Attracting & Protecting Wild Squirrels

[squirrelteer]

I live on the edge of town and have a wide variety of wildlife in the neighborhood. I've recently begun squirrel watching, and noticed the poor squirrels in my neighborhood have many obstacles. The grackles around here are really oppressive. They pester the poor squirrels relentlessly. The squirrels barely move when the grackles are around. What can I do about grackles? Will a squirrel box keep out grackles? Are there any squirrel feeders that are bird proof?

The other bigger problem is the neighbor down the alley shoots squirrels with a pellet rifle every chance he gets. I asked him about it and he said they eat his nuts and he wanted to eat them himself. The nuts not the squirrels. He'll leave their bodies a week sometimes just laying there rotting and then he takes a shovel and throws them away :madd I've asked him to quit but he won't. What can I do? I brought it up one tme at a "neighborhood watch meeting" and his buddy who works for the city told him if anybody from code enforcement asks him about it to say the squirrels have been eating his wiring and code enforcement will look the other way. What can I do to keep the squirrels from going into his yard and eating his pecans?

[astra]

hi, welcome and thank you for caring!:Welcome

I don't know about grackles, but the neighbor....

1. You can check your state laws about using a pellet gun - it is illegal in many states;
whether or not he should prove that squirrels chew wires and things - if there is a complaint that he shoots squirrels and he says it's because they chew his wires and whatnot, will he have to provide evidence - the actual chewed wires and things (and squirrel-chewed, not just some fake stuff he might make up)?

If he is close enough to you, can you complain about him using a pellet gun as it poses risk to you?

2. What are the rules/laws about wildlife pests? (some states only allow to relocate them, not to kill them) - of course, I am not expecting them to say "let them live", but it will help you shape your argument if you know what the weak points in it might be (if that makes sense).

3. How far is the neighbor from you?... What some people did here, they sprayed/spilled/sprinkled/etc squirrel-repellants around their evil neighbor's property, thus greatly reducing the number of squirrels who made it to his/her yard.
You could also put some squirrel-repellant around the trees that squirrels are using to go into his yard (b/c we know that they don't always travel on foot).
The only thing is - I do not remember what safe squirrel repellants people used. You might want to start a new thread with specifically that question, unless people share it here.
I know they used fox urine that you by at hunt stores, but it's usage is, sometimes, controversial for ethical reasons. But if all fails, maybe, you could try it.
Some people used other things - but again, I don't remember.

4. Again, don't know how much access you can have to his yard, but, maybe, even spray that nut tree?... maybe, sometime at night, when everyone is asleep?... do you have other pets?... you could go there at night, but if he sees you, you could say that you cat slipped away and you were looking for it, but because it was so late, you didn't want to wake him up or something?....
or, maybe you could spray it from a distance?
YOU take an empty shampoo container (but it has to be fairly soft and squeezable), make a hole in the cap, fill the container with the repellant
and spray the tree?

I am sure, other people will chime in with their ideas.:grouphug

[astra]

another thought:

maybe, if in addition to spraying (but I'd think, you would have to spray it regularly to maintain the repellant), you could create a squirrel buffet in your place, so that they would be more attracted to you?... although, if there is a nut tree, it's hard to divert squirrels' attention.

Yes, there are squirrel feeders that are bird proof (it's harder to find squirrel-proof bird feeders ;)).
I don't have pics, but I know there are some here on the board somewhere.
Again, you could post your question as a separate thread.

What I did once to pigeon-proof my squirrels' food - got a large storage bin, clear. Cut two entrances - one on the wide side and one on the narrow side, turned it upside down - squirrels could get in, pigeons would not. And it protected food from rain and snow, too.

Just make sure that the entrances are small enough to prevent pigeons from entering. At first, since it was hard to cut plastic, it kept breaking and my entrances ended up being too large. So, I ended up duck-taping them low enough for a squirrel to get through, but not for pigeon.

Gosh, I wish I had pics (and I could even draw them for you, but I have no way to scan them right now).
So, if no one posts any pics, maybe, sometime next week I will be able to scan something for you.

[NewMommy]

I have a video of the bird proof feeders that I have for my squirrels. There are nut boxes you can buy that shows in the video but I did have a blue jay get in and push the lid so it would stay open so the simple fix for that was putting a nail properly placed so the lid could still be lifted by the squirrel but the jay couldn't push it all the way up where it would stay up. Some smaller birds have gotten into the holes but I find the birds for the most part don't seem to bother getting in.
VIDEO
http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/rr56/barbj1015/My%20outdoor%20wildlife/th_Threesquirrelsbusyeating.jpg (http://s469.photobucket.com/albums/rr56/barbj1015/My%20outdoor%20wildlife/?action=view&current=Threesquirrelsbusyeating.mp4)

[MiriamS]

:thankyou Squirreteer, just for caring and being squirrel-friendly. You have quite the wonderful squirrel cafe set up. I'm wondering if you can set another up another feeding station on the other side of your property, if that would be enough to draw the squirrels away from your neighbor. He sounds pretty evil and it's unfortunate that we hear lots of stories like this.

I think Astra is on the right track of using some anti-squirrel scent around his pecan trees. The thought of squirrels suffering from pellet wounds :hissyfit Have you considered getting a rehabilitator's permit because that might give you more clout when trying to convince him not to use the pellet gun.

Obviously it will be more effective if you can keep things friendly because a neighbor war would just make him stubborn about it. Of course, it's easy to say that but I'd start giving all of the squirrels mini-pellet guns so they could shoot back at him.

The grackles....very good question!