SharonT
03-29-2017, 05:34 PM
Hi Everyone. I’d like to ask for some advice.
My husband and I have been friendly with a female squirrel for the past few years since she was very young. She and her brother would come to our balcony every morning and we were always happy to provide some treats in the form of raw almonds, raw pumpkin seeds, raw sunflower seeds and the occasional avocado slice. Over time, we’ve seen her pregnant and then become a very good mother to about 4 or 5 offspring. We didn’t encourage her babies to come feed so that they’d have a chance to survive on their own and they’re doing fine around the neighborhood as is her brother, presumably, since he only comes to visit once every few months.
But of course this female squirrel knows us well and continues to insist on her treats every morning. She is a bit presumptuous (probably our fault for spoiling and loving her too much) and will jump on the screen door (even bit a big hole in it), run in the house if we open the front door until we shoo her back out, chases our cat away, and leaves her calling card of urine puddles and poop pellets on the balcony if we don’t respond quickly enough to her call for food. This is a nuisance but still manageable for us. The problem is that our condo is owned by my elderly parents and they FREAK OUT over her behavior, annoyed by her jumping on the screen, fearful that she is terrorizing the cat, damaging the property and making a huge mess everywhere. They are demanding that we stop feeding her and to remove her from the premises or they will call the humane society to report her as a dangerous pest who needs to be permanently relocated or euthanized. We’ve tried to reason and negotiate with them, but they are adamant that she is decreasing property value, disturbing neighbors and that they’d/we’d never be able to sell this home if the new buyers see that we have a squirrel problem.
Naturally, we don’t any of this trouble but we also don’t want anything negative to happen to our squirrel. Our solution has been to try and retrain her to feed at a tree further away from the property at a consistent time every day and that has worked just fine. But she still keeps visiting the balcony and jumping on the screen and making a mess during the rest of the day, as is the habit we’ve allowed her to cultivate over the years. We’ve tried using chili pepper and coconut oil paste to discourage her from biting patio furniture and the screen, we’ve tried removing the screen door temporarily and tried not to feed her as often. None of these have worked. We’ve even considered boarding her for a few days while my parents visit so we’d have more time to work with her on this, but we don’t know anyone in the Los Angeles area who could do this. Also, she looks pregnant again or is definitely nursing a new litter (it’s the end of March) so we’re concerned about displacing her at this crucial time.
Any ideas about how to encourage different behavior and prevent her from hanging out at our house? Or do you know someone in the Los Angeles area who might be able to guide us or board her for a few days? Thank you in advance for any help you can provide!
My husband and I have been friendly with a female squirrel for the past few years since she was very young. She and her brother would come to our balcony every morning and we were always happy to provide some treats in the form of raw almonds, raw pumpkin seeds, raw sunflower seeds and the occasional avocado slice. Over time, we’ve seen her pregnant and then become a very good mother to about 4 or 5 offspring. We didn’t encourage her babies to come feed so that they’d have a chance to survive on their own and they’re doing fine around the neighborhood as is her brother, presumably, since he only comes to visit once every few months.
But of course this female squirrel knows us well and continues to insist on her treats every morning. She is a bit presumptuous (probably our fault for spoiling and loving her too much) and will jump on the screen door (even bit a big hole in it), run in the house if we open the front door until we shoo her back out, chases our cat away, and leaves her calling card of urine puddles and poop pellets on the balcony if we don’t respond quickly enough to her call for food. This is a nuisance but still manageable for us. The problem is that our condo is owned by my elderly parents and they FREAK OUT over her behavior, annoyed by her jumping on the screen, fearful that she is terrorizing the cat, damaging the property and making a huge mess everywhere. They are demanding that we stop feeding her and to remove her from the premises or they will call the humane society to report her as a dangerous pest who needs to be permanently relocated or euthanized. We’ve tried to reason and negotiate with them, but they are adamant that she is decreasing property value, disturbing neighbors and that they’d/we’d never be able to sell this home if the new buyers see that we have a squirrel problem.
Naturally, we don’t any of this trouble but we also don’t want anything negative to happen to our squirrel. Our solution has been to try and retrain her to feed at a tree further away from the property at a consistent time every day and that has worked just fine. But she still keeps visiting the balcony and jumping on the screen and making a mess during the rest of the day, as is the habit we’ve allowed her to cultivate over the years. We’ve tried using chili pepper and coconut oil paste to discourage her from biting patio furniture and the screen, we’ve tried removing the screen door temporarily and tried not to feed her as often. None of these have worked. We’ve even considered boarding her for a few days while my parents visit so we’d have more time to work with her on this, but we don’t know anyone in the Los Angeles area who could do this. Also, she looks pregnant again or is definitely nursing a new litter (it’s the end of March) so we’re concerned about displacing her at this crucial time.
Any ideas about how to encourage different behavior and prevent her from hanging out at our house? Or do you know someone in the Los Angeles area who might be able to guide us or board her for a few days? Thank you in advance for any help you can provide!