Squirrel just jumped on balcony now. How can I discourage them fast?

[MoKelly]

They play a major role in forest regeneration, as well as being a part of the food chain.

Here's a nice little write up from an exterminator-centered website.

The Role of Squirrels in the Ecosystem – Exterminator Near Me

www.exterminatornearme.com

Thank you.

MoKelly

 

[PILOON]

At our cabin a red squirrel chewed his way in by eating away the bottom corner of the door.
I repaired and fastened an aluminum kick plate to hide the damaged area.
The next week end he ate away the door frame to get back in.
I then sat patiently and applied the 3 permanent S cure, Enough!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A buddy was live trapping and moving them about a city block away.
One day I grabbed a handy spray paint and marked his catch.
It came back!
Since a city block was unsuccessful he took that marked rodent some 2 miles further away.
Yep, you guessed correctly, Mr. (or Mrs.) painted was back!

 

[MoKelly]

At our cabin a red squirrel chewed his way in by eating away the bottom corner of the door.
I repaired and fastened an aluminum kick plate to hide the damaged area.
The next week end he ate away the door frame to get back in.
I then sat patiently and applied the 3 permanent S cure, Enough!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A buddy was live trapping and moving them about a city block away.
One day I grabbed a handy spray paint and marked his catch.
It came back!
Since a city block was unsuccessful he took that marked rodent some 2 miles further away.
Yep, you guessed correctly, Mr. (or Mrs.) painted was back!

I’m not sure you really have to bury a shot squirrel!

Trapping and relocating only creates problems for others (if it works).

MoKelly

 

[Diggin It]

At another house (in another life) in an urban area, I had one that would come up ion the front porch and take walnuts almost from my hand.

 

[MossRoad]

One squirrel just leaped on my balcony. Up a pillar,, on flower vase and jumped to roof. I'm thinking he's scouting for place to bring his friends later and set up shop. Is there anything that I could pour or DUST around to get them to leave house. I believe there are no entry holes that they can use to get in house. Worried they might gnaw holes into attic. Thus nice place to have have young "ens.

I don't want to poison them or stuff like that. Is there anything or anyway to make things uncomfortable for them? All suggestions will be appreciated .

You all STAY HEALTHY AND BE SAFE.........Coffeeman

I found a few references to sprinkling black pepper around the area you want to repel them from, and a commercial product that contains the urine of predators (who knows which?) that you spray around.

 

[BrkMstr]

This morning when I got up I had three grays and four reds under the bird feeder area - yesterday when I exited the garage I had a red sitting on the door step looking up at me, asked him what he was doing and he took off under my shed, we'll also have several dear show up and in a couple of weeks will start seeing our black neighbors, their normally pretty hungry after a few months sleep, they will finish cleaning up what the others have missed - we survive very well with them and have had no damage from any of them. I have electronic pest control in the garage - use repellant bags in the shed, electronic in engine compartments and fresh bounce sheets at each entry point (under siding corners etc) of the house, it's the area we chose to live in and we live in harmony, they were hear first, and I try to get along with them - during the summer we'll start with the chipmunks - they'll come up while we're sitting, we'll toss them a peanut and they take off, they will sit next to you on the picnic table no issues again the trick is expecting them to try and taking simple measures to keep them away from where they do not belong, the only thing I've had to get rid off is field mice - they are far more aggressive towards the vehicles - I'll trap them with a simple box trap placed under the vehicle, normally they show up in the fall, this past fall we removed fourteen of them.... And with all that it doesn't even mention the 22 turkeys that were visiting last week, they do a great jog eliminating the tic's!!! We've got great neighbors.....

 

[the old grind]

We have a lot of gray squirrels around and for 30 years haven't had a problem with them, but for some reason their smaller cousins, the red squirrels have chewed holes in walls trying to get in and have been more of a

The reds seem to be more territorial and want me to provide a roof over their heads

Trapping and relocating only creates problems for others (if it works).

MoKelly

Chippies nest in the ground, bushytails, blacks, & grays nest in trees. RED squirrels make all the rest look bad.

Reds have the most mouse-like living habits, prefer living in buildings, and stash the most loot.

I've been trapping reds for >25 years and still use the same foolproof, lo-maint system. TOMCAT Rat-Snap traps baited with sunflower seeds. No mess, no mold, no non-target catches. I get a lot of shrews in the mouse-sized ones but the method is the same. My set is one or two of each size on the barn floor. Mice will follow past victims' scent to your set, and traps don't need to be moved as often as one might think. Attach lanyards to the large ones to discourage crawl-offs. (I have two MIA this Spring 'cuz I didn't. Doh!)

Trouble with bait 'pockets' and/or the li'l tab pans on wood traps is that our prey will lick the bait off if not moldy and covered with ants. The seeds are easiest to use because they are set and forget. All I ever do is empty and rebait. Bait must be kept in something that can't be chewed open.

I toss seeds into the back of the trap to get critters farther in and to use their weight to trip the pan. Mice will raid any trap, just keep tossing in bait vs ever having to touch anything. Only bad thing I've ever experienced is once in a while a big mouse will be so far into a small trap his head will stick out the back and the latches can get chewed up beyond use. I get that once a year or so.

View attachment 689215

 

[NWOH_Grizz]

Red squirrels can be a real issue around here. I have pine trees 15 feet from my roof, they'll get up in a tree and take a flying leap onto the roof. Then they head to the gables. They ate a hole through 2 of the 4 gables. I replaced the gables. They did it again within a week. I replaced the gables again, this time putting screening (hardware cloth), behind the gables. They can't get though that, although I saw them try once, after chewing a hole in the gable plastic. That's enough. Squirrels now are targets. Gamo Swarm Magnum 22 air rifle, very quiet and deadly. Sorry to all you lovers of destructive rodents.

The cat we had kept the small stuff in check, like chipmunks and voles. No mice in the barn. Then the neighbors Rottweiler came over and killed my cat.

 

[mljenkins]

One of our homes we lived far out in the country, very wooded, area. There were a lot of gray squirrels. If they can get into your home, they will during the winter to raise their young. They will chew through drywall, chew wires, chew anything plastic (tools, fence insulators, etc.), and make tons of noise all hours of the night. We also had issues with chipmunks doing similar things under the house. The best course of action for the chipmunks is cats, and sealing up every ingress into your home. The squirrels you need to seal all around the house so there are no holes to invite them in. Loose soffit, loose flashing, etc. they will tear through. This isn't a joke, they will do a lot of damage. Cats will not bother squirrels most of the time because they are too fast and agile for the cats. Dogs are better to scare them off.

As far as getting rid of squirrels, seal up the house, do NOT feed them anywhere near the house (if you feed birds, have squirrel proof feeders 50+ feet AWAY from the house), get a dog, remove trees that are close to your house if you can. There may be other methods to deter them, but many may be illegal outside of hunting season. During hunting season, I would suggest an air powered break action .177 pointed pellet riffle as it is much safer and you are already close.

I have seen a lot of damage by them over the years. Our neighbors at one home had maple syrup lines and the squirrels chewed through them in the woods and cost them thousands of dollars of repairs. Granted, that was the squirrel's turf, but your home, they're cute little buggers, but can do a lot of damage (including burning your house down if they get through a wire, and they will stupidly try). Good luck.

 

[masscity]

We had a lot of red squirrels in 2007/08. My neighbor shot 275 in 2007 and 150 in 2008. I don't know why there were so many.

Then the numbers went down to normal.