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Squirrel Repellent

Summary: Squirrel repellent products make claims of guaranteed effectiveness, but most of these products carry no scientific data and are little more than professionally packaged home remedies.

Love to watch those playful squirrels. Hate to get them out of your garden, flowers or attic? Here's a collection of products that claim to repel squirrels for once and for all. Well, maybe not for all time, but for all day. Whatever! You read it and chose to be a believer or non-believer.

Let's start with the animal repellents that you apply to the lawn, bushes, garden and other outside locations where squirrels are driving you crazy. Of course, there is the champion internet advertiser, Dr. T. Seems this guy has an answer for most pests including deer, raccoons, skunk, dogs, snakes, cats, woodpeckers and, least we forget, squirrels. This product relies heavily upon naphthalene, or for you laypeople, mothballs. Problem is, mothballs volatilize or dissolve into the air. The mothball “perfume” not only irritates the lungs of the squirrel, but it can get to you, too.

I've seen people throw fistfuls of mothballs into attic spaces to get rid of

Motion Detector

squirrels, only to realize a few days later that the smell is permeating through the ceiling into a bedroom below. Now, they have to crawl into the attic and try to remove all those decomposing mothball and hope they don't succumb to the toxic odor. Now you know how I feel about Dr. T's products.

There are lots of squirrel repellents that use granules or powder impregnated with coyote urine. The mere presence of the smell of coyote urine is supposed to trigger the squirrel's inborn fear instinct and make it bolt from your property. Little problem here. If the squirrel is frightened it will climb a tree knowing the coyote cannot follow. The squirrel will sit there looking around and quickly figure out that no coyote is present. Bingo! End of repellent effectiveness.

If you don't like toxic mothballs or the thought of spreading the urine of wild animals, how about something natural? Someone has decided that mixing up spices that burn in our mouths is sure to do the same for wild animals like squirrels. So, we have hot pepper mixtures available under various names and labels. All claim “proven formulas”. None can substantiate their claims. If you are really bent on trying this one here is a recipe offered by one online advertiser. Take special note of the last line of directions.

Take one small bottle of hot pepper sauce. (I suppose you get to select your favorite.)
Mix in one gallon of water.
Also, mix in one teaspoon of liquid dishwashing detergent to help the products stay in suspension.
Spray on plants or anything you would like protected from chewing, until a permanent exclusion of welded wire or hardware cloth can be applied.

Still thinking you like smelly products. Try Bio-Defend which says their product

Strobe Light

uses offensive smells and tastes using white pepper, vinegar and sulfur to scare off squirrels.

One of my favorite repellers is a device that you hook up to your garden hose. It incorporates a motion detector and turns the hose on when it detects something within its range. Seems like a good idea and you can keep your grass watered at the same time.

There are a few new ideas out there. One example is a strobe light device that you hand from the rafters in your attic. The constant blinking light is supposed to drive squirrels out of their minds. I can just hear them screaming, "I can't get any sleep with all that flashing."

Lastly, there are the sound devices. These products are supposed to emit a powerful sonic and ultrasonic sound wave that attacks the auditory and nervous systems of most animals causing them pain and discomfort. Humans cannot hear it and after watching some of these devices in action, I'm not sure the animals hear it either.

So many choices. So many dollars to spend. I know many of these products offer a money back guarantee, but I strongly advise reading the small print before plunking down your hard-earned cash. Trapping and removal is what rings my personal bell. It is not the most enjoyable thing, but I have physical evidence that I am removing an animal that was, heretofore, tearing my house apart.

Comments

Bob Lightbourne
29 Jul 2009, 09:14

I think I have squirrels living in the chimney a couple feet above the fireplace in my living room. For over a week now I hear scrabbling sounds on the metal chimney interior usually 8-10am in the morning. I called Animal Control in my town and they said I should call a commercial exterminator. I called one who said they'd charge $225, which strikes me as a wee bit pricey. I looked up squirrel predators and found foxes, weasels, raccoons. I downloaded sounds of these animals, and hooked up a speaker in my fireplace to play them back. When I play the sounds the scrabbling stops for awhile, but then recommences after about 30 minutes later. Any idea which predator scares squirrels the most ?

