kherrmann3
Well-Known Member
I hate my squirrels!
:tantrum:
I used to love them! I feed them and even have named them all! They are just really ticking me off!!!!!
:rant:
OK, here's the story. I have lived in my apartment for a year now. I moved into this apartment with my boyfriend and roommate last October. Some of the first things I bought when I had "a place of my own" were bird-feeders, 100+ pounds of different types of bird seed, a squirrel feeder, squirrel food (peanuts, corn, sunflower, etc.) a bag of dried corn-on-the-cobs, and a holder for the corn cobs for the squirrels. I had them all placed out so nicely on my patio, and everyone got along. I fed all my birdies and squirrels through the Winter so I knew they wouldn't have to hibernate or starve to death. I even gave the squirrels names! My squirrel army consisted of Lester, Igor (pronounced "Eye-Gore", like in "Young Frankenstein"), and Biggie Smalls. I added Ollie Williams (named after the "It's gonna rain!" Weatherman from Family Guy) to the army this spring when I first saw him come around. I have a few more babies this fall, but I have yet to name them. I just call them all "Tiny".
ANYWAYS, I have started having problems with them this year. No matter how much "squirrel mix" I put out for them, they think the bird food is better. I mix the squirrel stuff FROM the bird food! They have chewed through the wires holding up some of my feeders, too. I found them crashed onto the porch. Nice sight to wake up to, eh?
The straw that broke the camels back, however, just started a month or so ago. I store the bird feed in a large, thick, plastic garbage can that sits out on the patio. The little buggers chewed through the stupid thing and go inside and eat the seed from the bags. They eat all the darn sunflower seeds! I tried rubbing hot-pepper sauce all over the edges where they were chewing, but they were not deterred by this. I rubbed fresh HABANERO pepper all over it. I didn't have any luck with that, either.
This is the outcome...
Can you see all the holes along the sides? This is the inside of the lid from the seed container. The only hole that is supposed to be there is the long, smooth one up top. That's for the handle.
Here is my solution:
Here's the tale of my "adventures" while dealing with this today. I went outside to fix the lid, finally. I have been at home all day, so I am just wearing purple pajama bottoms (with Happy Bunny!) and a black tank top. I just did my toe-nails, though, so they looked fabulous! I just got out of the shower. My hair is up in a towel. I look like a nutcase.
I went and opened the container. A very-surprised squirrel rocket-launches himself out of the container and up the side of my patio. He falls, lands at my feet, crawls up my pants-leg a bit before jumping off and slamming headfirst into the metal fence posts and falling to the ground. Don't worry, he was OK... I think... He ran away. So, here I am, outside and dressed like a crazy-person, yelling and making hissing noises at the squirrels to keep them away long enough to fix the lid. I took the duct tape and patched up the inside of the lid. Then I POURED cayenne pepper powder onto the tape from the TOP of the lid (so it gets stuck on the sticky-side of the tape). After that, I put duct tape on the outside of the lid to seal the pepper powder inside. I hope this works...
Here's the finished product (ghetto, I know...) The orange powder is all the cayenne pepper... It got EVERYWHERE. I was choking on the stuff (I love how wind just NEVER goes the right way when you need it to).
One unhappy customer.
My neighbors are probably going to call the cops and try to have me institutionalized. :hyper:
:tantrum:
I used to love them! I feed them and even have named them all! They are just really ticking me off!!!!!
:rant:
OK, here's the story. I have lived in my apartment for a year now. I moved into this apartment with my boyfriend and roommate last October. Some of the first things I bought when I had "a place of my own" were bird-feeders, 100+ pounds of different types of bird seed, a squirrel feeder, squirrel food (peanuts, corn, sunflower, etc.) a bag of dried corn-on-the-cobs, and a holder for the corn cobs for the squirrels. I had them all placed out so nicely on my patio, and everyone got along. I fed all my birdies and squirrels through the Winter so I knew they wouldn't have to hibernate or starve to death. I even gave the squirrels names! My squirrel army consisted of Lester, Igor (pronounced "Eye-Gore", like in "Young Frankenstein"), and Biggie Smalls. I added Ollie Williams (named after the "It's gonna rain!" Weatherman from Family Guy) to the army this spring when I first saw him come around. I have a few more babies this fall, but I have yet to name them. I just call them all "Tiny".
ANYWAYS, I have started having problems with them this year. No matter how much "squirrel mix" I put out for them, they think the bird food is better. I mix the squirrel stuff FROM the bird food! They have chewed through the wires holding up some of my feeders, too. I found them crashed onto the porch. Nice sight to wake up to, eh?
The straw that broke the camels back, however, just started a month or so ago. I store the bird feed in a large, thick, plastic garbage can that sits out on the patio. The little buggers chewed through the stupid thing and go inside and eat the seed from the bags. They eat all the darn sunflower seeds! I tried rubbing hot-pepper sauce all over the edges where they were chewing, but they were not deterred by this. I rubbed fresh HABANERO pepper all over it. I didn't have any luck with that, either.
This is the outcome...
Can you see all the holes along the sides? This is the inside of the lid from the seed container. The only hole that is supposed to be there is the long, smooth one up top. That's for the handle.
Here is my solution:
Here's the tale of my "adventures" while dealing with this today. I went outside to fix the lid, finally. I have been at home all day, so I am just wearing purple pajama bottoms (with Happy Bunny!) and a black tank top. I just did my toe-nails, though, so they looked fabulous! I just got out of the shower. My hair is up in a towel. I look like a nutcase.
I went and opened the container. A very-surprised squirrel rocket-launches himself out of the container and up the side of my patio. He falls, lands at my feet, crawls up my pants-leg a bit before jumping off and slamming headfirst into the metal fence posts and falling to the ground. Don't worry, he was OK... I think... He ran away. So, here I am, outside and dressed like a crazy-person, yelling and making hissing noises at the squirrels to keep them away long enough to fix the lid. I took the duct tape and patched up the inside of the lid. Then I POURED cayenne pepper powder onto the tape from the TOP of the lid (so it gets stuck on the sticky-side of the tape). After that, I put duct tape on the outside of the lid to seal the pepper powder inside. I hope this works...
Here's the finished product (ghetto, I know...) The orange powder is all the cayenne pepper... It got EVERYWHERE. I was choking on the stuff (I love how wind just NEVER goes the right way when you need it to).
One unhappy customer.
My neighbors are probably going to call the cops and try to have me institutionalized. :hyper: