Squirrel Problem

[basstrix]

We have a car and a truck in the driveway, along with a ranchero on the side of house. I work from home an my office window looks out into the front yard and the past few days, I've been seeing a squirrel. Every time I see it, I go look for it to try and scare if off. Today, I found it under the hood of one of the cars...we were nearly eye to eye at one point....I yelled and slapped the car and the sumbich just looked at me...made me think it might have babies...no nest, but did see acorn shells. I took the car around the block and when I came back, I popped the hood on the truck...and there was... Foiund a few old looking acorn shells under the ranchero's hood too.... I'm having visions of Caddyshack haha

Have any of you successfully rid a car of squirrels? I'm hoping I got to it soon enough to persuade it to move on. I'm interested in hearing what worked for you.

 

[tony-muscle]

No direct experience but I wonder if something like this would work:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MG94UER/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_9?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

 

[tpj71mach]

I have a bird feeder on the window of my office and a couple squirrels kept trying to get in there and eat the bird seed. My wife got some squirrel repellant off of Amazon and they stopped coming around. I also used to let the dogs out everytime I saw them to run them off, so it might have been a combination of things. The squirrel repellant smelled strong like essential oils or something, and they don't come around anymore.

 

[Kilgon]

Good luck. I went through this a few years back with my Ram 3500. The tree rat ate the tops out of my batteries and had built a nest. I cleaned everything up and patched the tops of the batteries with some fiberglass cloth and resin. I took a couple of bags of chili powder and sprinkled them around the engine compartment. I have been doing that twice a year now and haven't had any more problems. See the following link for some other suggestions.

https://7173mustangs.com/threads/tree-rats.35110/

 

[Tnfastbk]

No squirrels but I had a chipmunk chew 3 plug wires almost in half. Finally, by luck, got him out of the garage before he ate the whole car. Good luck you may have to call in Billy.

 

[vintageman]

Good luck, I have been lucky and have had no wires or any other parts of my cars chewed on by the squirrels or mice but the squirrels have eaten both my front and back yard bench swing cushions. My wife thought the cushions were just getting worn out until I provided a video of one of the squirrels snatching up the padding. Good luck.

Tom

 

[basstrix]

After being nearly eye to eye with the critter, I ran one car around the block and let the other one idle for an hour or so. Afterwards left the hood open on both cars the rest of the day. Since then, knock on wood, I haven't seen it. I've also ordered a trap, but it won't be here until Friday. Hopefully the squirrel has moved on to more peaceful surroundings.

On another note, my neighbors just put in a chicken coupe. When they first moved into the house (a few years ago), they put one up...and with them and the chickens, came the mice. I put out traps and caught several...and in parallel, the chickens died off. Guess I'd better get some mouse traps going, too.

 

[351c1971]

I use poison bait mouse traps in the garage and mothballs in an old sock placed under the hood for cars parked outdoors. The little critters are attracted to the warm engine when parked. The problem usually occurs during the fall and winter in NJ.

 

[Ron Tanzi]

Peppermint oil may work for squirrels. It works well at repelling mice.

Ron

 

[351c1971]

Thanks Ron,
Peppermint oil is worth trying. I'm sure it smells better than moth balls.

 

[tony-muscle]

I use the moth balls and old sock trick in my boat while stored outside over the winter. It leaves the boat very smelly but since it is an open bow the smells quickly goes away after the first outing. Inside a car it would be a different story, specially with the carpet and if you have cloth interior.

 

[Ron Tanzi]

Thanks Ron,
Peppermint oil is worth trying. I'm sure it smells better than moth balls.

You are welcome and I hope it works for you. I have had good luck with it. There are some You tube videos out there regarding the subject.

 

[Stanglover]

I use the moth balls and old sock trick in my boat while stored outside over the winter. It leaves the boat very smelly but since it is an open bow the smells quickly goes away after the first outing. Inside a car it would be a different story, specially with the carpet and if you have cloth interior.

