Squirrel repellent

[t18skyguy]

Norty, I had squirrels eat entirely through the main wiring harness, strip the battery cables, and so much else. Took me a couple weeks to repair with a harness I had to get from the wrecking yard. I've shot em, poisoned them, too many to count but they keep coming back. A squirrel is just a rat with a bushy tail. If they didn't have that bushy tail nobody would love them. Here's something that helped me. For them to be able to chew they need space to sit. The idea is to fill in all that space. I went to Walmart and bought a bunch of cheap footballs. You can inflate or deflate to fill in whatever space they reside. With your battery take a flat football across the top and tie wrap it there. Then put them in the spaces around the main harness. Their cheap, lite, and won't conduct electricity and makes it harder for them to do their dirty work. I got about 5 footballs total in the engine compartment. There's no place for them to sit. I haven't had any trouble since I started doing this. Don

[norty1]

Originally Posted by t18skyguy

Norty, I had squirrels eat entirely through the main wiring harness, strip the battery cables, and so much else. Took me a couple weeks to repair with a harness I had to get from the wrecking yard. I've shot em, poisoned them, too many to count but they keep coming back. A squirrel is just a rat with a bushy tail. If they didn't have that bushy tail nobody would love them. Here's something that helped me. For them to be able to chew they need space to sit. The idea is to fill in all that space. I went to Walmart and bought a bunch of cheap footballs. You can inflate or deflate to fill in whatever space they reside. With your battery take a flat football across the top and tie wrap it there. Then put them in the spaces around the main harness. Their cheap, lite, and won't conduct electricity and makes it harder for them to do their dirty work. I got about 5 footballs total in the engine compartment. There's no place for them to sit. I haven't had any trouble since I started doing this. Don

I'll bet the mechanic has that story for the guys in the coffee room!

[John from Central Florida]

Originally Posted by norty1

I saw the sucker tonite. It was a huge rat!

I set a big trap right on the battery.

We have problems with rats every so often, as well. We’ve found that jelly beans are effective baits used in rat traps.

[norty1]

Originally Posted by John from Central Florida

We have problems with rats every so often, as well. We’ve found that jelly beans are effective baits used in rat traps.

I'll give jelly beans a try. Cheese nor pnut butter don't do it.

[wabirch]

Will try the cayenne pepper mixture

[hawksaway]

I checked with our volunteer fire department, since they leave their equipment stored for long periods of time.
Here’s what they said: if at all possible, leave the hood on your truck open (squirrels and other critters hate that). Place some mothballs in a container that you can seal with holes in it to let the aroma escape. These guys use an old pantyhose foot to hold the mothballs and they hang it from the inside of the hood, out of reach of the little buggers.
Seems to do the trick.

[PapiG]

I'm not sure about regular squirrels, but flying squirrels don't seem to like rat poison bars with peanut butter on them.

Solved my issues.

[Mike6tx]

When using Peanut Butter on traps, get a pair of “pantyhose” and cut a patch of it out and put the Peanut Butter in it and tie it onto the trap!! Works every time!!

[Hollander Mutthaulers]

Originally Posted by Isaacs

I wonder if that would work on my bird feeder...

My wife has used it on her bird feeder - apparently the birds don't mind but I'm not sure how effective it was. Now she feeds the squirrels raw corn on the cob and they like it enough to not bother trying to get to the squirrel-resistant bird feeder.

[sd396]

Mothballs.

[norty1]

After several unsuccessful tries, I loaded my rat trap with pecans. My early Christmas present was a big dead rat on my battery this morning.

It wasn't a squirrel after all.

[Kim Gass]

About a month ago we got the ultimate squirrel repellent. A dog.. Aussie Cattle Heeler Mix.

[JFlightRisk]

Originally Posted by norty1

After several unsuccessful tries, I loaded my rat trap with pecans. My early Christmas present was a big dead rat on my battery this morning.

It wasn't a squirrel after all.

Hey, that beats a lump of coal!! Not so much a problem with vehicles, but Lowes sells stuff called Critter Ridder. DW sprays it in the flower(?) garden to keep little munchers out. Seems to work well.

[NC Roamer]

After having the main wiring harness chewed last winter, I put three mousetraps under the hood when I parked the Greyhawk after winterizing. Did not bait them. Just put them on flat surfaces where I thought something would walk. Opened the hood today to add mothballs per this thread. One trap was sprung with a clump of mouse hide in it and one had an entire mouse. Reset them, added the mothballs and closed the hood. Will check it frequently over the winter. %&*# rodents!

[norty1]

Me too! I bought some mouse repellent at Lowes for $7 bucks. I don't see it doing any good. Money would be better spent on those new mouse traps that can be set with your foot.