Garage Visitor - Advice?

[Tashahaven]

Wasn’t sure where to post this…

For the past few months, my garage camera (inside) has been picking up recordings almost DAILY, depending on weather (bad weather = nothing. Decent weather = multiple visits) of a little squirrel friend in my garage.

I thought MAYBE, they had a possible nest in my garage or attic. But I’ve moved things around, searched, and found nothing. I added a couple other cameras with different angles and perspectives, and this (these?) little squirrel always comes in, explores, climbs around, and leaves again.

He/She is SMART. And somehow, even if my cat is outside, manages to only come in and investigate, when my cat has left. And has been gone at least a couple minutes.

HOWEVER, I am QUITE concerned it is only a matter of time, before his/her confidence, results in a something BAD!

So I’m hoping someone might have some insight to help. My questions are:

1.) Lucy’s room shares a wall with my garage. She is super loud when she is going “CRAZAY” during the day, jumping and bouncing about. Noise aside, is it possible this little one can SMELL her, THROUGH a wall?

2.) I have eliminated all potential nesting supplies I could think of. And food sources as well. What is he/she looking for, and why risk themself in such a way.

I FEAR they may potentially trap and corner themselves if my cat or a neighbor cat happens upon them.

3.) ANY suggestions, to provide a “safe haven” if this ever DID happen, to occur?

Like a nest box or SOMETHING not accessible to a cat, just IN CASE?

4.) What might I be able to do to provide better support or resources for him/her, so they stop coming in.

He/she, is a CUTEY PUTUTY! Super adorable, climbs, smells, explores. I don’t want anything to happen. But I also want to help them. The weather has been absolutely miserable, unpredictable and awful!

Sorry (AGAIN) for the LONG post… 😏😵*💫
ANY suggestions or ideas are welcomed and appreciated!

I have TONS of videos, if it MIGHT help at all. Just let me know.

Thanks so much y’all! 💕

[Tashahaven]

Also, I wanted to note…that when the weather becomes good enough to begin the soft release process, I plan to keep my cat inside unless COMPLETELY supervised, EVEN if he HATES me. And even then, I may keep him in regardless. If LUCY decides to completely abandon her RC (not come back at night or w/e) I will most likely repurpose it for a Catio.

I hate to think of doing it, cause he will be extremely unhappy. But it is what it is. Gotta do what’s best for all involved. 😥😕

[stepnstone]

1.) Lucy’s room shares a wall with my garage. She is super loud when she is going “CRAZAY” during the day, jumping and bouncing about. Noise aside, is it possible this little one can SMELL her, THROUGH a wall?

Yes they can. I also have a indoor (closet) room shared with my garage, that is where I store my nut supply. I have had to put the supplies in metal trash cans because I had field mice coming in. That solved my problem. Squirrels are rodents as mice are, if they can smell through walls, squirrels certainly can also.
If cars are kept in garage I wouldn't encourage their stay, they like to nest under the hoods and they will chew on wiring.
If you are sure you have checked all avenues, I would find out where their entry into garage is and close it.

[CritterMom]

Or you could talk to Mel1959 about her "technique." I am pretty sure that Mae now officially OWNS the garage. Not sure if she allows "parking cars" and other disruptive activities anymore...

Is this cutie a female? That garage probably looks like a wonderful, safe place to raise a family.

[Mel1959]

Or you could talk to Mel1959 about her "technique." I am pretty sure that Mae now officially OWNS the garage. Not sure if she allows "parking cars" and other disruptive activities anymore...

Is this cutie a female? That garage probably looks like a wonderful, safe place to raise a family.

LOL! May does officially OWN my garage and has two nests in it along with an additional safe space where she previously nested. That area has a plastic bin she chewed through that now contains a fleece squirrel bed just in case she wants to return to it. :shakehead:shakehead. She sleeps in the garage most nights. Sometimes her young adult (child) sleeps with her, sometimes she sleeps in a drey in a palm tree and sometimes she sleeps in her nest box in another tree. Funny thing about her and her relationship with her kid that I noticed. May is a stellar drey builder. I watched her “help” her juvenile squirrel build the drey in the palm tree. It was very much a team effort. I marveled at how much her parenting skills are not unlike us humans….we just want to be sure our kids have a safe place to call home. :Love_Icon

I do park one car in the garage, but it doesn’t get driven often. I have never had any squirrels get inside the hood and chew on anything…..probably because they’re well fed with nuts, boo balls and veggies. :grin3 :shakehead

