Squirrel More Intelligent Than Me!
Discussion
The war started a year ago when I bought an anti squirrel peanut feeder with an outer cage and an inner peanut tube which had a heavy metal cover.
I put a wooden post in the ground and fastened the feeder to the top with a long teK screw.
He managed to relax himself enough to squeeze through the outer cage and remove the metal lid and also eat about three inches of peanuts.
I caught him by surprise one day and in his panic he could not relax enough to exit the cage, so I gave him a lecture and told him what a naughty squirrel he was. He just gnashed his teeth and gave me the virtual finger.
Next I had one of those ID cards that hang around your neck. It has a clip so I tied one end of the nylon strap to one side of the cage and after threading it over the lid, clipped the other side to the cage. The lid was now held down tight and could not be opened.
Next morning the nylon had been chewed through, the lid was off and three inches of peanuts had disappeared.
Ha! you will not beat me! I found a length of metal chain and fixed the lid in the same way as before.
A few days went by and there did not seem to be any activity until I noticed some wood shavings at the bottom of the post. Then I saw under the cage at the top of the post that he had gnawed his way round to form a point and was nearly through to the TeK screw!
I feel that even if I fix a metal band over the gnawed area all he will do is gnaw the bottom of the post until the whole thing falls over.
Many suggest using lead to solve the problem, but I am beginning to respect my enemy and just want to foil him by intelligence rather than brute force.
Any intelligent suggestions?
I put a wooden post in the ground and fastened the feeder to the top with a long teK screw.
He managed to relax himself enough to squeeze through the outer cage and remove the metal lid and also eat about three inches of peanuts.
I caught him by surprise one day and in his panic he could not relax enough to exit the cage, so I gave him a lecture and told him what a naughty squirrel he was. He just gnashed his teeth and gave me the virtual finger.
Next I had one of those ID cards that hang around your neck. It has a clip so I tied one end of the nylon strap to one side of the cage and after threading it over the lid, clipped the other side to the cage. The lid was now held down tight and could not be opened.
Next morning the nylon had been chewed through, the lid was off and three inches of peanuts had disappeared.
Ha! you will not beat me! I found a length of metal chain and fixed the lid in the same way as before.
A few days went by and there did not seem to be any activity until I noticed some wood shavings at the bottom of the post. Then I saw under the cage at the top of the post that he had gnawed his way round to form a point and was nearly through to the TeK screw!
I feel that even if I fix a metal band over the gnawed area all he will do is gnaw the bottom of the post until the whole thing falls over.
Many suggest using lead to solve the problem, but I am beginning to respect my enemy and just want to foil him by intelligence rather than brute force.
Any intelligent suggestions?
My father had a feeder hanging from greased metal pole which passed through an 18" plastic disk. We think the squirrel he found on the feeder one morning must have jumped a long way from a tree to the feeder as we never saw one manage to get up the pole.
One of the best sounding approaches I've heard but not tried yet is to hang the feeder from a horizontal wire, and thread the wire through 2 litre coke bottle either side of the feeder, with a big enough hole that it will rotate on the wire.
One of the best sounding approaches I've heard but not tried yet is to hang the feeder from a horizontal wire, and thread the wire through 2 litre coke bottle either side of the feeder, with a big enough hole that it will rotate on the wire.
We gave up - we have a nut feeder that's easy for squirrels to access and the usual tank armour reinforced so called squirrel proof ones. The squirrel goes for the easy to access nuts and leaves the harder ones for the birds. Everybody is happy.
I don't mind the squirrels except when the buggers throw walnuts at me from the massive walnut tree at the end of the garden.
I don't mind the squirrels except when the buggers throw walnuts at me from the massive walnut tree at the end of the garden.
RizzoTheRat said:
My father had a feeder hanging from greased metal pole which passed through an 18" plastic disk. We think the squirrel he found on the feeder one morning must have jumped a long way from a tree to the feeder as we never saw one manage to get up the pole.
One of the best sounding approaches I've heard but not tried yet is to hang the feeder from a horizontal wire, and thread the wire through 2 litre coke bottle either side of the feeder, with a big enough hole that it will rotate on the wire.
I like the coke bottle idea. I consider that putting out a separate feeder for the squirrel is giving in. Mind you they probably will One of the best sounding approaches I've heard but not tried yet is to hang the feeder from a horizontal wire, and thread the wire through 2 litre coke bottle either side of the feeder, with a big enough hole that it will rotate on the wire.
become so fat on all the peanuts that they cannot enter the outer cage!
Perhaps a large diameter metal lid fixed half way up a bit of string above the feeder with another hanging below the feeder? Too wide for him to fall onto the feeder
Vanin said:
Many suggest using lead to solve the problem, but I am beginning to respect my enemy and just want to foil him by intelligence rather than brute force.
Wire the outer cage of the bird feeder up to an electric fence controller for horses, and suspend the whole lot from a weight-activated switch (spring-and-contact) that 'makes' the circuit at about 250g (that's about 25 blue tits' worth, but comfortably less than one adult grey squirrel).Ideally position a bird bath so that it's a tempting stretching distance from the feeder cage, for a Squirrel.
dhutch said:
They can't swim
Type 'swimming squirrel' into YouTube - I think yours must have died of something else. Or if it was in the big blue tub, fell in and couldn't get out again.I've actually seen a squirrel swim the River Wharfe in Yorkshire (downstream of Otley, where it's a substantial river)... and that for apparently no better reason than it fancied the look of the trees on the other side.
I had to have a word in his ear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Noc67AEieOU
But it had no effect as he was back again this morning!
"I'm not scared, I'm not scared" Gave me another squirrel finger!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Noc67AEieOU
But it had no effect as he was back again this morning!
"I'm not scared, I'm not scared" Gave me another squirrel finger!
Vanin said:
I had to have a word in his ear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Noc67AEieOU
But it had no effect as he was back again this morning!
"I'm not scared, I'm not scared" Gave me another squirrel finger!
I think you might actually have made a friend. He probably thinks you were there to make sure he got out ok. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Noc67AEieOU
But it had no effect as he was back again this morning!
"I'm not scared, I'm not scared" Gave me another squirrel finger!
Decades ago I lived near a park where the squirrels expected people to feed them. If you walked through a particular section of the park during autumn, they would follow you. I remember one was happy to climb me like a tree and search my coat pocket.
A quick search on YouTube, and it looks like they are as brave as ever...
https://youtu.be/BsuJvIvb_ug
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