# red squirrels



## pybyr (Oct 1, 2009)

Red squirrels have decided to move into my cellar.  I went down there earlier this morning since the noise sounded more than I'd expect from mice (for who I'd put the D-Con out last week) to come upon two red squirrels fornicating on my stored rack of wood trim.  They did not pause or run; a third was busy skampering around in the other stack of trim nearby.

They had not been attracted to the D-Con, which had been untouched on the floor.  I moved up and placed it directly in the middle of their little romantic platform in hopes that they eat it there.

I need these things gone- have no tolerance for them getting rodent tooth exercise on my wiring.

Any and all suggested methods that do not involve indoor discharge of flying lead are welcomed


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## billb3 (Oct 1, 2009)

my sister got some in her attic.
I tried poison - I think they enjoyed the buzz.
I tried hav-a -harts - I think they worked in pairs, holding the door open.

Rat traps worked.
Only caught them, though, and if you don't want to listen to them dragging the trap around you need to chain the trap down.
You'll need to take them outside and whack them with a shovel.
Also had to find thier entrance. In her case they had lifted up a roof shingle and chewed a hole.
The 148 year old maple tree they used for access to the roof had to go, too.


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## fbelec (Oct 1, 2009)

nothings going to work until you fix the hole that they came in.


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## Capt (Oct 1, 2009)

I feel the pain.  In the past, rat traps with peanut butter have worked for me.


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## Highbeam (Oct 1, 2009)

They aren't hibernating yet. So get that kinky threesome killed when they go outside. They are likely now bringing in their food stores for winter. Also set the biggest rat traps you can find.


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## woodsman23 (Oct 1, 2009)

These will kill them but good, load them up with crunchy peanutbutter ad drop in a few misc nuts and scew them to where they are coming in and or where you see them most. This trap will em dead, hell they scare me just looking at them....

http://www.pestproducts.com/trex_rat_trap.htm


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## rphurley (Oct 1, 2009)

Capt said:
			
		

> I feel the pain.  In the past, rat traps with peanut butter have worked for me.



Rat traps baited with a juicy sunflower seed worked well on the flying squirrels in my attic.  I guess you could use a peanut in the shell also.


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## pybyr (Oct 2, 2009)

fbelec said:
			
		

> nothings going to work until you fix the hole that they came in.



The house is on a foundation that, below ground, consists of unmortared stone (it is mortared granite from ground surface up).  the hole that they came in could be one of countless openings, with little way to tell which.  I can go try to see where the outside end of where they tunneled in from, and maybe put a rat trap there too, in a piece of drainpipe or something so that it does not snap any local pet- but who knows which animals (or some other species entirely) may come to the outdoor trap.  

I have had lots of wildlife before- one time had an ermine look at me- but this is the first time I've had squirrels.


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## fbelec (Oct 2, 2009)

pybyr said:
			
		

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i feel bad for you having a foundation like that. i think it's time to get some friends over for a beer and cement party  to cover up as many holes as possible. i'm battling mice right now. the same as you but smaller. the guy that built my front porch before i moved in decided to leave a gap between the trim board or i think it's called the freeze board that i can fit all my fingers in the whole length of the 44 foot porch that my basement is under and the mice are crawling up the cement foundation like it's a ladder to get in. a third of it is in a finished room.


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## kenny chaos (Oct 2, 2009)

I put five grey squirrels in the freezer just last week.
Haven't seen them all summer.
I keep a bead on the area between the house and the nut tree.
"Rampage"  seems to work on reds, greys, rats, & mice.


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## JustWood (Oct 2, 2009)

5 gallon bucket with about 8" of water. handful of sunflower seeds in water. Lay a 3'+ board from floor to top of bucket and check in morning for drown "heathen"! So easy a caveman can do it.


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## LLigetfa (Oct 2, 2009)

Eh, I never thought to try that with tree rats.  Do the bucket and stick thing for mice all the time.


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## MainePellethead (Oct 3, 2009)

I saw the funniest thing   last week.   ALL summer  long theres been this one chipmunk working hard all summer going to a certain neighbors  tree and getting food and  running it to another neighbors yard for storage I assume....keep in mind this went on all summer.  lol.....THEN....last week I saw a gray squirrel going to the  place where the chipmunk had stored it grub....and  taking it somewhere  else  into a  different neighbors yard LOL  I laugh so hard.  lol...  There looters everywhere  LOL.


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## pybyr (Oct 4, 2009)

MainePellethead said:
			
		

> I saw the funniest thing   last week.   ALL summer  long theres been this one chipmunk working hard all summer going to a certain neighbors  tree and getting food and  running it to another neighbors yard for storage I assume....keep in mind this went on all summer.  lol.....THEN....last week I saw a gray squirrel going to the  place where the chipmunk had stored it grub....and  taking it somewhere  else  into a  different neighbors yard LOL  I laugh so hard.  lol...  There looters everywhere  LOL.