[Charley Chuckles]

LOL! May does officially OWN my garage and has two nests in it along with an additional safe space where she previously nested. That area has a plastic bin she chewed through that now contains a fleece squirrel bed just in case she wants to return to it. :shakehead:shakehead. She sleeps in the garage most nights. Sometimes her young adult (child) sleeps with her, sometimes she sleeps in a drey in a palm tree and sometimes she sleeps in her nest box in another tree. Funny thing about her and her relationship with her kid that I noticed. May is a stellar drey builder. I watched her “help” her juvenile squirrel build the drey in the palm tree. It was very much a team effort. I marveled at how much her parenting skills are not unlike us humans….we just want to be sure our kids have a safe place to call home. :Love_Icon

I do park one car in the garage, but it doesn’t get driven often. I have never had any squirrels get inside the hood and chew on anything…..probably because they’re well fed with nuts, boo balls and veggies. :grin3 :shakehead

:owned:rolf

[Tashahaven]

I absolutely LOVE the thought of having her (I THINK it’s a her. She is much smaller. But can’t tell on camera) and her babies/youth, having a safe, warmer, comfy place. Where I could also provide sustenance. Plus it is NOT unusual for winds to be 50-70 mph all spring, fall, and occasionally in summer and winter. It takes down trees at the roots, fences, trampolines a few yards down etc.

I don’t park in the garage. It’s an OLD house and the garage is quite narrow. My car won’t fit with all my tool boxes/tools.

He/she enters through the man door, which I always leave open, for my cat to come and go.

I am quite concerned if I provide her this safe place, and she moves in and calls it one of her “homes”, she might pull “a Lucy” and go into FULL on VISCIOUS ATTACK mode on me. (Which Lucy did AGAIN yesterday. Out of NOWHERE, and much more violent than before)

Has this ever been a problem with wilds in a situation like this? If I were to give her a comfy nest option…

thanks for all the feedback!

[Lighten-Up]

I FEAR they may potentially trap and corner themselves if my cat or a neighbor cat happens upon them.

3.) ANY suggestions, to provide a “safe haven” if this ever DID happen, to occur?

Like a nest box or SOMETHING not accessible to a cat, just IN CASE?



I have neighbor cats come through my yard, so I have put tall vertical branches throughout my yard where there are no tree trunks to climb. Hard to explain how I do it, but it gives squirrels an easy up high enough away from a cat, as a cat can't climb an inch or two thick branch straight up as a squirrel can. Maybe you can add something like this to the inside or outside of your garage? I did put these branches in my back porch and if a squirrel comes in they usually run right up the branch and look at me, ask for a nut, and leave.

Many of the squirrels in my area live in garages. I'm always scanning for squirrels and I see them coming and going from the attics of old wood garages, they've chewed holes in. I don't have a wooden garage, thus I have no squirrels in it. There aren't a lot of trees, and garages are a dry place, like a tree hole cavity, so I think the squirrels are drawn to these dry places that feel safe.

I'd most likely make a home for a squirrel if I had one come in a garage. Please note that they can do damage....I had a bunch of boxes on the front porch, trying to figure out what to do with them, and then life got busy and I forgot about them, and raised squirrels. when I released my first squirrels, they got kicked out of the RC by wilds, and my kids took up residence on the front porch by chewing into boxes.... When I realized this, I put up a nest box for them on the front porch. :-). And they moved into the nest box, then other squirrels took over the boxes and chewed more. Let's just say, they totally ruined my stuff by doing this. Inside the boxes, I had antique items in their original boxes, and the squirrels chewed up all the antique boxes to use as nesting material. But, what were boxes doing my front porch anyway? I cared much for more squirrels than the stuff, so in the end it was an even trade. Just realize that they may think a little differently than you do about what is sacred.

If I wanted a squirrel in my garage, I think I would build a portal on the outside to a nestbox type area that they can move around in, but I might put hardware cloth to section off my actual garage. I might put two portals, so if they ever got chased by anything small enough to come through a small hole, they'd have two avenues to run out. ? Just thoughts because I have never actually attempted to do this.

