Squirrel Problems

I have 5 walnut trees within 30 yards of my house.
Every tree in my yard and all my neighbors yards
have squirrel nests. At least FIVE nests a tree.

I guess the squirrel population has boomed and
they need to expand their housing. I have a couple
that have chewed holes in my eaves and have taken
up residence in my house.

I fixed the holes with chicken wire and even tried to spray
a squirrel repelant concoction I got off the internet. It
did not work.

I did a little research and there is a guy in Richland Center
called Terry Sime that does pest removal. I thought the name
was familiar. I called him and low and behold he is a Gays Mills
Guy. MY HOMETOWN.

Terry lent me one of his live traps and it is already in place on the roof.

If I catch any I will drive them way out in the country and let them go.
There are lots of squirrels in the area. I will update this squirrel fiasco
daily for a week on my blog.

http://lenharris.blogspot.com/2010/04/squirrel-problems.html

Might I suggest instead of hand feeding them you try a pellet gun.

Squirrel tail is a great material for streamer wings

Rootski

Len –

You are in for more trouble than you know – as they are coming in your house.

I had the same problem and trapped over 45 of them – they all looked the same so I could not tell which one was the “perp”.

Needless to say, the problem has sense been quelled.

Dog.

After catching them, you spray their tails orange to see how many come back. Good luck with this, I went thru the same thing two years ago. I was Bill Murray on Caddy Shack!

Try this!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=28219188

“Varmit Cong!” I like the pellet gun idea with a corn feeder about 30′ from the deck.

dd

My VOTE: Pellet Gun works best, shoot to kill. Although illegal in most Cities.

Live Trapping and moving may be illegal in some areas, DNR Rules on transport of wild animals.

If you move them, you need to take them 10-miles minimum. I took a few 3.5 miles and 7 miles with All White Painted Tails.

At 3.5 miles he was back the next day.
A 7 miles he was back in 2-days.
After that I opted for Killing or transplanting 25 miles away, letting them go at my office a 1/2 miles from a Cemetary covered with Oak and Walnut trees. Never saw them return.

I ended up killing and transplanting 18-squirrels, 3-Red and 15-Gray.

If they are in the house, you may need a Professional Exterminator. Hate to end up with a nest of little ones dieing inside your homes walls.

Best of all, shoot to Kill and check with Mepps. Long ago they used to buy squirrel tails.

If you have squirrels you probably got Chipmunks too.
Best trap I ever found was the one a woman I worked with told me about:
1-5gallon bucket filled 1/2 to 2/3 with water.
Set it next to other places the frequently use that are a little bit higher than the bucket.
Spread plenty of sunflower seeds to cover them water surface thoroughly and then spread more around the area around the bucket above and on the ground around the bucket.
Leave it for 2-3 days.

Last time I did it I had been chasing them off my deck for hours, finally set it up and dumped it 2-days later. I figured 2-3 chipmunks, I was WRONG, I had 11-Dead Chipmunks. After that summer it took 3- years before I started seeing any number of squirrels and chipmunks again.

If you want to get rid of them why are you feeding them. They think that they are right at home in your house.

Be prepared for a long hard battle. When my dad was in St. Louis, he was over run with squirrels. They even opened the watermelons in his garden to get the seeds. He shot or trapped 75 and could not tell the difference. If you have five nests to the tree, you have lots and lots of squirrels.

Good luck, you’re going to need it.

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Try this!
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=28219188

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I don’t know about that launcher but this one works great if you have a deck in your back yard
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=249700

I had the same problem for years, how did I rectify it? Simple I got a small “Hav-a Heart ” trap. put a walnut covered with peanut butter in the trap, when the little *#&^%@!+ were captured , next came “swimming lessons”,needless to say none of them passed……….Good Day……

I don’t think you are doing the squirrel any favors by relocating them.

I agree killing them is the best move. They are rodents. If they didn’t have a “cute” bushy tails, they would be treated like the rats they are!

By they way, feeding them should be illegal everywhere!!!

-J.

In Australia my bro-in-law has problems with feral cats. He live traps them around the house. He has a rope tied to his live trap and tosses it into his pond. After one swimming lesson the cat is much better behaved. I am sure the same would work with squirrels. About 10 minutes should do the trick

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I agree killing them is the best move. They are rodents. If they didn’t have a “cute” bushy tails, they would be treated like the rats they are!

By they way, feeding them should be illegal everywhere!!!

-J.

