topic Re: Squirrels chewing deck in Home

Squirrels chewing deck

crazered — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 17:12:11 GMT

anyone know how to stop squirrels from chewing on are

deck

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

ValuSkr — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 17:47:12 GMT

Is the deck made of wood or an engineered material? Maybe you could spray something in the areas being chewed, like a solution with hot chili pepper.

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

Sooner — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 17:55:14 GMT

Yes but only for country folk. . .

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

Carmie — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 18:03:15 GMT

Squirrels hate the smell of garlic and also apple cider vinegar. Make a spray of vinegar and garlic. You can also rub garlic cloves into the chewed portion of the wood.

You might have to apply frequently especially if it rains.

A automatic motion activated water sprinkler works too.

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

Twins Mom — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 02:18:39 GMT

@crazered

Frustrating, isn't it! We have engineered decking and the squirrels chewing stairs. They are also chewing hinges on plastic deck box. I tried scattering cayenne pepper but with frost and rain I don't keep up.

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

judianne — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 04:05:40 GMT

Squirrels are awful . We have a ton of them . My husband feeds birds and neighbors on both sides have dogs so all the squirrels hang out at my place . They have destroyed my entire deck , just ate up everything . The trees in the backyard have no bark left on them , l am unable to have pretty flower pots out in the summer , they eat and chew them to death . Tried having some tomatoes and onions in a raised garden box and they ate that too . Dug out my onions and carried tomatoes all over the yard . Everything possible has been done including an electric fence around the garden , they still get in ,

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

Judaline — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 13:36:23 GMT

Why would they eat a deck? I don't get it. The worst I've seen them do is take all the bread bits I've thrown out for the birds.

Really, why do they chew the deck? Do they actually swallow it? Blows my mind.

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

Mom2Dogs — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 13:55:01 GMT

@judianne I'd have a fit if my husband fed the birds and that caused me to not be able to plant flowers, caused damage, etc. We quit feeding the birds at our house because of the squirrels.

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

ValuSkr — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 19:59:43 GMT

I too stopped feeding birds because of the squirrels. They are pure evil disguised in cuteness. Unfortunately, a neighbor still has bird feeders. Another neighbor was actually feeding squirrels every day until the association asked her to stop. Boy, did they coming running every morning. Stupid!

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

granddi — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 14:59:57 GMT

@crazered @ValuSkr @Mom2Dogs @Judaline

Squirrels got into a vacant house next door. We think they came down the chiminey. They chewed the window casing-trim and did massive damage. I guess they were trying to get out!

Don't feed the squirrels.

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

RedTop — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 18:33:49 GMT

@Judaline

Squirrels are simply rodents with bushy tails. Have one encounter with them and you will not be excited to have squirrels living nearby!

After my Papaw retired, he took up feeding squirrels as his hobby; ground squirrels and gray squirrels. In the 15 years after he retired, he had his "pets" trained to come when he whistled, and they would take peanuts from his hand, his shirt pocket, would sit on his shoulder, legs, arms of his chair, and eat the peanuts. The squirrels would come to the kitchen window where he sat, to wait for treats. The grandkids thought Papaw was The Squirrel Whisperer!

Papaw died; Mamaw had never taken an interest in feeding the squirrels, and was grieving too hard to even think about them, but those rodents had been hand-fed for 15 years and had a routine they expected to continue!

The rodents chewed their way into the house; thru the eaves into the attic, and thru the floors from the crawl space. It went from Mamaw thinking she saw something move out of the corner of her eye, to waking up to squirrels on her bed, squirrels on her kitchen table, squirrels hanging on the lace curtains in the dining room, and a squirrel nest in her sleeper sofa!

We got her out of the house for an extended period of time and let D-con do its thing; boxes and boxes and boxes of D-con. The damage to the house was unreal, and eventually we had to move her into a mobile home because the house was structurally unsafe.

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

granddi — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 19:39:05 GMT

@RedTop crazy story!

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

Judaline — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 19:53:03 GMT

@RedTop wrote:
@Judaline
Squirrels are simply rodents with bushy tails. Have one encounter with them and you will not be excited to have squirrels living nearby!

