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I HATE SQUIRRELS - Model Railroading related

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  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Canada
  • 1,745 posts
Posted by JeremyB on Wednesday, October 7, 2015 8:23 AM

Around this time we have squirrels that eat the pears that have fallen in the backyard which is good because it keeps all the pears in check, never had one go for anything drying outside though. I have heard some people say used kitty litter in spots keeps them away as they think a cat is around also fox urine works. I guess you would get that at a outdoors store?? We get chipmunks and there little monsters, cute but can make a mess of a yard. 

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Boise, Idaho
  • 1,036 posts
Posted by E-L man tom on Wednesday, October 7, 2015 9:31 AM

I too live in a rental and I too use Rustoleum paint on some models and I too have squirrels (there's a big Washington Hawthorne tree just off my patio, they love the berries). But, when letting models dry, I leave them outside long enough to let the volatiles evaporate off; takes 10-15 minutes, then I bring them inside to finish drying. That way there's no odor and none of the elements, wildlife or otherise, get to them. 

Tom Modeling the free-lanced Toledo Erie Central switching layout.
  • Member since
    February 2010
  • From: Brantford, Ontario, Canada
  • 480 posts
Posted by bigpianoguy on Friday, October 9, 2015 7:21 PM

If it wasn't for those cutesy fluffy tails, people could see squirrels for what they are - opportunistic tree rats.

  • Member since
    May 2008
  • 65 posts
Posted by CRIP 4376 on Thursday, October 22, 2015 8:06 PM

I use a cage trap and relocate them to a public wooded area.  They have chewed through the wire screen on my porch so war has been declared.  If caught in the porch, they will meet Miss Daisy from Rogers, Arkansas.

Ken

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • 3,139 posts
Posted by chutton01 on Thursday, October 22, 2015 10:35 PM

Sir Madog
In my country, squirrels are not considered to be a pest, but cute little animals. They are protected by law and cannot be hunted.

Someone said Ulrich is from Germany, probably because of his Rusty-Hamburg-People sig-line, but perhaps he is not talking about Germany at all. Because in Germany, the police can arrest Squirrels...

OK, seasonally related squirrel story - one fall my mom recieved one of those 3-ear Indian Corn Harvest wall hangings, so I hung it outside by the front door quite a distance from the steps. Over the following days the ears started to turn brown in some areas, and this discoloration was spreading. Of course, the obvious reason, which I only realized upon inspecting the ears, was squirrels eating the kernels, leaving the bare cob exposed. How the squirrel accomplished this feat was pretty interesting when I finally caught one in the act - one foot balanced on the stoop railing, the other foot hanging in the air, and both paws grasping the corn ear for dear life while the squirrel nibbled away. Squirrels love of corn is the reason why my dad never grew corn in his backyard garden after attempting it one season, since the squirrels would abscond with the almost ripe ears over the fence, even while he was watching (the tomatoes and cucumbers, OTOH, they didn't care about),

OK, one more squirrel story - in the aforemention backyard, decades later, there was a mound of dirt about a 1/2 meter high. Looking out the window, I saw a squirrel slide down the mound - oops, I thought, clumsy squirrel. Except it then ran right back up the other side of the mound, and slid down again. It did that at  least 3 or 4 more times before I quit watching. Not quite sure what this means viz. squirrel vs human children playing...
 

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Westchester NY
  • 1,747 posts
Posted by retsignalmtr on Friday, October 23, 2015 6:43 AM
When I have to paint something with a rattle can I hang it from a tree branch in my front yard. Never had a problem with substance abusing Squirrels sniffing the paint fumes. Sometimes I make a platform with a board and hang it with bungee cords so I can paint the object while it is level. There's lots of Squirrels here. My dog would follow them around the yard as they went from tree to tree. Several times they have fallen to the ground in front of my dog. I don't know who was more supprised, the squirrel or the dog,
  • Member since
    November 2011
  • 429 posts
Posted by tinplatacis on Friday, October 23, 2015 8:03 AM

I just spray them on a foam mat on top of the trash cans outside, then move it into the garage.

  • Member since
    February 2008
  • 8,680 posts
Posted by maxman on Friday, October 23, 2015 11:13 AM

CRIP 4376
I use a cage trap and relocate them to a public wooded area.

My late father-in-law used to do this.  I believe that the squirrels made it back home before he did.

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