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Ha! I feed them along with the birds. We used to have reds too, but now I only see them once in a while. I have witnessed flying squirrels at the house twice, but being nocturnal, it is a rare occurrence. Fortunately for me our house is stucco and apparently squirrel proof. Also, the next door neighbor’s house has an older, oddly shaped/pitched roof.

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If you want to get rid of them why are you feeding them. They think that they are right at home in your house.

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My first thought as well. That pic doesn’t support your problem.

This works for me.

First off Im no tree hugger or PETA member. I hunt and fish and partake in the food gained in my activities. But I am in no way in favor of the “launchers” or the drowning of animals for the sake of cruel punishment. I thought most of us on this site were better sportsmen than that. I take no issue in the process of removing them by trapping, or even shooting them, which would make for a swift pain free death. Although in Minnesota it is illegal this time of year. But to torcher any animal, just for the sake of doing it, makes me a little ashamed that there are people that would do it on this site. I personally dont care that much for deer but could you imagine if I posted videos of me doing that to them? Come on guys show a little respect for Gods creatures.

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Come on guys show a little respect for Gods creatures.

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If it walks, swims, or flies…..IT DIES!!!!!

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I am confused.

While I am not for the torture of animals these are tree rats, just shoot them.

Im ok with humanely shooting them. Not with making them suffer a miserable death of drowning or flinging them thru the air to suffer a painful death if internal injury and broken bones. Im just saying treat them like you would a deer or trophy walleye or any other game you take up as a passion.

http://lenharris.blogspot.com/2010/04/squirrel-relocation-program.html

We have a lot of problems with them back home, luckily we have a largemouth bass willing to help with the chimpmunk infestation! The video is my dad feeding the bass. We’d give the bass 2-3 a day and he’d act like he was starving. Crazy stuff. We could even feed him by hand, not just chimpmunks but crawlers, ect. I threw a smaller rabbit in one day and he and another bass hit it, but was obviously to big, but they sure wanted it! Bass video

This site says that fox urine will work. Actually they have several organic ways to rid your property of squirrels.

BTW years ago I had a friend that thought he made a little buddy feeding him like you in that picture. The damn little thing bit the hand that was feeding him.

Good Luck Spinner

Red lab,

I’ll give ya the launcher. But that probably was not an IDO guy doing that. As far as drowning. Not everyone has a gun. (Yeah, I know that’s crazy) Drowning them is not cruel in my book. I have seen a couple botched executions where drowning would be preferred!

-J.

I am with Jon on this one. I have seen that video before and won’t click it again of the launcher. I guess it is pretty funny if you are a 12 year old or a hill billy. But I don’t think drowning is inhumane. I see pain and suffering when killing something pretty relative and once the thing is dead it becomes irrelevant. I imagine drowning is fairly quick and painless, just not panic less. Not too many means are going to not cause panic or trauma for a brief moment at least.

A word to the wise. My brother had a raccoon problem. He lived trapped them and moved them, but they kept coming back. So he then started tossing the traps in the water before releasing them. If you plan on doing this, plan on waiting a long time, because they can hold their breathe for a good long time.

Didn’t mean to offend anyone. In some places a gunshot is out of the question and drowning is humane I thought. I have also heard of people putting a blanket over the trap and putting a hose to their car exhaust. Real life isn’t a Disney movie and can be cruel sometimes and in the overall scheme of things drowning is pretty humane. Watch an eagle or hawk tear apart a living squirrel and drowning will look pretty good.

Im just saying if your going thru the trouble of trapping there are more humane ways to do it then watching them struggle and panic. In no way is this in comparison to an eagle tearing it apart as part of its survival to live.

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I have also heard of people putting a blanket over the trap and putting a hose to their car exhaust.

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I’ve seen this tried. It didn’t work….

-J.

I have yet to have one come back from St Paul across the Ford Bridge to MPLS…

I constantly trap them and it gets old. I am legal to humanely kill them via drowning but I always relocate them. Jon may be right that that isn’t so great either but I figured the park I drop them in will have food and plenty of shelter!

Thanks St Paul!

I just remembered now rereading this post that I got a call last year from my daughter. They found a baby on the ground. The girlffriend and I drove from Richfield to Blaine and then over to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Roseville for this one measly squirrel. Ok, let me have it.

We also considered raising it as our own, but we have our hands full with 3 dogs and 3 cats. The girlfriend also brought up getting a rabbit this Easter…thank God that passed.