Squirrels Got Me Good

[LorenS]

1 hour ago, jlwelding said:

You gone hunting yet?

No, truck repair first. Trap has been set and baited. Here's my current defense until the offensive maneuvers succeed. Includes Critter Ridder and mothballs (the white lump behind the screen).

12 minutes ago, Max Tune said:

Squirrels sure like your truck....

Pretty sure it's the same one over and over. Always runs back to the same nest away from my truck. Its vacation home, I guess.

[JAG1]

I caught the mouse working both my trucks in a cage trap I set. Drove him a mile away into the woods and let him go. Man! what a spunky little devil he was. He got inside my HVAC on the work truck and messed up my blower with a thick nest he built from both trucks firewall insulation. Anyway after new blower and a good cleaning both trucks now have the screens. I never want to go thru that again. I made the mistake of leaving the block heater plugged in for a week during the ice storm so it was a nice warm home in there. You can find where they get in when you lift the hood, it's down below the passenger side hood hinge on the inner fender, down about 12 inches there is a round hole. Stuff that with some soft metal wire and pack it hard as you can. I sort of made a roll of folded wire and stuffed that in there. fold it before you roll it so you aren't pushing on the wire ends and get bleeding finger tips. Stuff it in there pushing on the folded side of the roll..

 

I'm glad I caught him first and didn't trap him in my HVAC with the wire.

[Mopar1973Man]

I never bait any trap and place in the truck your just making a invitation for more to come because they smell the bait. I just don't plug in my truck because once the engine goes cold like last week when it was -2*F. Rats and mice are not going to hang out under the hood. My previous time I was keeping the truck in the shop and the block heater plugged in the mice and rats moved in to hang out on the engine. Since then I've never used my block heater again. Again baiting trap you asking for them to come to the truck and hang out. Plug in the block heater you giving the wild life a warm place to hang out. Do not make it inviting and don't leave food in the truck you'll never have a issue. 

 

Same thing with my RV I've had mice getting in I used metal mesh and expanding foam to fill gaps and holes. I would never bait traps inside because your asking for them to enter the RV. Once I found the entry points and seal them no issues afterward. 

[JAG1]

If you don't trap them how else can you make sure you got him out before you block him inside the HVAC ? My trap, once I learned how to set a 'hair trigger' will most likely always get them soon as they touch the peanut butter, so I thought it best to entice him out first. Hard to say but, I felt loads better when I got him out of my truck.

[Great work!]

I had a rabbit chew the cord of a block heater on a standby cummins generator. In doing so he stopped the heat in his once warm home.

Silly rabbit.

[JAG1]

2 hours ago, Great work! said:

I had a rabbit chew the cord of a block heater on a standby cummins generator. In doing so he stopped the heat in his once warm home.

Silly rabbit.

Had a neighbor with a squirrel that would not stop chewing the garage door gasket on the bottom. One day he got the bright idea to lay a plugged in extension cord along that gasket. Sure enough there was a fried squirrel ready for breakfast in the morning.

[Mopar1973Man]

On 2/6/2023 at 12:39 AM, JAG1 said:

Had a neighbor with a squirrel that would not stop chewing the garage door gasket on the bottom.

 

You gotta ask what was inside his garage that was attracting the squirrel to chew on the seal? People don't think about what the animal is looking for the smell of food possibly? Warm place to be? If you remove the smell of food and warm animals typically don't work as hard trying to get in to what ever being a garage or a vehicle. 

[Tractorman]

 

When I rake up my leaves, I don't put them under the hood like @LorenSdoes.

 

- John

[LorenS]

4 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

 

You gotta ask what was inside his garage that was attracting the squirrel to chew on the seal? People don't think about what the animal is looking for the smell of food possibly? Warm place to be? If you remove the smell of food and warm animals typically don't work as hard trying to get in to what ever being a garage or a vehicle. 

I don't know about the fellow's garage, but my truck hasn't been started in weeks and I've never stored food under the hood. Maybe some folks do, I don't know. The fact it's dry and safe from hawks is my best guess as to why it's popular with this one squirrel. Oak and walnuts trees everywhere around so no need for chewing my wires, they're just a chew toy.

[Mopar1973Man]

Yeah... Out here truck owners buy blocks of mice poison and tie wire the poison blocks under the hood. This is why I mention it. Just attracting mice under the hood...