While I was putting away my purchases, I fantasized about ways I could rid myself of the little beast. Hmmmmm. I could shoot him with a pellet gun........Nope, I could never do that because it's cruel, and I don't own a pellet gun.......I could trap him and bring him to my mothers ............I couldn't do that either because my mother would kill me and he would be away from his family and would probably die of hunger and loneliness.........You see, I kind of have a love/hate relationship with Squiggy (that's my name for him). A therapist would have a field day with this since I consider him my torturer, but he is rather cute when he wants to be.
It's no use, Squiggy is here to stay. I could try all kinds of things but he would still figure it out. I have yet to meet a birder who has developed a way to prevent squirrels from at least occasionally raiding their feeders. If there were such an individual than they would be rich selling their proven success tips on DVD's during late night infomericals. As we all know, squirrels are smart little varmints and can usually tackle any obstacle if they are determined enough to do so. In fact, squirrels are so good at overcoming obstacles that I bet they could solve many of the things we humans still have yet to figure out like stopping global warming, fixing the economy and teaching men to put the toilet seat down after use, if we could only tap into their peanut sized brains.
I guess all I can do is continue to feed the squirrels separately and perhaps increase their food intake some. I am new to bird feeding so I don't know if this is true or not, but from what I hear squirrels are not as bad in the winter because they don't like to be out foraging in the cold and snow. Somebody please tell me this is true. I don't mind feeding him and his family, but I would appreciate it if he would eat in the squirrel/blue jay/occasional crow feeding area vs. the small to medium sized songbird area. I even made him a peanut butter bagel Sunday morning and this is the thanks I get.
I give up.
9 comments:
Too funny--I'll chuckle all day thinking of the peanut butter bagel.
Seriously Kallen, get a feeder pole that you can attach a baffle to, and be sure to put it away from anyplace he can jump from. You will be highly entertained by his trying to go up the pole, and instead be flummoxed by the baffle. Mine works like a charm and we have oodles of squirrels.
Jayne, I left a comment on your blog asking what kind of baffle you have because I like it so much. I do have poles and except for one, the baffles you have would be perfect.
Beth, I thought the peanut butter bagel was a good idea HA! I figured a bagel fills me up so it would be sure to fill him up and then he wouldn't go after my feeders. I made it up and then threw chunks of it out my window. He did get a couple of pieces but then a few crows were flying by and spotted their breakfast for the morning and proceeded to fly off with most of it. I may pre make some for him going forward and just store them in sandwich bags. It's cheaper than putting out more sunflower or peanuts! LOL
You've got two choices here.
Kill him
or
Accept him.
: )
Kidding, mostly. Baffles will work if they are placed JUST SO. Squirrels are acrobatic little buggers.
Have you tried giving him his own feeding station? Away from the bird feeders?
Susan, He has his own feeder but he still wants the bird food. What frosts me is I go over to his station and I still see BOSS on the tree stump. He even gets peanuts, apple slices, occasional suet and I plan on buying all the squirrels walnuts next week as their Thanksgiving meal. They are not starving, but they act like it.
I am going to go to WBU and check out the baffles there.
On a positive note, I added some suet chunks to the feeder he goes on and when I came home from work, a lot of it was still there. If he did get to that feeder today, it would have all been gone. I gave him an extra handful of peanuts today and it seems to have paid off. HA!
OMG - this is the kind of comment form that works! I just read your latest comment about seeing your name on my list and decided to check back with your blog just in case; some other blogs I visit have switched back and forth between differnet comment forms. I have no idea why they change, or why some work and others don't but I'll comment now while I can! Your Squiggy story had me in stitches! It reminded me a little of those videos on YouTube about the squirrel bird-feeder prevention? Just Google "squirrel obstacle course" and a number of them will come up. Keep us posted on the continuing Squiggy saga. I'll be reading even if I can't always post a comment!
Deb
Deborah, I am so glad this one works. After I read your comment, I came back here to play around a little to see if I could make it more comment friendly.
I am SO going to YouTube to look for the obstacle course videos. They sound like something I would really get a chuckle over. Maybe I can even get some ideas. HA!
Kallen...The squirrels love black-oil sunflower seeds and it won't stop going for those above all other food. You could kill some of them and more would come to fill the void. We provide what they like.
The pole and baffle are good ideas. I have feeders that are weight sensitive that close when too much weight in on it and they can't get into that.
Your WBU should have plenty of ideas to help..
Rambling Woods
I've been there! I have one rule for squirrels. Squirrels eat what's knocked on the ground and that's it!
When I was younger and had nothing better to do, I used to make these huge, multi-function platform feeders that would attract doves, nuthatches, wood peckers, chickadees and finches. It was too heavy for a thin metal pole. It needed a 4”X4” post, perfect for squirrels to climb. I went to the hardware store and got a large diameter PVC pipe to slip over the post. It was too smooth for them to grip. No problem.
I’ve also had great luck with hanging feeders under large eaves.
The next challenge was keeping the chipmunks out of the tomatoes…Now that is a challenge. Have you ever seen a chipmunk that has been into Chinese hot (spicy hot, not fried, please) oil?
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