Dumb comparison.

Have you trimmed back any branches or limbs within 4 to 6 feet of your roofline? Have you tried red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper or chili powder sprinkled around the area? I have heard of people using original fragrance Irish Spring bar soap, finely shredded, in the area. None of these methods are lethal or harmful to vegetation.

How is that a dumb comparison? If you eat meat, you condone killing animals, whether they're considered pests or pets. It's all in your perspective.

Maybe it depends on who one knows and encounters. I know lots of vegans and vegetarians. For most, it's simply a choice of what they prefer to eat and not a political or ethical position for themselves or that they impose on others. None I know is troubled or takes any offense at all when food they choose to not eat is prepared and then eaten in their presence.

One couple I know, lifelong vegetarians, buy prepared meat to serve to dinner guests in their home when they're having a party or other get together. They're comfortable heating the meat in their kitchen and serving it on a buffet table with other stuff. Sometimes it's ham, or turkey, or even fish (which they also don't eat). Guests get to take home the leftovers. I won't say going to such extremes to make guests feel welcome is common, it's probably rare, but I mention them as an example of why I found your comment to be odd.

People's practices and views, likes and dislikes are nuanced and never so simplistic as your comment would assume.

I tried the Irish Spring soap one summer to try to keep animals out of my vegetable patch. As was suggested to me, I hung up a few small bars by the plants.

Next day, all the bars were shredded with claw marks. And more pepper plants were yummied up...

(And my snackers even liked the habaneros. )

https://www.cdc.gov/plague/transmission/

Squirrels are tree rats with bushy tails. IMO they are way more destructive than rats (based on personal experience and experiences of people I know.) They continue to cause damage to our property. My DIL (who is a Veterinarian) roasted a squirrel she'd shot on a spit she'd made over an open fire in the woods they were hiking for my 4 young Grandkids to taste. She also guts fish she catches.

Just to show you how different people can be, the vet in my family told me years back that one reason for choosing their undergraduate university from among many alternatives where accepted was because it was the one where the most squirrels were seen during their visit. And this person had a pet rat for those 4 years.

I'm more than shocked by the notion that a vet would shoot a squirrel but there it is.

PS - my quick search suggests there are very few plague cases in the US. More people die from lightning strikes than the number who contract a case of plague and most plague cases do not result in death. Numbers - 20 or fewer annual plague cases, more than half survive.

Yes, I have not eaten meat in 35 years. I practice what I preach. I'm NOT a hypocrite. If most people had to go to a slaughter house for a day, they'd probably change too. Besides, it's a way healthier lifestyle and no animal has died for me to gnaw on in 35 years.

Lily, it sounds like you've made a decision about what's right and wrong for you or comfortable and uncomfortable for you and that's great.

You should practice what you wish to practice and be happy with that but as far as "preaching" is concerned, I'm not sure what you have in mind. It shouldn't be necessary.

How is that a dumb comparison? If you eat meat, you condone killing
animals, whether they're considered pests or pets. It's all in your
perspective.

I condone killing animals humanely to feed carnivores but it does bother me sometimes so I try not to think about it. I don't condone killing wildlife inhumanely for sport or because they annoy you when you can try other humane measures to get rid of them. I wouldn't poison any living creature except for insects.

I don't like them....have had enough of them.... if those of you that are on their side will give me your address....i will box them up and send them to you...8^)

good one Pattico.

My son has a pet squirrel but it stays in a cage and is fed and handled. We did have one as a pet at one time but those things will bite you!

I don't think you should kill an animal just for fun, but for food is a different story. And if squirrels are literally eating a hole in the side of your house, they need to go, one way or another.

I condone killing animals humanely to feed carnivores but it does bother me sometimes so I try not to think about it.

Have you ever seen an abbatoir?

We hunt our own meat, btw, so we don't contribute to the mistreatment of animals raised to feed humans. Clean kills, no force-feeding of antibiotic/chemical-laden "feed" prior to killing, no caged/confined animals, etc. And yeah - we eat squirrel, rabbit, and deer. :)

I've read it is more humane to kill squirrels rather than trap and remove them because the squirrel groups don't accept newcomers.

