windchime theft

[wickwart]

I'm hoping some of you squirrel experts can help explain something that is greatly irritating and perplexing my 84 year old mother-in-law. Last week the squirrels in her back yard chewed the chimes off her wind-chime and took all eight up the tree! Three have fallen down but they still have some. I have searched the internet for answers but it seems that this has never happened to anyone! Or at least no one has written about it. I can find plenty of reports of every kind of food being taken and even golf balls stolen in the middle of play but the only thing people say about wind-chimes is you can use them to scare squirrels away (and most think that doesn't work). The chimes have been there for years but suddenly some squirrels have taken a liking to them. Is it because they are shiny (well, metal anyway)?

In a related question, a few years ago we had to replace the painted wood moldings around our garage door because a squirrel chewed nearly all the way into our garage. I know other people who have had similar damage. Also, and even worse, I have a yard statue that was down away from the house, very close to the woods, which squirrels ate a hole in the back of and the nose and chin and one foot nearly off! I don't know what the statue is made of, I think some kind of resin. After repair and new paint I brought the statue up close to the house where it has been chewed a bit more but not as badly. Is it the paint that is so tasty?

I do understand the chewing behavior (even though there is plenty of unpainted wood to chew!) but the wind-chime issue seems a little different.

Thank you for any ideas, my mother-in-law is rather upset by this and I would like to be able to offer her at least some understanding of squirrel psychology!!!

[Joni'smom]

LOL Joni likes anything new. She has stolen my earings out of my ears, buttons off my coat, cell phone(that wasn't so funny), irish potatoes, anything she thinks she can bury.

[Bravo]

Chimes were keeping them awake at night?

[sid'smommy]

make a wind chime out of deer antlers, and hang them on the side of a tree ... that will keep em busy

[czarina]

To understand squirrel psychology:

Anything they see and like is theirs.
Anything they know they are not to have, becomes more enticing, and is deemed theirs.
Squirrels love to play, and what's more fun than jumping on the chimes, hanging on and going for aride, and, as a added bonus, getting a little treasure bell at the end of the ride to take and secret away, to be enjoyed at a later time.

Have you considered feeding them? It is unbelievably fun and relaxing. They are amazing little creatutes.

[DarkLies212]

Anything they see and like is theirs.
Anything they know they are not to have, becomes more enticing, and is deemed theirs.

Nothing more true than this!

[IrishHarps]

I used to work for a major paint manufacturer, and I know that there are some barn paints that have cribbing agents in them, that is things that make the paint taste bad to animals so they don't chew it. This type of paint is used in barns where horses and cows would, say, chew fences or doors. Maybe you can go to a local hardware store to see if they have any of this type of paint (or a local farm supply store) and use that on anything the squirrels are chewing. Maybe it would help!

[wolfysluv]

Mine jump on my chimes all of the time