After my Papaw retired, he took up feeding squirrels as his hobby; ground squirrels and gray squirrels. In the 15 years after he retired, he had his "pets" trained to come when he whistled, and they would take peanuts from his hand, his shirt pocket, would sit on his shoulder, legs, arms of his chair, and eat the peanuts. The squirrels would come to the kitchen window where he sat, to wait for treats. The grandkids thought Papaw was The Squirrel Whisperer!

Papaw died; Mamaw had never taken an interest in feeding the squirrels, and was grieving too hard to even think about them, but those rodents had been hand-fed for 15 years and had a routine they expected to continue!

The rodents chewed their way into the house; thru the eaves into the attic, and thru the floors from the crawl space. It went from Mamaw thinking she saw something move out of the corner of her eye, to waking up to squirrels on her bed, squirrels on her kitchen table, squirrels hanging on the lace curtains in the dining room, and a squirrel nest in her sleeper sofa!

We got her out of the house for an extended period of time and let D-con do its thing; boxes and boxes and boxes of D-con. The damage to the house was unreal, and eventually we had to move her into a mobile home because the house was structurally unsafe.

OMgosh. Horrible! I have a guy who sees me throwing bread to the birds. He comes in and takes most of it, and then comes to my patio door and throws his head against the glass. It's my signal to give him something and I usually do. I didn't know what brats they were!! I've heard all kinds of things-like squirrels are just mice with fur. Our house isn't brick but I'm wishing it was.

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

judianne — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 19:59:27 GMT

Squirrels chew because that's how they sharpen their teeth !

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

kindred cats — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 20:23:27 GMT

Encourage your neighbors to feed the squirrels so they go there.

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

RedTop — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 20:38:14 GMT

@granddi @Judaline

It was crazy living from early fall 1976 into early summer of 1977! Everything inside my grandparents house was in some way affected by the squirrel invasion.

All of the curtains were shredded, the nest in the sleeper sofa was big enough for a basketball and full of acorns, leaves, pine needles, crochet thread and scraps of fabric from Mamaw's craft projects, the mattresses upstairs were destroyed and left in chunks, there were nests in the dressers and chest of drawers up there. Squirrels chewed and messed on the towels and sheets inside the cabinet in the bathroom, chewed on paper towels and toilet paper, as well as bars of soap. They ate on everything in the pantry except for canned stuff and whatever was in a jar; noodles, rice, crackers, cookies, had all been chewed open and devoured. A new electric stove had to be bought as squirrels ate the wiring, chewed the linoleum on the floors, ate the vinyl covering off the recliners, etc. The damage was truly unreal.

Papaw had fun feeding and taming the squirrels for years, and loved the new babies; he spent a small fortune on sacks of peanuts over the years, and had no clue what a nightmare his hobby would turn into after he died. We spent a small fortune on D-con, and fixing/replacing items in the house, but in time the old house succumbed to the damage we couldn't see and Mamaw had to move into a safer structure.

I do not look at squirrels or deer as cute; they are rodents, same as mice and rats.

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

sabatini — Sun, 22 Jan 2023 16:33:26 GMT

@RedTop, that is seriously one of the worst stories I've ever heard! What a nightmare.

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

laluzdelmundo — Sun, 22 Jan 2023 18:13:06 GMT

@RedTop Ooooh! Don't tell @MamaWick that you think deer are rodents!

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

RedTop — Sun, 22 Jan 2023 18:20:49 GMT

@laluzdelmundo

Oh, she knows my thoughts on deer!

Re: Squirrels chewing deck

jubilant — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 15:22:38 GMT

Wow, what onery little creatures! We have a woods behind us with plenty of nut trees so the squirrels rarely come close to the house. They do bury their nuts in the yard which hasn't hurt anything so far.

Groundhogs have been our problem. They are members of the squirrel family. We try to trap them and relocate them. If that doesn't work, my husband is forced to shoot them. He is a sharp shooter so it is swift with one shot and almost no bleeding so they really never know what hits them.

Some never come close to the house but a few have. If they do they can eat through our water barrier that protects the crawl space which is something we have to consider. Luckily we have only had to kill 3 groundhogs in the 30+ yrs. we've lived here.