War Against the Squirrels

 As I may have mentioned, I had a pest person come out and look in my attic for signs of squirrels that I knew were up there.  The guy said that there wasn't really evidence of squirrels' nests or torn up insulation in the attic.  We walked around the house and saw a pushed up place in the soffit.   I am convinced there are squirrels there because I hear them from time to time.

As I may have also mentioned, I heard squirrels in the gutters and gutter shield that I got last spring.  I had thought it was birds at first, but evidence is clear, it is squirrels.  I have heard them run up and down the drainpipes. I have seen them leaning out of the gutters, looking at me.

I decided against paying $500 or so to have squirrels trapped and killed, since the pest people didn't think they were in the attic, they couldn't plug a hole. I am trying my own methods of squirrel abatement.  I got some repellant stuff which is non-toxic and supposedly acts as an irritant.  It seemed to dissuade the squirrels a bit and for a few days fended off the rabbits eating my tulips.  I cut back limbs close to the house.  The squirrels demonstrated to me that they still had easy access to my deck by jumping.  I would have to cut down the linden tree, which is the best tree in my backyard to achieve success.  I am not willing to do that. Since I am pretty sure that they climb up the gutters, I looked for a way to stop that.  There are other ways to get to the roof, but not as easily.  I stuffed a tennis ball up the downspouts.  There is still room for water to come out, but no room for squirrels to go up.  This will probably do something bad in the long run that I am not aware of, but for now it is working.  And don't read this next part if you are super sensitive, but I am planning to put a bird feeder in the middle of my front yard where there are no trees or shrubs to hide.  I will call it a hawk feeder. Hawks love squirrels, I love hawks.  It is a win win.

I continue to try to think of ways to foil the squirrels.  I have the name of another pest company that gets the beasts out of the soffits and I will call them if worse comes to worse.  In the meantime, it feels good to think that perhaps I can do a think or two to fight back from the squirrels who are trying to take over my house.