A Christmas Eve Convention

[Greg Baehman]

Six more are just out of the camera's view. Turn your sound up, you'll hear them caroling "Deck The Halls". Taken just moments ago from our dining room window.

[charlie cleveland]

very nice i seen everybody but rudolf....charlie

[edgarspencer]

I like your Martin house.

[Greg Baehman]

Thank you, Edgar. My father put a lot of work into building that Martin house. Unfortunately, it has never attracted a Martin colony and probably never will -- too many trees in too close proximity.

I built the Woodduck box and it, too; hasn't attracted what it was intended for. This past year a pair of squirrels raised 3 little ones in it. That entire family of 5 squirrels are now making it their winter abode. Despite the galvanized stove pipe on the post they gain access to the box from the apple tree. I tried cutting back the apple tree -- making it about a 5 foot leap to the box, but they still come and go as if there's no deterrent. :banghead:

[edgarspencer]

I have the largest squirrel population in the US, on the east side of my house, but there six or 8 thousand stragglers north of the kitchen also. I Bought two slinkys, and had a great laugh for the first few days, but they weren't deterred, and learned to push it all the way up the pole, until they could make the swing over the edge. One little guy tried repeatedly for over an hour without any luck, then went up the back stairs to the loft, about halfway and, knowing he could fly, made it, almost all the way. Poor little guy.
Not to be outwitted, today I went to Home Depot, bought two cheap plastic funnels, cut off the small end till the opening was slightly bigger than the pole, and attached them. Round Three.
If it will make you feel better, our Martin house, up in Maine, has been vacant since it was put up, atop it's 20', special ordered, pressure treated 4x4, cemented into the ground. No, I'm not bitter about that, much.

[Dean Romig]

For the ultimate squirrel deterrent, Think "electricity" :shock:






.

[Eric Eis]

For the ultimate squirrel deterrent, Think "electricity" :shock:






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I like the way (evil) way Dean thinks...! :rolleyes:

[Dean Romig]

Actually it's no worse than training a dog with an e-collar.

My father-in-law made an e-bird-feeder and I was impressed at how immediately effective it was on marauding squirrels. I never made one but have always promoted the idea.





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[edgarspencer]

I believe there are more than 30 different smoothbores down stairs if ridding myself of them was the object. I have more fun trying to match wits with them,especially as I am no competition for humans. Plus, I hate the smell of burning fur.

[Dean Romig]

:rotf:
It doesn't kill them Edgar. It simply teaches them that it would be unwise to come back.:rotf:





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[Daniel Carter]

Dean please give us a how-to on this.

[edgarspencer]

:rotf:
It doesn't kill them Edgar. It simply teaches them that it would be unwise to come back.:rotf:
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Where's the fun it that?

[Harold Lee Pickens]

I keep a large platform bird feeder with hanging tube feeders, wire baskets, and suet feeder just across the flagstone courtyard from the kitchen window. Unfortunately, its dark when I am eating breakfast, and I dont get home until after 5, so I dont get to enjoy it much. I have an army of red squirrels
(pine) that come to the feeder and an occasional fox squirrel. Thats ok, they are fun to watch. The racoons come in at night and just destroy everything, chew up the plastic, and even the metal baskets. So, I keep a box trap set under the feeder, and, well, those sub sonic .22's work well in my H&R revolver for this. Christmas morning, I had a huge possum in the trap. I do not harbor the same malovolance for possums as I do the racoons. They are such ugly, prehistoric creatures, that I kind of like them. So, I opened the cage door and 20 minutes later, he was still trying to get out the back side. i dropped a piece of ham a foot in front of the trap and he finally poked his head out of the box trap and left. He went over to our patio door and looked thru it, and then went up over the hill.

[Rick Losey]

I keep a large platform bird feeder with hanging tube feeders, wire baskets, and suet feeder just across the flagstone courtyard from the kitchen window. Unfortunately, its dark when I am eating breakfast, and I dont get home until after 5, so I dont get to enjoy it much. I have an army of red squirrels
(pine) that come to the feeder and an occasional fox squirrel. Thats ok, they are fun to watch. The racoons come in at night and just destroy everything, chew up the plastic, and even the metal baskets. So, I keep a box trap set under the feeder, and, well, those sub sonic .22's work well in my H&R revolver for this. Christmas morning, I had a huge possum in the trap. I do not harbor the same malovolance for possums as I do the racoons. They are such ugly, prehistoric creatures, that I kind of like tco our patio door and looked thru it, and then went up over the hill.

Harold, the raccoons around here are not only destructive, but also aggressive - they have charged at my wife and me as well in the yard - the sub sonic loads in a revolver (Ruger single six) is my solution as well - Possums are aggressive in driving the barn cats of their warm & dry shelter so here at least I have to treat them the same -

the one varmint i used to clear out but no longer do is woodchucks - when we first moved here I fell into one of their tunnels while mowing the yard so tried to keep them at bay- but have noticed they have become quite efficient at cleaning up the bird seed on the ground around the feeders. That waste was a big draw to skunks. since I have let the woodchucks do the clean up- the skunk intrusions have been reduced significantly

[edgarspencer]

Opossums carry their young on their back. When I was a kid I watched one waddle off carrying about 9-10 babys and one fell off. Try as I would, I couldn't get momma to take the baby, so I raised it, and it was a very friendly pet for 5-6 years. She would purr like a cat when she sat in your lap. Their fur is very soft. My wife always hated them bec ause of their rat like tail, but she has her favorite that lives in a window well.

[Richard Flanders]

And here I have been thinking I was the only kid to have a pet possum.... I even took it to biology class for a while and let folks pet it.