It's not just the nuisance of their damages to things but I'm retired on very small income and watching the birds and wildlife is my pastime. Those little gray squirrels cost me at least half of my expenditures on birdseed--and that's with rationing, putting it out only certain times of day, ANND sitting guard near the hanging feeders a couple hours of the day. They climb every feeder pole (I chase them off) and they've even learned how to tip the hummingbird feeders and drink the sugar water. We have raptors, deer and opossum, raccoons and rabbits in the area, and a whole lot of birds to fill the strip of woodlands. There could be more birds if I didn't have a dozen squirrels on my (rented) homesite. Since it's not my property, my tactics are limited.
I woke up today to get my son to school and guess what? My truck didn’t wanted to start I thought I left a door open that only a little noise came out of my truck & when my husband opened the hood all the starter cables were chewed off 😢 this happened to me twice I don’t know what to do.
Ty it’s five years later and this video is very helpful Saved me sooo much time and money on not wasting time on bs things that don’t work. Thanks for taking time to do this experiment.
Great video! The experiment is as scientific as it needs to be. Yours is a real-life look at what MIGHT work to deter the varmints. Thank you for the work you put into the experiment and video. Thanks for sharing it. You have cut years off the learning curve for anyone tormented by these little guys.
The squirrellys are such a challenge. They are so smart! Their acrobatics are so amazing 👏 I've never seen one miss a jump or leap. My funniest squirrelly jump was off my neighbors roof into a big snow bank. He landed in a big puff! I truly believe he did it just for fun! HA
I TRIED IT! OMG! there's a den of about 4 full families about 35 feet from my back yard garden and patio. I've spent close to $800.00 trying to get them to stay away. No success . They dig in my potted plants, eat all my expensive tulip bulbs, eat my flowers, and tear things up. New )inters seem to be born every couple weeks. LEMON SCENTED AMMONIA. But 20 cheap brown hand towels at the Dollar Store. Rolled each towel up lengthwise and placed them all in a chain on the ground around the white picket fence surrounding the garden patio garden. No squirrels came. No squirrels. There are Usually in my garden about 25 times during each twilight . Maybe 30 times during the day before twilight. As soon ascI put the towels down, they stayed away. It now 24 hours later and still gone. In fact there's none in sight playing in front of the den where they usually play all day. They appear to have moved away. I'm still knocking on wood...holding my breath. But, insanely impossibly, they for sure have not been here for 24 hrs. UNBELIEVABLE. Thank you. I'll report again in another day and fill you in.
They're right above my room for months now. They just don't stop!! I hate these fkrs too. I just soaked 2 socks with cayenne pepper and apple cider vinegar, stuffed a bounce sheet and a couple of stones in them and tossed them up on the roof or ruff if you're American 😂. It was quiet for about 10 minutes and now i hear them again. Ffs!
I enjoy watching your experiment. I have a problem with squirrel digging in my patch of cabbage. The only thing that discourage the squirrel was the smell of water mix in vinegar . I sprayed it around the patch .
Good information. Thank you for testing all of these products. And... I love hearing the little child in the background around 5:57....."What's the Cwiddo widdle...? Just too cute!!
Faith lol I had to go back and listen. Yeah, I love that that comment will always be there. Time whips by so fast and I have 6 kids. Thank you for making my day!
Same thought. Remember when you cared about birthdays? 48 is a good age to be a father to young children. Your career is sorted out and hopefully your finances are cozy.
Your child is adorable, loved the little voice on the video, my machanic told me to use dryer sheets in my car engine and so far for months it been working, replace dryer sheets every month
I am noticing that the squirells, mice, and rats do not like essential peppermint oil. We are having a lot of construction done after tearing down old structures, causing rodents to spread to new homes (ours). I use Japanese Peppermint Essential Oil on cotton balls placed everywhere also can use in the car, they leave immediately. In the yard I use a sprayer, mix essential peppermint oil, rubbing alcohol and water, spray yard area. They leave. I have also had good luck for mice and rats using a product called Fresh Cab, a little pricey but it seems to deter them once placed. I continue to recycle mine after the scent is gone by putting full strength Essential Peppermint Oil drpos on them instead of discarding them. Good luck, the struggle is real !
