Squirrel repellent

[norty1]

My truck is a refuge for us but unfortunately a squirrel has taken residence in the engine compartment. I have cleaned his crap and acorn reminents off both batteries several times in the last couple of weeks.
I’m wondering how to free my truck. He does not appear to be chewing or nesting cause I drive it daily.

[oldmanAZ]

I've used a mothCAKE hanging on the front suspension spring to discourage local packrats. The mothcakes come with a plastic hanger so they are easily handled. I also hang 2 of them near the middle of our TT. While doing this, I haven't had a mouse or packrat problem in the TT or TV.

[RogerR]

There is a spray pest repellent that you can buy. it works for cats and dogs in our flower garden, might work in the engine compartment. Shows a squirrel on the label.

[hoppers4]

I'm not a squirrel lover so I've used rat traps with peanut butter and pellet guns to decrease the population. They've done plenty of damage to my RV port but not my RV yet, so I've been lucky.

[NC Roamer]

This winter I backed the Greyhawk into its pad with the engine away from the woods. Also put three traps in the engine compartment. Last winter a squirrel nested under the hood and feasted on the main Ford wiring harness. At $860 it was an expensive meal. The truck shop said they’ve seen much worse.

[DocBrown]

This past summer we added a 3rd vehicle. We don't drive the truck as much now to keep the miles off of it (it's got 152k). We parked it across the street under a tree. 3 weeks after I parked it there I went to start it. Nothing. Dash lights, plenty of battery power, no start. Nearly $500 later we learned that something, probably a squirrel had chewed wires on the starter knocking out 3 relays and a 4WD sensor. Most of the cost was for troubleshooting labor.

[Kim Gass]

Cayenne pepper spray.. Ought to be in your hardware store.. Its about a quart size. We had to spray everything outside for squirrel and porcupine deterrent

[Isaacs]

Originally Posted by Kim Gass

Cayenne pepper spray.. Ought to be in your hardware store.. Its about a quart size. We had to spray everything outside for squirrel and porcupine deterrent

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

[hoppers4]

Originally Posted by Isaacs

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

It should. Squirrels don't like it but birds are immune.

[norty1]

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

I set a big trap right on the battery.

[LuckyDuck]

Originally Posted by norty1

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

I set a big trap right on the battery.

Good luck! I have had something — mouse or rat — gnawing the heck out of my oil filler cap. Today I sprayed all over with rodent repellant. Hope it sends ‘em packing.

[klinner28]

Originally Posted by hoppers4

I'm not a squirrel lover so I've used rat traps with peanut butter and pellet guns to decrease the population. They've done plenty of damage to my RV port but not my RV yet, so I've been lucky.

We dealt with red squirrels climbing into our attic for 2 years. First year I killed 4 with rat traps and peanut butter.

Next year, after killing a few, they kept coming. Then we discovered the source which was a neighbors walnut tree. In one day, I saw over 5 running all over their tree and deck.

I bought a BB gun as I discovered the tree they were climbing up. But I only shot ones that climbed our tree and left the others alone. But over weeks, it turned out that 100% of them eventually climbed my tree into our attic. By end of second year, I had shot 5 and killed another 5 with traps.

This year I was anticipating another hunting season. But it turned out I had killed them all. Gray squirrels still abound, but they don't enter the attic. Just think that if I didn't kill them, there would be a big infestation in my attic by now!

[hoppers4]

Originally Posted by norty1

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

I set a big trap right on the battery.

Happy hunting. Don't be surprised if it gets the peanut butter without getting whacked. Might take a few times to get it. I've found it easier to trap squirrels than rats.

[RAurand]

YEP. .177 Cal. pellet rifle at 1400 fps does an amazing job.
Squirrel soup is pretty good too!

[DocBrown]

Originally Posted by klinner28

We dealt with red squirrels climbing into our attic for 2 years. First year I killed 4 with rat traps and peanut butter.

This year I was anticipating another hunting season. But it turned out I had killed them all. Gray squirrels still abound, but they don't enter the attic. Just think that if I didn't kill them, there would be a big infestation in my attic by now!

