How to Get Rid of Squirrels
Squirrels. They are everywhere. They eat the food we leave out for indigenous birds, they eat the nuts that fall from out trees, and when forced to, the pick through our garbage. Here are a few tips to get rid of these pesky pests.
Steps
- If you have outdoor trashcans, replace your current cans with those that have thick plastic or metal and a tight sealing lid. Most squirrels do not have opposable thumbs, and hence cannot open these types of trash cans. Also the seal helps lock in the "freshness" (AKA trash smell) which may attract squirrels.
- Make sure to add protections to any bird feeders you may have, as squirrels are unbelievably crafty when it comes to eating from bird feeders.
- Cut away any low tree branches. Squirrels usually nest (yes, nest) on tree branches low enough to jump to the ground from. Anything under 10 feet or so should probably get nixed in a heavily forested area. This of course excludes thick evergreen trees, since squirrels usually stick to much larger varieties of trees with thicker branches.
- remove any trees that have edible fruits, nuts, or berries. Squirrels main sources of food when not eating your trash are fruits, nuts and berries. If it is feasible to dig up these trees instead of cutting them down, do so and give them to a neighbor you dislike as a 'gift of reconciliation.' Let your squirrel problem become his/her squirrel problem.
- Although it may seem a little extreme, secretly throw your apple cores and other fruit into your neighbor's yard. That way, the squirrels will go live in his trees, not yours.
- Get a large cat (puma, tiger, leopard, jaguar, big housecat) into your yard. They consume squirrels, though you are really more replacing the squirrel problem with a squirrel carcass problem.
Tips
- Prevention before removal. If you can figure out why the squirrels are there in the first place, you can get rid of them without having to hurt anything.
- Think like a squirrel. No, don't jump off a tree, but imagine why the squirrels are coming into your yard and make that disappear, or more difficult, or change it somehow.
Warnings
- You may need to wait at least 3 seasons for the squirrels to nest elsewhere, so stay vigilant.
- Don't get violent with the squirrels. They are just undomesticated animals that have been here longer than our ancestors.
- Though it may have looked neat on "The Roadrunner" cartoons, spraying your low lying trees with slippery liquids (cooking spray) so that the squirrels fall off doesn't work. Neither does chasing them around aimlessly.
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