You don’t really think k it’s gonna pee in a bottle?? Come on everyone know after you catch him you gotta have a cage or crate to leave him in w the tray underneath,, you’ll catch every drop,,
Thankyou! so much for making this video, great to actually see all of the money grabs that don't work. As you stated in the video not a government test (scientific) but, it didn't cost 2 million dollars and 5 years to get accurate results. LOL.
I echo the comments below. An excellent video that recently assisted me with perhaps permanently silencing a nuisance of a squirrel or getting it to leave my premises. Let me tell you my story: For several days, I heard a squirrel or something running back and forth on my roof so I thought every morning. I was wrong! I was dead wrong. This critter of a squirrel was running from one end of my soffit to the other and It was annoying. The running and scratching drove me nuts. I have a huge home and was worried about this not knowing what to expect when I went up my attic. I did not find droppings, but did find the, what appeared to be, a sole squirrel peaking his little head through a hole it gnawed through. I shined my flashlight, made some hissing sounds and then it ran away back into the soffit. However, the running back and forth continued to no end. I saw this video and said, wow. I could not find coyote piss, so I elected to buy a half gallon of lemon-scented ammonia and six rags from Menard's. I returned to my attic, soaked each rag and then threw them in the area where I saw the squirrel. The next morning, I heard the critter run again above my bedroom and then heard it stop as to check something out. It has been two days and I have not heard a peep. I plan to cut a tree down today in front of my home that I believe gave this squirrel easy access to my roof. I hope that it departed the same way it entered, but believe me, If I couldn't stand the smell of the ammonia, I do not know how that little critter was able to. The ammonia works. Thanks for the video sir. Just Awesome!
I am having 3rd hole repaired 😳 I swear I have roof PTSD now. Can you smell the ammonia in your house? I need to figure out where to put on roof etc to keep them off. Currently.have mothballs in the attic lol
I use a live trap baited with peanuts and peanut butter. When I catch a squirrel I spray a dot of orange paint on its rear end while in the cage, then I transport the critter to a wooded area at least 5 miles away and make sure a major highway or river is between me and the release spot. If that squirrel returns and I catch him again he gets the Smith & Wesson treatment. One squirrel I released 6 miles away traveled an additional eight miles in the other direction and showed up at my sisters property, she spotted it walking a telephone wire near her house and identified it by the orange spot. Summer of 2018 I trapped 18 squirrels and 19 chipmunks none of which returned.
roy hoco I take them over near the airport, there are no trees and the crows seem to really appreciate the tasty squirrels that are running around with no trees to hide in.
Great video! I have been battling squirrels here in Wisconsin every winter when I put up my yard display. Some years they cost me upwards of $200+ in damage. They love to chew Christmas light strands (the wires). For 6 yrs I had great luck with fox urine to keep them away. I bought a bunch of plastic Easter eggs at the dollar store, drilled some holes around them, ran a twisty tie through a couple of holes to hang them, and then inserted a fox urine soaked sponge. The biggest trick to making that work is to think like a fox, don't keep them in the same place for more than a few weeks at a time. Move them around and add fresh urine about every 3 wks. Since my neighbor added a new bird feeder even this has stopped working for me, so we have resorted to trapping them. We have more than a dzn in the freezer right now and get up to 3/day when we put all of the traps out. When we get to 20 I promised to make squirrel stew for my husband and our friends. We added a new puppy (standard poodle) to our family for New Yrs and I have noticed we don't see many squirrels anymore. That has proven to be the most fun squirrel control I've found yet!
Lol. In other post I commented that I’m an animal lover but these squirrels 🐿 have me rethinking that. They are like the tenants from hell. They don’t pay rent, they damage the property and are making noise all hours of the day!!!