Also I'd make sure they could easily get up to the portal on the outside. Like by adding a branch attached nearby. But also note, I let squirrels use a shed they got into. They fight over this, and every squirrel uses their teeth to mark it as their own, they are slowly whittling away the outside soffit area and the vertical corner supports. :tap. If I were to do this again, I would build a false faux entrance right on top of the real one, that they can chew all they want before entering, so I can simply replace those parts from time to time, and not the actual structure! :grin2

Again though, I enjoy their presence, I'm just learning that this is what they do, over here anyway. I'm sure everyone will have a differenet experience. Every situation has reasons things happen, so just because it happens to one person, doesn't mean that it will happen to another person. Have fun with whatever you do! :Love_Icon

[Tashahaven]

I appreciate your thoughtful response LU! Definitely quite a few good suggestions. As mentioned, every scenario is slightly different.
I would LOVE to have a little family, cozy, and safe so close by.

I would need to figure out some type of configuration where they could safely come and go WITHOUT being stalked or caught by a cat. This is not feasibly from the exterior walls because of siding. But I could most likely retrofit a place near my garage window, as an access portal. I worry, cause my cat HAS (when a bit younger) been capable of figuring out (somehow?) a way to climb and jump from this or that, to eventually get up on the rafters in the garage. Get down? Not so easy.

I too have a shed, which I would love to figure out how to maybe make a safe place in there. However, again this is an entrance door that is basically NEVER closed. Between, hot, cold, humidity, moisture, swelling etc. it just won’t shut. Once the snow melts, it will become unbearably hot in that enclosed space anyway.

hypothetically speaking, say I were to create a safe, secure, squirrel Hilton…how could I lead them to this area so they KNOW it is for them?

IF I were to be successful in doing this, wouldn’t it cause pretty serious territorial issues once LUCY is in her RC/Released as well? I’ve even stopped feeding the wilds mostly, to reduce the hoards in my yard, in preparation for RC/release.

I have invested soo much love and energy, time and money, into giving this babygirl the very best chance I can, to live a happy, healthy, long life. I would hate to do something stupid short term, that might alter the course I’ve set out to help her succeed.

Im so torn it sucks! Especially with her repeating this incredibly violent, take my face off, sever my corroded artery, determined to viciously kill me behavior again. I’m hoping a lot of that may have been instigated by super sunny day again. (Sorry I got off track) 😵*💫

Should I possibly put up some nest boxes now? So some squirrels might set up shop. Then put hers up at her RC time? I have a BIG apple tree, and maple tree in my backyard. And a giant ash tree in the front. My neighbors all around me have 150-200’ pine trees, and other evergreens. As well as other large trees. So really not lacking in suitable nesting places. It is residential area, but 1930’s/older neighborhoods. Bigger backyards, lots of old growth. Everything is connected by trees, fencing, power lines, and roofs, one way or another. Which makes it a squirrel super highway.

With every day that passes, I get more and more nervous and anxious, about what the soft release will bring about. I will do WHATEVER I MUST to SUPPORT her and help her be successful and SURVIVE!

Thanks AGAIN for letting me ramble, and vent! Very emotional time. And NO ONE else understands the tidal wave of emotions, the ups and downs, better than ALL of you.

Just like talking to a good friend, a lot of the time, you talk it through, hear yourself, make sense of it, and answer your own question lol.

❤️❤️❤️

:serene:serene

[Lighten-Up]

I'm glad my thoughts were of some value! I will engage your ramble, I love to ponder how to creatively help squirrels; I'm thinking about it all the time.

I'm in awe of the ability of cats. They can go just about anywhere, but not up a thin branch where nothing else is around. But they can jump high, climb vertical walls strait up for over 6 feet as long as they can get their claws in. If she can get up to the rafters, than it would be a good thing to enclose a space for the squirrel and nest box in either hardware cloth, or simple farm fencing up in the attic space to keep the cat out of a several feet radius of the nest box, or whatever makes sense to you.

Again in your shed, just put in a little room of hardware cloth at the ceiling with 4"portals. The squirrels can go in the shed through the open door, or any other hole you put in it, and then go into the safe place that no other animal like opossum or cat can get to them, even if they come in though the door. Attach a branch inside the shed to make their access to said "retreat safe place" easier to come and go from to the outside.

When it is super hot in summer, the squirrels don't use my shed, unless it is a downpour, and then there are about 6 squirrels all growling at each other, in close quarters trying to stay dry under the roof. They use the shed as home in winter.

hypothetically speaking, say I were to create a safe, secure, squirrel Hilton…how could I lead them to this area so they KNOW it is for them?