I think before I resorted to killing them, I would first decrease the amount of things that attract them. I've seen where people put metal collars around pecan trees to keep squirrels from harvesting the nuts. A collar around your trees is one option. You probably need to trim limbs that are to close to the house. If you feed birds, then maybe you need to reconsider or use a birdfeeder they can't access.

I tried poisoning rats and mice one year, but I wasn't happy with it. I was ok with the rats in the outside shed, but there was always a chance of another animal eating the poisoned carcass. Rat poison looks like Nerds candy. I was diligent about keeping it away from the kids. I tried poison for the mice infestation in our garage because the traps weren't catching enough. I found a nest with 17 mummified mice when I moved. No You could not smell them. I wasn't happy in that they were taking the poison and storing it in places I didn't want it.

As I said I live in a large old farmhouse entirely of wood and never have an iota of squirrel damage over the years. None entered the house, none chewed on anything except maybe a birdhouse they enlarged into making it their home. I raised an orphan squirrel named Buddy and he'd sit on my should as I walked across the yard. He lived in a cage till he was old enough to be released in my yard where he integrated with the others. Never bit and was as well behaved as the raccoon pet my kids grew up with. Try the smelly devices rather than poison or kill.

You do know that poisoning critters goes up the food chain and you'll kill eagles, hawks owls, raptors who eat them. This is uncalled for POISON should never be used. Kids, cats, dogs can get killed.

Trap and drown worked for a friend whose attic was infested, over and over. She'd seal holes, and they'd make new ones. She did it herself, using a large barrel. Could *I* do this? Probably not, but drowning is quick.

Get rid of the feeders. Killing things that are annoying is cold. I think all lives are just as important as others.

Drowning ,poisoning, shooting, maiming them in sticky traps. How some people value life.SMH. My husband who's not a teenager just returned from climbing a tree and rescuing thousands of bees that swarmed which he is presently putting in our hive. We love all living thing.

"We hunt our own meat"

This needs a Tim Allen, caveman style grunt at the end, to complete the sentence.

I love most critters, but fire ants and yellow jackets in the ground just have to leave. And whether human or animal, if something is putting my life or my family's life in immediate mortal danger and there are no good alternatives, saving myself and my family comes first.

This needs a Tim Allen, caveman style grunt at the end, to complete the sentence.

Too bad you didn't hear it. And also the Rebel Yell at the end. Because yeah. lol

Elmer, who is Tim Allen?

Gotta say, squirrel makes excellent dinner. I've had it in stew, and also slowly braised. Prefer the latter prep.

Tim Allen aka Tim the Tool Man Taylor! Hilarious sit com from the past! Urrrgh!

if u remove their food/water source, that would really help!!

I'm with others, i can't kill anything. we had a street cat (not ours!) years ago that went into a rabbit hole, drug out all the babies and killed them. i had 4 baby bunnies in my yard that i had to bury. Sad!

we have squirrel family, 3, that run and play together, its really cute to see. they don't bother us, we don't bother them.

Have you tried wrapping a Slinky ( or 2) around the post or wire on your bird feeder? They can't get a grip on them to climb.

sorry, can't remove the food source or do anything with the tree. I think its a acorn tree. Its huge, and the limbs are very large which hang over my deck roof. I'm not taking the chance on destroying my roof/home. I am hoping DGS will come shoot them soon. I have no bird feeder either.

We have a ton of wildlife in our area, raccoons, possem, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, ducks, birds and deer. We don't own guns and would never think of shooting another living animal. We're basically crowding them out, so I just don't think it's right. We put lots of seed out for the birds. The squirrels and chipmunks eat it too and not one time have any of them been destructive to our property or plants. I think part of the solution for us has been that we are out there with the dog a few times a day and even though she doesn't chase them, she's running with the ball so they tend to stay at a safe distance from us.

I never heard of an acorn tree.

If you have tree limbs overhanging a roof structure, it would be a good idea to have those limbs cut back, squirrels or no squirrels.

Elmer J Fudd (formerly S Whiplash)

I never heard of an acorn tree.

Funny! My husband says the same thing.

Oak then, whatever has acorns. The limbs at too big!!

