[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Bushy-tailed Tree Rats



That's all they are, squirrels.  Bushy-tailed Tree Rats and I'll call them other thing when they become destructive. 
Nothing seems to work keeping off feeders.  The birds don't like my metal squirrel proof feeder.  I have my most success
from birds feeding from platform and tube feeders.  I've tried everything short of electrocution.  I thought about
buying one of those feeders that shock the squirrel.  Cynthia at the Chapel Hill Wild Bird Center has them.  They say
it's fun to watch the squirrels first and only encounter with the feeder.  Cayenne does work they learn to eat it. As
far a Cayenne pepper hurting birds; it's part of the mixture for parrot food and I grow it in my herb garden, where the
birds eat it.  I even tried some secret to keeping squirrels away forever.  Mixing cayenne pepper into Vaseline and
putting it on the feeder where squirrels have to touch to get on.  I was told that these rats hated grease on their paws
and would lick it off.  Didn't work.  "Have a Heart" traps and moving them 15 miles away.  More squirrels replace the
ones that are moved.  Hanging feeders from 300 pond test monofiliment line (weed eater line) long enough to keep the
squirrel from stretching down to get on the feeder.  Squirrels can't grip monofiliment line.  They will get above the
feeder and fall hoping to grab something or shake some black oil seeds loose.  By the way this has been my most
successful attempt to keep squirrels off my feeders. The feeder must be suspended at least 12 feet from a tree trunk or
anything the squirrels can jump from.  When the feeders run out of seed, if I'm out of town for a week, this is where I
fall into a rage.  These gray bushy tailed rats chew everything apart.  Feeders, strings, flower pots, trash cans, wood
decks, branches of trees...everything.  All my seed storage bins and recycle cans are now steel.  I guess the only real
solution is to feed squirrels lead.  Even if it does hurt there teeth.

Roy Halpin
roy.halpin@mciworld.com
Bass Mountain, North Carolina