I’ve got (at least one) a resident squirrel who likes chewing on a portion of my deck; a specific portion, in fact. In these photos you can see the *damage *caused. This has actually been going on for years. I’d estimate it was 2 seasons ago that I first heard the little bastard chewing on it and visually confirmed what was causing this anomaly in my decking.
He’s gotten more hungry/curious/bored/ambitious this season and I’ve (visually) caught him a couple of times this ~week. I often pull the grill over that spot and that keeps him away. I’ve not been so diligent recently and he’s ramped up his efforts in response. No other parts of the deck or house are being attacked by any varmints, save this one area.
Can’t say but I have had some success with a spray deterrent like Critter Ridder that you can find at most hardware stores or nurseries.
I would have thought he was sharpening his teeth but it’s strange that he keeps going back to the one spot when he could perform the same function anywhere else on your deck.
He/she is gnawing to keep his/her teeth down to the right length. Rodent teeth grow all the time and if the natural diet doesn’t wear them away fast enough the owner puts in some gnawing time.
My cats take care of all rodents here.
You could try to drench the board in something like waste motor oil. But the cunning critters might just relocate …
I suspected that, actually. But why this particular spot/board? He’s (could actually be they) only interested in that board and has barely touched any adjacent planks.
There’s nothing different about this plank. At least nothing that I can see. I’ll add the footnote that I am not a squirrel, nor a squirrel superhero with special super squirrelly senses, so i could be overlooking something.
That board has an obvious knot in it, but so do many of the boards on that deck. Additionally, the activity doesn’t really seem to be focused on the knot.
Since it’s only in that one spot, my guess is that there’s some either on or in that board. Whether it came from the lumber yard like that or something happened to it (maybe grease from the grill spilled on it), I don’t know. I’d try spraying something on it. Probably just something random from around the house. Bleach, household degreaser (409), whatever other random chemical I found around the house. Just something to either cover up or get rid of it or deter the animal. Since it’s always been that one plank, I don’t think I’d worry about the squirrel(s) moving to another one, at least not yet.
I’m actually repairing / re-staining the deck this month (oh shit, it’s October already?). I’m hoping the fresh coat of semi-solid will leave a bad-enough taste in the squirrel’s mouth.
I chuckled as I imagined his dog hanging off John Mace’s roof and snarling down at squirrels on the eave.
John Mace, is there anything of note about that part of your garage or its eave?
Just for kicks I’d probably still bleach or degrease that area or at least use a bleach based deck cleaner before restraining it.
Whatever you do, if they attack it again (or if you spot clean it and that area comes out different), you can always pull that one plank and restain it. But, the sooner you do it, the more closely it’ll match the rest of the deck.
and its not just one squirrel. There is a particular corner of my wooden house that they have chewed to pieces. Repellent only seems to work for a short while (it rains a lot here). I know its more than one because I saw one do it one day and shot him, and they are still doing it.
I know it sounds cruel but they have also chewed through the shingles in several areas of the roof, leading to $900 in roof repairs and water intrusion into the house. I generally don’t like killing animals, but I shoot them on sight now, and the activity has commensurately decreased.
Even the hipster squirrels stay away from the hot pepper suet out there, so sriracha could work.
I scrubbed the board and the adjacent area on Saturday with a TSP and Oxycleen cocktail. Not as a deterrent so much as it was in preparation for staining the area as soon as it gets dry enough long enough over here (we’ve had about a dozen consecutive days of rain in Raleigh).
I also think that it’s multiple squirrels doing this on my deck. I don’t (currently) have the body-count to prove it, but I’d believe it’s more than a one-squirrel obsession.
What if you leave some PBR and squirrel sized skinny jeans out there?
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I also think that it’s multiple squirrels doing this on my deck. I don’t (currently) have the body-count to prove it, but I’d believe it’s more than a one-squirrel obsession.
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Multiple squirrels would (in my mind) further the theory that it’s something IN the wood and not one neurotic squirrel.
PS, I hate threads about squirrels, I can never spell it on the first (or second or third) try and have to spell it wrong, well enough, for FF’s horrible spell checker to figure out what I was aiming for.