Shooting them would be the best solution as with the oak tree there, they aren't going anywhere.....willingly!

There's no such thing as limbs too big to be cut off. And if they're so large and overhanging a roof, it sounds like it's a very dangerous situation.

JoAnn, is there a Professional Tree Service in your area? They would have the proper equipment to cut those limbs.

yes, call a tree service and have the tree trimmed. first and foremost its better for the house for many reasons: damage from storms, mold will grow if no sun reaches the roof, tree dirt in gutters etc. when the squirrels don't have the tree to run from place to place, then no more squirrels.

our front tree and back tree were overgrown & the squirrels were going up one tree, ran over our roof to other tree. u could here them running . we cut both trees back and now no more squirrels running on our roof.

We have plenty of WILDlife around our home. We live beside a small creek and deerpath. We do not interfere with the balance by feeding anything. It self-regulates.

JoAnn we have a ton of oaks as well but in our neck of the woods, if we trim them in summer, they are at a high risk of catching a specific fungus that can quickly kill the tree. Do you have that issue in your area as well? Have you considered getting a happy go lucky dog who likes to run? :c). Just a thought?

I have dog but no fence. too big & expensive for a fence. I don't trim trees, my son takes care of what needs done.

Here are some good suggestions. squirrel solutions

"drowning is quick"

Oh my. Quick? Hmm....depends upon your point of reference. Cruel and terrifying? Surely.

Use the Havahart live catch traps and drive them to a park at least 2 miles away (so they can't find their way back). We had a squirrel population explosion about 5 years ago, squirrels everywhere, we trapped about a dozen and took them to the park, it got to be a weekly event, but it thinned the population in the oak trees near us enough that it was tolerable. If you have oaks or nut trees you'll have squirrels, best you can do is manage the population as humanely as possible,

Ghostlyvision, what about Adellabedella's post?

We have all kinds of wildlife on our property, everything from rat snakes to voles to squirrels to lots of different bird species and have never had any invade the house, knock wood. We do make sure tree branches don't overhang the roof. The squirrels eat some of the bird food, which is not a problem, and it's lots of fun to watch their antics. They play and chase each other and are very entertaining. The voles seem to stay in one area of the back yard and have not caused any problems. I suspect the rat snakes control the population. I can't imagine killing any of our backyard residents.

Just saw this on Facebook:

There were three country churches in a small Texas town: the
Presbyterian church, the Methodist church and the Catholic church. Each
church was overrun with pesky squirrels.

One day, the
Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about the
squirrels. After much prayer and consideration they determined that the
squirrels were
predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will.

The Methodist group got together and decided that they were not in a
position to harm any of God's creations. So, they humanely trapped the
squirrels and set them free a few miles outside of town. Three days
later, the squirrels were back.

It was only the Catholics who
were able to come up with the best and most effective solution. They
baptized the squirrels and registered them as members of the church.

Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter.

Lucille, I have no idea whether squirrels accept new members into their 'group', around here they only seem to play in twos, but since we were taking the caught squirrels to the same park, I rather imagine they'd meet up again and reform any group they'd shared.

Relocating helped quite a bit here and I still have the trap should we need to do it again. It took a while to find a bait they would come into the trap for, peanut butter only drew ants but peanuts and shells drew them. Can't remember what else we tried, seemed like quite a few things but I recall the nuts working the best.

You are having problems with squirrels visiting the garden and reaching for the bird feeder. They can eat all the seeds for the birds and even destroy the food trays you have built. So, how to stop squirrels from eating bird seeds? The first thing you have to do is hang the bird feeder away from the trees. So place your bird feeder in the middle of the yard where there is no cover. Hanging the feeder on a fishing line doesn't always work. You can use a divider instead. This is an effective method to keep the squirrel away from the bird's seed if the squirrel dares to climb into the bird's feeder. Squirrels hate the smell of cayenne pepper, white pepper, black pepper, or garlic. Sprinkleling pepper on the yard or the area around birds is sure to keep annoying squirrels away for a while.

This is a very old thread. No problems anymore with squirrels

Cure the squirrel habit with a Twirl-a-Squirrel...

https://youtu.be/nBKb_z4_tGY