Squirrels will eat anything, apparently

[redhawk0]

I live in town where I can't just shoot them when I want...however, that does not keep me from getting rid of them.

I have a small Hav-A-Hart trap. I catch critters then it does directly into a rubbermaid container full of water....critter in a zip-lok baggy and out in the trash they go.

I don't use an open trap setup...I keep one side closed, then set the trap with a PB cracker in the back under the closed door. They don't exit the trap alive.

I have a heart alright...hahaha

redhawk

[redhawk0]

BTW...I get rid of ground moles the same way...the small H-A-H trap mesh is too large and a mole can go in through the sides...so...with a CLOSED trap...I put a mouse trap inside with PB on the trigger.

redhawk

[JerryCan]

Grabbing a squirrel and getting bit was mentioned...
When I was single digits age, I somehow managed to corner and catch a chipmunk. That striped sob bit about 15 times before I let go. The last bite he latched onto my thumb and I ended up having to smack him on a tree to get him off.
Getting mauled by a chipmunk is a humbling experience.

[alamogunr]

Our neighborhood is overrun with squirrels. They have chewed the plastic tops on my stepladders hanging on the back of the shop. They chewed the back corners of the shop(rough sawn cedar). I had about a half dozen 1.5# lead ingots holding a piece of sheet metal on top of my lead cleaning pot in the back yard. They have chewed the corners off of every one. I replaced them with a brick and left them on the step into the shop and they continued to chew. You can see lead crumbs, tiny but still visible.

My next step is to try to use a pellet gun to "lead poison" them. I've already established that a .22 pellet will penetrate 3/8th plywood. Despite being "domesticated", they still take off when I go out the back door to go to the shop.

[Moleman-]

They will also eat a truck, well enough of the wiring harness to run about 3000$!
That one must have a mineral deficiency, I would recommend 40 gr one time followed by a good salt bath and hot oil soak

Caught a red squirrel running out from the engine bay of my truck earlier. Time for them to take a short trip across the road.

[Idz]

An interesting thing about wiring is the enviro-nazis objected to petroleum based plastics so companies like Mercedes switched to a plastic derived from peanut oil and then found rodents liked it too.

[OldBearHair]

I came out of the house to see what my dog Duchess was barking about . She was barking "tree-ed" at the top of the front wheel. Went around and opened the hood. lifting it up saw a tail hanging down from the center hole of the insulation fiberglass. Picked up a two foot long broom handle and whacked the lump under the insulation, then whacked another lump, and another. Duchess caught one, one got away under and between my legs, and one was DRT. Everything sort of settled down then. Couple days later we noticed an "off" odor in the laundry room. Next day it was a full blown bad odor. Started searching and finally pulled of the dryer hose at the back of the dryer and there was the dead squirrel, you know, the one that I whacked good with the stick? It had come in the dryer vent hole and made it all the way into the fryer and died. Got rid of that odor and the squirrel. Next day got in the truck and it would not start. Diagnosis: All day looking for the problem and found that the wire from the fuel pump located in the gas tank had been cut somewhere. Could not find where it was at all so, ran a wire from the fuel tank out from under the truck, wrapped it around the mirror tightly so it would not drag then under the hood and drove it to town to the auto repair shop. Then as the smart young whipper snapper of a mechanic started telling me that it was fixed, was laughing at me at the same time. I told him that at the very least, I knew what was wrong and knew how to get it to him so he could fix it and get paid doing it.

[Winger Ed.]

Caught a red squirrel running out from the engine bay of my truck earlier. Time for them to take a short trip across the road.

Had a buddy who kept a old IH Scout on his rural property so he didn't have to drive his new 'city' truck out into the wilderness.
Between chewing all the wires, hoses, and interior- the little devils totaled it.

[Moleman-]

Had a buddy who kept a old IH Scout on his rural property so he didn't have to drive his new 'city' truck out into the wilderness.
Between chewing all the wires, hoses, and interior- the little devils totaled it.

8 year old F150 with what looks like a mile of wires running everywhere. Only thing I can see it chewed on was a grounding strap for the engine has some of the open cell foam missing and you can see teeth marks in it. Lots of foot prints all over the dusty engine bay though. We have a 1966 IHC 1000A pickup and between the two I'd much rather have to replace the wiring harness on the IHC.