I'm convinced they will find it. How did they decide to find all my neighbors garages and cut their own holes in? The neighbors I'm sure don't want them, and yet, they found it. If they don't find it right away, I would put some nuts right at the entrance, their noses will find the nuts and they'll explore. All my wilds have figured out how to go into the RC portal, especially if there is a food smell in there. But don't keep doing that once you have a squirrel find it, or you'll attract everyone.

IF I were to be successful in doing this, wouldn’t it cause pretty serious territorial issues once LUCY is in her RC/Released as well? I’ve even stopped feeding the wilds mostly, to reduce the hoards in my yard, in preparation for RC/release.

This is an ongoing issue/challenge. I haven't figured this out yet. Anything we do to help squirrels can and probably will draw more. And with that comes challenges. I'm the worst one to ask about this. I have such a huge heart for everyone, I can't turn anyone away that has cute whiskers. And I have created several nightmares for myself. I think I'm still alive to talk about it after the facts went down, but for sure I'm pretty sobered up on this one. My only advice is to follow your heart, figure out what really is most important, and try to stay as close to that plan as possible. I'm sure that is clear as mud. Again, I haven't found my way on this yet. I will figure it out in time. It won't stop me from being helpful to squirrels, I'm just trying to soberly work within the laws of Nature and Balance as I can, as I figure out just how that looks between humans and squirrels.

In my humble opinion, the more you put up nest boxes before release time, the more you will establish the wilds territory in your yard, and the more Lucy may have to struggle against them. I wish we could control them all and say, Ok, Lucy can have this one, and the other can have this one, but they will all decide what to do how they want to do it. It was heart wrenching for me to see my two releases kicked out of the RC, then they built a nest in a tree, and got kicked out of that. All because I fed everyone, they finally went to my front porch because no one else would be that close to me and my front door. I had to live with my own doing. But honestly, I did have amazing relationships with all the others, so it wasn't really a bad thing. Shakespeare said, "Nothing is good or bad only thinking makes it so." Because of what I did, I had wonderful experiences and difficult ones. All out of my control...after the fact, as I did have the initial choice of what to do, that part was in my control. I know being torn sucks.

All that to say, I might hold off putting up nest boxes unless you just love these other folks. Maybe you can put one up in the garage for your little friend, but again, you are starting something...not that that is bad....

I understand the anxiety that can accompany release. It's full of the unknown. I'm sure you're doing all you know to do, and that's all you can do, then you trust that it will be what it will be. Yea, I wish it were that easy....but everytime, I learn just a little more about myself and about the experience, and I grow, and that IS what life is about. :grin2. In my opinion, releasing a squirrel guarantees the potential for a huge growth experience.

Just like talking to a good friend, a lot of the time, you talk it through, hear yourself, make sense of it, and answer your own question lol.:Love_Icon

Ha ha, I do that all the time. I wish you all the best in all your choices. You really can't make a mistake or do it wrong. All you will do is create experiences to learn from and move forward. I know that is not necessarily easy. But it falls under this famous quote: "Good Judgement comes from Experience and Experience comes from Bad Judgement. :-)

[olorin19]

I FEAR they may potentially trap and corner themselves if my cat or a neighbor cat happens upon them.

3.) ANY suggestions, to provide a “safe haven” if this ever DID happen, to occur?

Like a nest box or SOMETHING not accessible to a cat, just IN CASE?



Squirrels are vastly better climbers than cats. I use cages made from 1' x 2' wire that comes in rolls 2' or 3' wide from TSC (Tractor Supply Co.), and even quite young squirrels can fly around on this wire Would you be able to attach vertical pieces on the walls of your garage to provide a few ladders to quickly ascend to a loft higher up? The loft could be more of this wire run horizontally over the rafters. If there are several ways up and down, I doubt any cat could catch a healthy squirrel. But an added safety measure could be a nest box in the loft with a safety baffle as described elsewhere on TSB.

[olorin19]

I am quite concerned if I provide her this safe place, and she moves in and calls it one of her “homes”, she might pull “a Lucy” and go into FULL on VISCIOUS ATTACK mode on me. (Which Lucy did AGAIN yesterday. Out of NOWHERE, and much more violent than before)

Has this ever been a problem with wilds in a situation like this? If I were to give her a comfy nest option…



Does your garage have rafters and enough free space up there that you could build a squirrel domain up there?

I have spent much time feeding wilds and (even with the boldest) never felt an attack was imminent. Then again, this has not been in an enclosed space with babies present.

But perhaps if there is some high safe space for the squirrels, then nobody will mind if you are in the lower level of "their" garage.