I park my trailer between a big tree and my attached garage. They would go on the roof of the trailer then jump to the garage roof. One of them ate a hole in the corner of the trailer roof the size of a quarter. I wrapped the bottom of the tree in sheets of aluminum this past summer. No more squirrels on the roof.

[norty1]

No luck, he passed on the cheese. It's going in the shop today for a day or so for some routine maintenance so I'll be shopping for some repellent.

[LuckyDuck]

Originally Posted by norty1

No luck, he passed on the cheese. It's going in the shop today for a day or so for some routine maintenance so I'll be shopping for some repellent.

Norty, I found this at a Tractor Supply and have sprayed the heck out of the engine compartment: https://www.grandpagus.com. I’d never heard of it but the ingredients are the things I’ve heard are natural repellents. I see they have squirrel/chipmunk repellent, too. Too early to tell if it works, but the F250 smells pretty good! Good luck!

[norty1]

Originally Posted by LuckyDuck

Norty, I found this at a Tractor Supply and have sprayed the heck out of the engine compartment: https://www.grandpagus.com. I’d never heard of it but the ingredients are the things I’ve heard are natural repellents. I see they have squirrel/chipmunk repellent, too. Too early to tell if it works, but the F250 smells pretty good! Good luck!

Thanks, a trip to Tractor Supply is on my list before Christmas. I'll see if they have any. Today I bought some more big traps and set them out in my garage for tonight.

[Mustang65]

SQUIRRELs, Bird feeders.... Yard full of spilled bird seed... Squirrels sitting on fence laughing at me and my tactics. As I stepped in the back shed, while listening to the resident squirrel in the tree above it mocking me, I looked down and saw my old 12Volt car coil and a 12Volt battery next to it. WOW!!!!! What a great IDEA!!!! I grabbed the car coil and battery and headed out to the squirrel's launching platform... my 6' privacy fence and jumps to the top of the feeder spilling most of the contents to the ground. I headed back to the shed and found some old window foil type alarm tape that I for some reason never tossed out.

I lined the top horizontal fence picket support with 2 strips of the foil tape and ran it down to the battery and coil on the ground below. Ran a quad telephone wire to the window above the sink, which oversees the bird (squirrel) feeder and into the house on the window ledge with a push button switch.

I probably should have put on some camouflage fatigues with face paint, but we shall see what happens without it. So there I stood waiting for the radical squirrel to make his/her appearance. There it was, looking down at the foil tape and then continued on it way... Bad move for the squirrel, I pushed the button and the squirrel caught the coil output. The squirrel did a vertical jump of about 3 feet and landed on the ground (unhurt of course, as he makes this jump daily), but I swear he gave me the paw (their version of the middle human finger) sputtering a few choice squirrel quotes at me. Well this went on for a few more mornings before he decided that there are alternatives, like the next horizontal picket support board at the middle of the fence looking down.

Amazingly enough, he could still make the leap to the top of the bird feeder (which is on a 5' steel decorative hanger). OK, phase #2, add foil to middle horizontal support. Again, worked great for a few days.... then he found a new route, the top of the pickets... OK, he won!!!! So I took down the shocking response to the problem and mounted a small cup on the 4x4 post and fill it with bird fed. Squirrel now smiles at me each morning as he gets his dose of bird food while I am looking out the window making my coffee and the birds are eating their breakfast on the feeder. This confrontation took place 4 or 5 years ago, and both parties are still doing fine. We learned how to interact with each other, each getting what they were negotiating for in the end. Don't worry no political reference will be injected here!!

By the way, the car coil will not hurt the squirrel as it is a high voltage, but only milli-amps. It is more of a momentary holy crap what the hell just happened... moment. I must have gotten zapped by the spark plug wires a hundred times while in my teens working at a gas station tuning up cars. The only difference is, the squirrel learned after a few times, I kept zapping my self.

Oh look there he is on the fence, not the bird feeder.

My response, throw nuts on the ground away from the truck, may work. Both you and the squirrels will be HAPPY CAMPERS!! This probably would have made a great VIDEO!

Don
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[Kim Gass]

My current read is Outwitting Squirrels by Bill Adler . Its about the possibility of squirrel proof feeders.. what doesn't work mostly and what might. For a short time. Hilarious book but spoiler alert
The Squirrels almost always win.