I watched your video, and soaked 2 rags in ammonia and wrapped them around the base of my bird feeder. I watched and watched and there have been no squirrels that will touch that pole. They come up to the pole but they do not climb it. They still eat droppings from the feeders, but that's fair! So thanks. Great experiment!
as I saw this video as highly enlightening! and I see your best advise , of entrapment by your company! can you in anyway even begin to address the hundred's of squirrels usually related to this problem?????
I found that squirrels eat baby birds and eggs .I have watched them do it attacking the robins nesting by our house so I seeing this I found the best deterrent is a pellet from a pellet gun, works very well.
@Susan Farley , send "Karen" a nice present . I found that placing a little manure in a plastic sealed bag that will rip when the box is opened works great - either slip it on her front porch and leave it - wrapped nice of course - a little note and make it seem like it's a present for looking out for the area - boom . They'll stop /.
@Susan Farley shoot from a open window about 3 feet from the opening, she won't see or hear you. and it will be raining squirrels or wait till she heads to town or have somebody call her just as you take a shot., the old distraction trick.
My family is using old coffee grounds. Just spread them around. The squirrel will start scratching and leave the area. Try it if you drink coffee it’s free.
Thanks for this hard work, do appreciate a lot, it is very useful info. PS, it will be nice to know what happens if peppermint oil is used to deter them.
FYI for the powders to work, you need to SATURATE them into the ground. Just spreading Critter Ridder or Liquid Fence is not enough. Gotta wet it into the ground. Critter Ridder works only to deter animals from going to the bathroom on your lawn I found out. But not to keep them at bay except for first application.
Thanks! I use cayenne after I plant my tulip bulbs in pots, and have to continue every week but it does seem to keep them away most of the time. I was going to cover the pots with aluminum screening, just to make sure I didn't have to worry all winter about my tulips, but that apparently doesn't work. The squirrels just keep getting bigger and bigger around here!
Thank you so much for the video and sharing the results of your experiment. Ammonia soaked rags placed between the floor trusses under our raised house did the trick. We haven't seen or heard a squirrel on our property in a week, and they were trying to nest ! You have helped to give us relief from those destructive pests.
Wow. Good for you! Same thing happened to me with about 4 or 5 families of squirrels in their den 30 feet from my garden patio. 24 hrs later...they appear to be completely GONE. Looks like they moved away. Neither hide nor hair of them. Good luck to you and to me ;)
This was fun to see. Always enjoy a good experiment 😉 I usually have about 5 squirrellys the past week we've had 10. I guess the word is out. I have 4 bird feeders. Here's my trick. I use a spray bottle with water. They hate it just like training a cat. Fortunately... I can spray them easily from the back door. They try to come back but I stand guard and they give up after a few squirts.
Great experiment and thanks for sharing!!! This will definitely help people to stop wasting time and money on things that don’t work!!! And focus on the solutions that work!
I have tried about every deterrent , the only thing that works for us ( garden & fruit trees ) is a 410 shotgun, humane and does not endanger neighbors as long as you shoot when they are on the ground.
Good job. I just had a pro remove a nest between my solar panels and roof. ~ 8' x 16' (only 4" thick). He had a special rake and took ~ 1/2 hr. also applied a metal porous mesh screen at the entrance area of the panels. They came up the telephone pole exited off the main transformer and ran on the cable to the house and onto the roof peak. Not anymore. Job done.🙂
great visual of your fun and educational experiment!! Ill try it myself here in Nova Scotia Canada Wondering if you have also a method for mice/rats or even a preferred deterrent? thanks
I could see using ammonia -soaked rags to try to get a critter to move out from under a porch or some such, because you could be vigilant and keep resoaking the rags until they left for good. But it wouldn't be practical for keeping them out of a garden a whole season. Thanks for the experiment. Very interesting!