Do NOT, I repeat do NOT use moth balls inside a car. The naphtha in them WILL strip all the bright "chrome" off the trim. This "chrome" is vacuum metalizing using aluminum and almost impossible to redo without having the process redone from scratch.
I found this out the hard way when I had my 72 Mach 1 stored for 5 years. When I went to get it back, every bit of brightwork was gone, except for the real chrome parts of course. Oh, and somehow Mrs. Rat got in and had a family regardless. How and where it got in I have no idea, no holes anywhere so it must have squeezed in past the steering column boot.

 

[DAverkamp]

“Bounce” sheets in the car, a Bloodhound to keep the tree rats nervous, and a accurate pellet pistol to keep the neighbors (and wife) unaware of schwacking insurgents…

 

[basstrix]

Do NOT, I repeat do NOT use moth balls inside a car. The naphtha in them WILL strip all the bright "chrome" off the trim. This "chrome" is vacuum metalizing using aluminum and almost impossible to redo without having the process redone from scratch.
I found this out the hard way when I had my 72 Mach 1 stored for 5 years. When I went to get it back, every bit of brightwork was gone, except for the real chrome parts of course. Oh, and somehow Mrs. Rat got in and had a family regardless. How and where it got in I have no idea, no holes anywhere so it must have squeezed in past the steering column boot.

I was wondering about any compatibility issues mothballs might have....I hadn't considered how it might affect the chrome...was thinking more along the lines of damage to plastics and elastomers. Naptha is used in paint thinner and, at one time, octane booster.

 

[basstrix]

Yesterday, I caught some motion out of the corner of my eye...went out front and saw a squirrel running across the street...did my best imitation of the abominable snowman (from Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer) while the squirrel watched from the neighbors wall....turned to go back inside and there went a different squirrel (from direction I originally caught the motion) up into my truck's engine compartment. Went in and grabbed the keys and let the panic alarm run for a bit...then popped the hood. That alarm didn't phase him one bit. He was in no hurry to get away from me...I could have grabbed his tail....and yeah, I was close enough to confirm it's a "he"....has bigger nuts than Dylan Mulvaney and probably drinks better beer. Anyway, the trap comes tomorrow....hoping for quick results. I'm out of town next week and truck will be safe from him at the airport...probably makes the rancheros more attractive.

 

[Stanglover]

I was wondering about any compatibility issues mothballs might have....I hadn't considered how it might affect the chrome...was thinking more along the lines of damage to plastics and elastomers. Naptha is used in paint thinner and, at one time, octane booster.

That was my experience and no other alternative explanation as to why all the chrome trim around the gauge bezels, along the center console etc. was totally gone, looking like raw plastic in those areas. I was mad at myself for listening to someone else. (that was the car that got away, I should neve have sold it, but.....)
Several years ago, there was one of those fly-by-night network marketing 'companies' who were selling a powder like product that was supposed to be able to boost gas milage. A friend of mine got into the 'business' and tried to sell me on it. It was touted as a "form of Naphtha", I believe Naphthalene they called it. Did it work, not really, but an old farmer friend said they use to add mothballs to the diesel tank on their tractors.

 

[Stanglover]

Yesterday, I caught some motion out of the corner of my eye...went out front and saw a squirrel running across the street...did my best imitation of the abominable snowman (from Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer) while the squirrel watched from the neighbors wall....turned to go back inside and there went a different squirrel (from direction I originally caught the motion) up into my truck's engine compartment. Went in and grabbed the keys and let the panic alarm run for a bit...then popped the hood. That alarm didn't phase him one bit. He was in no hurry to get away from me...I could have grabbed his tail....and yeah, I was close enough to confirm it's a "he"....has bigger nuts than Dylan Mulvaney and probably drinks better beer. Anyway, the trap comes tomorrow....hoping for quick results. I'm out of town next week and truck will be safe from him at the airport...probably makes the rancheros more attractive.

You should live where I live. We have hundreds of black squirrels running around, but they don't seem to bother anything other than digging for nuts they think they buried in the flower beds or lawn. If we have our 3 cats out ( we only let them out when we're out with them) the squirrels run up the tree, hang upside down and "natter" at the cats, like they're saying "come and get me if you can". The cats are too lazy to chase them up the tree though.