on the Front porch with my 22 and sip a couple beers.
After a few months we had 67 less squirrels. Now we have about four that we enjoy watching. Chipmonks were worse. They did a lot of digging under the blacktop driveway and under the basement window wells.
They caused a lot of damage. They are a smaller target, but there are about 60 less of them know.
I felt this was the most humane way to control their population.

I think we can call this one Solved

 

[AU24K]

Used to have problems with them chewing their way into the attic through the soffitt. Found a product called "Tanglefoot" at the hardware store. It is a real sticky tar-like substance that they hate to get on their feet. Smeared a bit around the chewed holes and problem solved.
Also was used in the back yard on the top of the chain link fence where kids were hopping over to cut through the yard. Again, problem solved.
Scott

 

[I dig it]

All they are is RATS with fluffy tails
we got real bad here I went down to Wal~Mart and got a Daisy lever action I have yet to shoot one
the dogs keep em a bay for the most part ,but If they did to me what they did to you well they would be pushing up Daisy's