I have caught one of the critters in a rat trap baited with peanut butter and jelly and another was found on floor dead- seemingly from the D-Con.  It had the forethought to actually expire on top of a plastic grocery bag that had fallen on the floor there.  The third is not yet accounted for, but no sounds have been heard through the floorboards for a while.

As I looked at the one done-in by D-Con, it was a chance to look at one much closer than I have before- have seen grey squirrels and chipmunks up close before, but it is interesting and amazing how different each is (fur, patterns, etc) even though they all seem sort of similar from a distance.  If they did not create big risks of damage to wiring and plumbing (had a rodent-chewed through washer drain hose this summer- not fun- found out only after some (minor/ solvable) creeping slow water damage) I would wish them no ill.  I have also had snakes in my basement - thankfully there are no venomous ones around here - and I really don't object to them- they'll eat other things that I'm less OK with having around, and they pretty much do their best- and mostly succeed, at invisibility.

Wild Kingdom in miniature on an old house basement...


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## meathead (Oct 4, 2009)

Now cut his ears, hands, and feet off and hang him over your pile of trim with a little sign that says "Squirells, Ye Be Warned". 


With a foundation like that - if you want to get 'em out and keep 'em out - you either need to get to pointing (like someone suggested, a beer and cement party is a good way to go if it doesn't need to look pretty) or get a cat.


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## savageactor7 (Oct 4, 2009)

We feed birds and the squirrels were becoming a nuisance moving into the garage and what not. I put moth balls in the detached garage and got some rodent poison at TSC. the poison comes in a small green or red box that contains these little self contained packages. You place them in areas your pets can't get to. In less than a week we went from 10 squirrels to 0. Pretty sure it's been over a month and still haven't seen any. btw these were Grey one's


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## Panhandler (Oct 4, 2009)

fbelec said:
			
		

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Two five gallon buckets (one to sit on, one with mortar mix in), one paint brush, and a 12 pack of your favorite beverage. Go to town on that foundation. Did it this spring to a long foundation wall about 100 years old. Actually looks really good after painting.


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## pybyr (Oct 4, 2009)

meathead said:
			
		

> Now cut his ears, hands, and feet off and hang him over your pile of trim with a little sign that says "Squirells, Ye Be Warned".
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> With a foundation like that - if you want to get 'em out and keep 'em out - you either need to get to pointing (like someone suggested, a beer and cement party is a good way to go if it doesn't need to look pretty) or get a cat.



I am going to use my foam gun- it works really well between the stones, has a real adhesive effect, and expands a bit.  Just have not gotten to the whole foundation yet- many other projects, and no one has bought me the surprise gift of 5 more cases of foam cartridges.  :coolgrin:


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## meathead (Oct 4, 2009)

pybyr said:
			
		

> I am going to use my foam gun- it works really well between the stones, has a real adhesive effect, and expands a bit.  Just have not gotten to the whole foundation yet- many other projects, and no one has bought me the surprise gift of 5 more cases of foam cartridges.  :coolgrin:



Be interesting to see if that does the trick

If I was a squirrel and you had a nice warm basement when winter approached, I don't think a little foam would stop me. Actually, some chewed up foam bits might make nice nest insulation…just thinking like a squirrel here…


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## kenny chaos (Oct 4, 2009)

meathead said:
			
		

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I put hardware cloth (small chicken wire type stuff) over holes in the roof trim and squirrels chew through it.  They leave the foam alone.


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## pybyr (Oct 5, 2009)

meathead said:
			
		

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Thanks for the caution- but - This is the stuff that I am referring to-- and where I got it (there are other sources too)
http://www.stonetooldepot.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=328
I used it last December to fill in some voids under my porch that originally had been mortared, but the old lime mortar had fallen out.  This stuff sticks like glue (it is apparently a cousin of the compound that is the main ingredient of Gorilla Glue).  It not only sealed the voids, but made any loose rocks immovable.  It, unlike mortar, is also flexible when things expand and contract a lot.  It adhered immovably to any portions of skin or hair that I accidentally got it on, and is still on the old pair of worn duck trousers that have been through the wash countless times since.  I usually do not like petrochemical based products when there are alternatives (I am not phobic- just like metals and minerals other than petroleum better) but this stuff is super for the right applications- and even when used properly for wrong ones like helping a friend put a yard sale-set of dresser drawers back together when it was ready to fall over from slop in shrunken and worn joints.  As long as you sealed all points of entry with a good thick layer of it, a rodent would find some other place and stuff that was easier to get through.   I just need to get more of it (and time to use it) for sealing the remainder of my unmortared cellar.

My squirrels have not been heard of; rat trap is back on duty to watch for them.  Thank you all for the input that helped me get rid of them.


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## Highbeam (Oct 5, 2009)

Be sure to leave some way for water to pass through this stone wall. Without those leaks you would be making a dam that is likely not stout enough to hold up to the immense pressure.


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