Urine has ammonia in it. I would surmise to say that ammonia works. Thanks for this great video! I have some corn outside as well as peppers tomatoes and eggplants. Been noticing bunnies, and I have a terrible squirrel problem. I just ordered some Fox urine granules off of Amazon. Supposed to be here tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
I don’t have many since I stopped feeding the birds, well, that was the plan. But I believe the two I have seen have made it into my attic as I hear scratching sometimes. We put huge mothballs up there and it seemed to help for a time. I hate the idea of ammonia up there, but maybe in a bowl. I will give it a try. Thanks for the experiment.
Curious to know if the peanuts inside the ammonia soaked rags were gone the next day. And if not, how long did it last to where you had to re-soak the rags and if once the rags are dry is that when they no longer became effective. Great Video.
I have reactive airway disease so I have to be very cautious what I use or I can end up with chemical pneumonia again. Also using the ammonia at all in the yards here only causes the neighbors cats to come spray.
Heavy amounts of safflower seeds worked for me in and around my bird feeder in Missouri before I went on line and checked it out they were chewing the feeder up plus totally emptying it and this was next to a woods .
Just feed the neighborhood cats and they'll start hanging around your house even if you only feed them occasionally. We did this with a cat that was such a prolific hunter that all small wildlife just disappeared because she killed anything that moved.
I just started back tossing out food scraps and heard a stray cat jump off my back porch the other night and noticing the lil squirrel rat bastards seem to be leaving, no telling how much electrical damage they've done to my new house wiring!
Great test! Thank you. I'm trying to get squirrels out of the attic. Sprayed apple cider vinegar yesterday afternoon with garden sprayer (half gal. vinegar, same with water). Fingers crossed but just a small bit of noise this a.m. The other part is getting a "squirrel unfriendly" birdfeeder, which I just found at a local hardware store.
We had them. They would go out in the day. When they left, my husband closed the holes with steel wool and some wire. Haven't had them in my attic for years.
I put habanero infused safflower seeds in my bird feeders, and I have 2 squirrels that sit and munch on them like they are going out of style. The other many squirrels dont get near them though. Maybe they are seasoning themselves for the crockpot.
@@passiflora1014 it did not help. In fact the squirrels started to dig in the rock filled areas of the garden. Time to start putting out peanut butter laced with crushed Dcon poison.
I noticed that the squirrels love the suet blocks I put out for the birds. Now I cut off a chunk of suet and put it in a trap. I caught a squirrel within a day every time. I have a neighbor who eats them for me.
I doesn't surprise me that the ammonia worked best. I had a raccoon. squirrel problem. I sprayed ammonia on with spray bottle and they never came back. If I don't have rags, I use my old dryer sheets. Huge bottle for about 3 bucks and I bought it at my local super market. Also amazing for cleaning if you can stand the very strong odour.
The best experimental video ever made, I have tried pretty much everything. I cannot sleep anymore, with foxes having sex in the garden in summer, squirrels in autumn (fall) on the attic, especially that one who comes every two years and have caused so much damage! She has removed the metallic roof structure! I am really scared, I guess I will call a professional, it such a shame we don't have bears in London to eat them all, well I just wanted to say thank you for the video.
When my backyard was totally overrun with ground squirrels the only thing that worked to control them was the "Rat Zapper". I used the original silver model and it was quick, clean and effective.
For years I kept them away from my bird feeders by placing feeders 9 1/2 feet away from jump off from fence. Last year they mastered the jump distance. Now I’m going to treat the jump off with red pepper goo. That should work.
Great video, thanks! I'm in a large city and just recently squirrels started gnawing on my black Trex aluminum deck railing. There are ugly silver teeth marks everywhere. They've never done this before and it's driving me absolutely crazy. I have tried cayenne pepper sprays and other squirrel "deterrents" so far. Only somewhat successful. I'm going to try spraying the railing with ammonia. Any other tips would be GREATLY appreciated!
yeah; instead of soaked rags, i does sound simpler to spray it - maybe it would soak into tree limbs a bit? How long would ammonia take to evaporater before i'd have to respray, ya think? thanks
This was a very interesting experiment and it was great to visually see the results. Thanks for the video. I now know to use the ammonia soaked rags. We have to many coyotes roaming around to use the urine.