[daengmei]

There must be plenty of food for them here, right in the crowded outskirts of town. Haven't yet to see any damage. They are just a nuisance to my dogs. Opossums, raccoons, ground hogs, moles, field mice are everywhere. Close enough to the woods that deer, turkey, fox and an occasional coyote could be seen. I Havahart and relocate those that are garden killers.

What bothers me most is my dogs occasionally get hold of a turtle and I don't like them chewing on them.

[lightman]

We feed the birds and have to keep the seed in a metal garbage can because the squirrels can chew their way into plastic ones. I've work many a power outage where squirrels chewed the aluminum connector off of the wire. Pesky little varmints!

[PbHurler]

They will also eat a truck, well enough of the wiring harness to run about 3000$!
That one must have a mineral deficiency, I would recommend 40 gr one time followed by a good salt bath and hot oil soak

This times 1000!!
Ate my wiring as well

[Chihuahua Floyd]

We feed the birds and have to keep the seed in a metal garbage can because the squirrels can chew their way into plastic ones. I've work many a power outage where squirrels chewed the aluminum connector off of the wire. Pesky little varmints!

They will also cause power outages by walking on transformers. Step on the connections at the same time, both squirrel and transformer blow up.
CF

[Ole Joe Clarke]

I have been battling the ground squirrels. I hate them. I found out they like peanut butter so I have caught 12-15 of them. None of them survived. The neighborhood is infested, so it is an ongoing battle. They chewed wiring on the T100, boat and utility trailer.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

[lightman]

They will also cause power outages by walking on transformers. Step on the connections at the same time, both squirrel and transformer blow up.
CF

Yeah, we had all kinds of stuff to put on either the transformer bushing or the switch. Most of it only worked marginally well. A Squirrel has lots of time to knaw or chew on stuff! I had a few that were so frequent that I wrapped a piece of flashing around the pole under the transformer but they would still walk the service wire.

[Scrounge]

They will also cause power outages by walking on transformers. Step on the connections at the same time, both squirrel and transformer blow up.
CF

Had someone fire off a 155 howitzer in back yard one day years ago, and all the lights went out. OK, maybe I exaggerate a bit. Probably only a 30-06. Had the power company out to address the outage, and the guy found bits of brown fur and a long fuzzy tail... Transformer survived, he just had to reset the breaker on it.

[Iowa Fox]

Sounds like the animals are out of control everyplace. We are over run with coons, squirrels & chipmunks, and deer by the thousands. Yes by the thousands on the deer herd also which was published in a local newspaper article. Shooting and trapping isn't even making a dent in the population.

[Winger Ed.]

Sounds like the animals are out of control everyplace. We are over run with coons, squirrels & chipmunks, and deer by the thousands.

When I hear about how we are crowding out animals as we build houses and towns, I have to chuckle.
We didn't push out the animals so much as they came to us.
There is more varmints and game animals now than there ever was when the place was just a wilderness.

As a kid, we'd go squirrel hunting all day, and maybe get 4 or 5.
One morning, when we still lived in North Dallas, I was on the porch and counted 26.

It was common to see raccoons using the storm drains as their super hi-way.
You'd see a coyote in the street once in awhile, and 2-3 times a year, a deer would be in a neighbors yard.

As a kid, there was no way you'd see that.
Growing up, the only critter that didn't belong in the city I ever saw was one opossum.

[Walks]

BOY HOWDY !!!!

Crazed Demonic Attack squirrel.

LMAO !!!!!!!

The squirrels around here, in the big city like to crew through the wiring for my solar panels. Twice in the last 4yrs.

Don't know any other then that about squirrel dietary preferences. But had a horse when I was a kid that ate hot dogs. BEEF hot dogs.

[jreidthompson1]

They will also eat a truck, well enough of the wiring harness to run about 3000$!
That one must have a mineral deficiency, I would recommend 40 gr one time followed by a good salt bath and hot oil soak

Some manufacturers have gone to using soy based insulation on the wiring. Google for wiring harness rodents soy based for reference

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