how can i keep squirrels from getting under my hood, building nests, chewing through wires, and costing $$ in repairs???
predator urine extract - coyote or something similar. It doesn’t smell like pee, to us anyway, and people have reported it to be effective in scaring rodents away.
Place traps (rat traps) laced with peanut butter under the car. If concerned, a live trap can be substituted.
Get an indoor/outdoor cat.
Or use one of the methods listed above.
I like the predator urine extract idea best.
I have heard dryer sheets repel critters. For rabbits I have found after we brush our dogs spreading the dog hair around the garden helps, maybe it will work for squirrels. There was a lady that would spin the old dog hair into yarn and knit you a sweater if you have more dog hair than you know what to do with
“For rabbits I have found after we brush our dogs spreading the dog hair around the garden helps.”
Really?
I had been doing that regularly, until I observed rabbits inside my vegetable plot, which was literally paved with discarded dog hair. Your rabbits must be easier to scare than the ones in my neck of the woods.
I guess so! German shepherd hair worked,what dog do you have? Hoping not a Lhasa Apso.
I was told once on good authority on a Good Sams book, that you can put those moth ball type toilet bowl hanger things on the intake manifold to keep pest away. Plus there cheap to buy. I did on my motorhome that sat outside all the time and never had a problem.
The problem with squirrels is they are so persistent. If you repell them fom one area, they go to another close by often in the same car. Trapping and killing or removal completely is the best way to deal with they and the mice who will be close behind.
You think you’ve got problems?
Get an indoor/outdoor cat.
Better yet, get a python. Among other advantages, they’re quieter and cheaper to operate.
Is there such a thing as an indoor/outdoor python?
Unfortunately, just during the time when squirrels are most active and aggressively getting ready to nest in the warmth of your engine bay, pythons are the least active and looking for warmth themselves. To best utilize their potential, I would guess you may need a heated garage and keep temps in the low 80s at least to encourage them. The squirrels then would be less interested in the car and more inclined to forage in the overhead ares of the garage, eliminating the snake option. In temperate zones, pythons I believe are strictly indoor in an aquarium. Be sure and wash your hands before handling the python if you have recently petted your dog or cat…for obvious reasons.
I suppose you could substitute a barn owl for the python, but they’re a little higher-maintenance.
thanks for all the suggestions!
we’ve tried mothballs- worked for a while, pet hair- they use in their nests…gonna give the urine a try and see what happens…and no i’m not getting a snake!
(thankfully the neighbor’s dog has eliminated a few of them!)
Terriers love to hunt rodents.
We had a 2001 Honda Accord with just shy of 300,000 miles. The car seemed practically invincible until squirrels took a liking to it. They chewed all the wring under the hood and made a nest. We tried all the suggestions to keep them out, red fox urine, strong soaps (Irish Spring, IIRC), brushed our cats and put tufts of their hair under the hood, mothballs, aluminum foil and a couple other things I’m probably forgetting now. Nothing worked. It seemed like once the squirrels decided that was their home, they just wouldn’t give up on it no matter what we tried. The day after we got it home from the shop getting wiring replaced, they were back again. We even found new-born baby squirrels under the hood one day. We ended up selling the car–and then the squirrels moved into our next door neighbor’s Chevy S10.