Don’t chase, feed squirrels
Jo-Anne Stevens writes:
Do you have any recommendations on how to deter squirrels? We have one who has recently chewed through the screen on our back door on two separate occasions. We’ve tried chasing him, but after a few days he returns. We don’t want to hurt him — we just want him to stay away. Is there some mixture we can prepare to spray on the door or the vicinity of the door to deter him?
Lindsay responds:
So you have a little more than nature in your backyard — he’s actually trying to get into your house! Well, I recently visited a great local birding store in my neighborhood and they propose a very obvious solution.
As you can imagine, they get a lot of questions about how to deter squirrels from bird feeders. Are you ready? The answer is, set up a squirrel feeding station! I’d recommend going to your local wild bird store and getting some information — expert advice for your local area and perhaps trying a squirrel feeding station.
Think of it like the gardening that we proposed folks try this year — instead of deterring insects, why not attract beneficial ones ? Or in your case, instead of banishing the squirrel from certain areas (like your living room), why not give him a place to hang out and eat? Just a suggestion.
Tags: backyard, feeding station, garden, insects, squirrels, wild bird, wildlife
October 27th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Grey squirrels, the most common variety in residential areas, are not a native species, and are considered to be pests. Charming as they are, encouraging them is rather like encouraging starlings. Recently introduced to Vancouver Island, their population has exploded. While the jury is still out on their impact on native squirrels and other wildlife (they do like eggs and nestlings!) a single squirrel is all it takes to completely strip a backyard hazelnut tree, so it seems better not to attract them, especially since a squirrel station would also attract rats. I am not sure what is attracting the squirrel to this door. If there is food stored nearby, put it into glass or metal containers to eliminate the odours. Try putting a heavier metal grating material over the screen for a period of time to discourage the chewing. Also check the attic etc to make sure there are no signs of nesting activity. If you are in the habit of hanging bird feeders, it might be an idea not to do that for a year (hummingbird feeders excepted) so the squirrel learns to go somewhere else for lunch.