We have three squirrel houses in 3 different trees and the only critters we've seen giving the squirrels any grief are raccoons. The first one I built is designed differently than yours, with a roof that overhangs the front. One time a raccoon hung over the front and managed to reach in and get a hold of one, although he didn't get it. I promptly put a little rail on top to block them. We've had Cooper's hawks come through and stalk them but never seen one try and get in one of the houses. No foxes around here, so I can't say. It's not as easy for a larger predatory bird to get at them in the box. Some boxes have ledges installed underneath the hole on the inside to keep other predators from reaching them. 6-7 feet is kind of low. The general recommendation is at least 15 feet although some say 10 is enough. Mine are about 15, 20 and 25 feet up. The one has been up for 8 years and I put two more made from tires up last year. What can I say? I found a plan, was curious and had an old tire. I almost laughed when I saw them moving in last fall. ("SOB! They work!") When you hang them, give them some kind of nesting material to get them started. I put dry crushed or mulched leaves in ours, about 1/3 filled. One caveat about your box. Even being one inch thick, pine will rot over time, especially the floor. Even though it has a hole for drainage, water will collect in there from time to time. I made mine of cedar and it's held up well, but I can see I'll have to replace the floor or build a new one before long. I got the idea for the tire ones from a guy who sells them online.(Not myself) They hang from hooks and he sells them with a rope and attachment to fling it over a limb. I also found a plan for a different style house made from a tire. They seemed to like them just fine.

His tail was pretty long, but I dont know much on him overall at all for ID, the going call was Coop (so I wrote below) but I personally haven't a clue here's a few more pics of him that I printed today for my neighbor (who calls me Elly Mae Crampet lol) he didn't believe me on the hawks that come and sit in our yards. He comes often to the yard, daily, sometimes twice a day :O He did have 2 RTH trying to steal his dinner last week, now THAT was a show! He also sounds like a crying baby, he will on occassion sit in a low tree in my back yard and whine (so weird!) -Michelle

Once I heard something hit the house really hard. I looked outside and a hawk must have chased a pigeon so that it flew into the house. The pigeon clearly had a broken wing and was trying to walk away but the hawk was slowly following it. Later there was a pile of pigeon feathers in the corner of the yard. Another time I was sitting outside and I realized it was almost completely silent - no bird noises. I thought hmm, that's odd and looked up to see birds flying into all the bushes. Just then, a big hawk swoped into my yard, perched on a branch for a few moments and then took off. A minute later all the birds in the bushes were raising such a racket. All I could think was they were telling each other "Did you see that? We almost died!" My sister had an outdoor cat in Phoenix. The neighbors referred to cats as coyote bait. That cat was one tough cookie and survived 13 years there. She's still alive at 17+ years old but now she stays indoors in her new home in another state. If she had any fights with a hawk, she won.

Replacing the float needles may have improved the problem. However, the cleaning you did on the seat may have had as much effect as new needles. Examine the needle tip under magification. These should be smooth and free of nicks, burrs, and grooves. If the needles and seats are in good shape, look elsewhere. Two common sources of bowl flooding are 1) float level too high, and 2) sinking floats. When you had the carburator apart, shake the float and listen to it. If you hear fliud sloshing around in it, it is leaky. I'm not sure what kind of needles your bike uses: solid metal needles or elastomer tipped. The float level is easy set for solid needles, but the elastomer tipped ones require some 'fiddling'. You may think that the elastomer tipped needle and float has been set to a proper height only to find that the tip takes a set and allows the fuel level to rise. Also, don't forget to shut off the fuel valve when shutting down the machine for a period time greater than 15 minutes.