Nancy Greever
23 Nov 2009, 12:02

How can I keep squirrels from chewing
on xmas lights I have on my deck? They
chew on the wire.

Rich
18 May 2010, 10:36

How can I train the squirrels in my yard to play Scrabble (see the comment at top)?
All they do now is tear up the flowers I planted, maybe chewing on the roots.

Big Kev Stailey
09 Jun 2010, 22:42

Ammonia, yes, Ammonia. Squirrels hate the smell of ammonia, avoid it like the plague. I have 5 fruit trees in my back yard and every year they eat every piece of fruit, to the very last piece of fruit. I thought about a pellet gun, no, too cruel, I thought about rat poison, no, way too cruel, I thought about a stuffed owl or cat, no, squirrels are smart, after a few hours they don't see the stuffed creature move they figure it out and attack mode returns. So, I did some web searching after seeing Billy the Exterminator talk about how snakes hate the smell of garlic....hmmmm, I wonder what squirrels hate the smell of I thought. So I did some research and whallaaa..Ammonia...So, having some in my garage I soaked some terry cloths with it and tied them to a few upper branches of the tree right where the little critters jump into them. Then I sat back on my deck and waited. Low and behold, here they come, just like clock work, they love breakfast at peaches and pears in my back yard. They cleared the tree from my neighbors yard as they flew through the air and landed in their favorite dig just inches from one of my rags. I don't think 2 seconds passed til they made a hiatus back to the tree they came from and disappeared into the foiliage of the neighbors trees not to return. I left the rags on the trees and every couple of days climb up my ladder and put some more til near dripping. To extend the time of evaporation I also covered them with zip lock bags with about a dozen holes with a hole punch in them. the odor is still prevelent and the ammonia lasts for a couple of days, maybe longer. I haven't seen the squirrels for nearly 3 weeks now, oh they come by but they leave without a hop into any of my trees. No harm, no foul. I would'nt mind if they would leave me some fruit but they eat all of it every year. I don't want to be cruel, I just want to enjoy the fruit from my trees as much as they do. That is after all, why I planted them. For those who think I am being hard on them you may be relieved to know that I pick some and toss it on the ground of my neighbors yard when I refill my rag bags. My neighbor says they seem to be ok with that.

George David Mills
03 Jul 2010, 19:21

I am going to try the Ammonia around my
veggies to see if it works

lg
16 Aug 2010, 17:04

squirrel trap. Doesn't kill them. You just can't leave them in there a long time especially if it is very hot cause they try non stop to get out and eventually will succumb to heat exhaustion very easily.
.
Set it when you are home and close the gate when you are not. That simple.
.
Once you catch one in my city you have to take it out of the city limits. Some places you don't. Some people take them to a park but don't infest someone else's neighborhood.
.
Place a few pecans in there and once they set it off the door closes behind them and it's a done deal. You can pick one up at a local feed store usually or many other places. Non lethal if you are responsible and works every single time.
.
I've trapped well over 50 squirrels in last 2 years. Problem is they just keep coming cause they realize your tree is vacant now or the territory is open.
.
But it keeps them from nesting, then babies, then insane squirrel craziness reaped upon your house and yard.

john buxton
26 Sep 2010, 23:27

i had a red squirrel in my wall,tried many things,traps,moth balls,poison,etc,etc,tonight i mixed bleach and ammonia and squirted it in the wall,2 hours later a lot of thrashing and the varmint was running around in a panic attack,lungs burnt to hell,good riddance!!

Gerry
27 Oct 2010, 20:01

We are over run with squirrels in the NW suburbs of Illinois and I have had the wiring of my car chewed twice ($200). I ALWAYS keep a box of mothballs under the hood now in a plastic bag partially opened.

There is NOTHING humane about trapping them and turning them loose on a strange turf to sicken, perhaps get rabies even and die. Apple cores and/or peanut butter work great in these safe traps and then be responsible enough to quietly fill up your largest garbage can and toss cage and squirrel in. Be careful, they aren't cute trapped in a cage either. Throwing a blanket over the cage quiets them down until their babtism.

sean
10 Dec 2010, 10:32

^that was nice...
never thought i'd hear somebody suggest drowning as a humane alternative to trap and release.

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Squirrel Repellent

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