We have been approaching our squirrel challenge with some results, but we noticed additional, ongoing damage, a fact that was confirmed by our contractor on Monday. Literally, more damage is visible every day. I phoned the good people at Critter Control (CC) Monday afternoon, and had a full assessment (from our attic and roof to the perimeter of our property). Per CC, squirrels are very territorial animals and operate in packs. What CC thinks is occurring is that our home is the subject of a turf war.
Let us pause to let that sink in completely. Our home is the subject of a squirrel turf war.
As an aside, I have sought to make this blog family friendly, and I have never had to struggle to keep from using profanity until now with this post.
Here is how the turf war works. He suspects that two (or more) packs are "marking" the home by chewing on various surfaces to leave their scent and warn other squirrels/packs to abandon the area. Luckily, there is no evidence whatsoever of any entry into our home. That is excellent news because I would be writing this from a hotel if that had been the case. Anyway, back to the war. Why our house? A walk around the yard revealed that we have an oak tree (a "something-something oak")(honestly, my listening skills were compromised after hearing that squirrels are fighting over our house) that serves as a food source. The squirrels have burrowed a nest in the top of the tree.
While squirrels normally construct leaf nests (I have posted photos of them previously), they will occasionally nest in a tree cavity, either building a nest in a damaged tree or expanding on damage created by woodpeckers. Not these squirrels; they did not do this half-way. These squirrels have chewed a large hole into the top of our tree, making a fresh, new nest. The CC tech commented several times that these must be very aggressive squirrels because having them chew on the dormers, in plain sight of predators, is unusual. He also thought the nest in the top of the tree (versus our attic) was bold as well. I assured him that these are some fat, brazen squirrels.
I performed a Google search last night to find a photograph similar to our tree cavity and came up with nothing. So, I took a couple of shots of our tree and squirrel nest:
I kept waiting for one of the squirrels to peer out and flash an obscene hand gesture.
Anyrate. He set some traps as a short term solution, and I cornered him on a longer game plan. We have decided to eliminate the food source by having the tree removed. We do not take this step lightly. Removing the food source to discourage the squirrels seems like the most humane route, and the tree is (or will be) badly damaged, as my reading indicates that they will carve more and more entry points into this tree. Before anyone sends me criticizing e-mail, know this: the squirrels killed this tree.
CC went into the whole squirrel pack sociology (i.e., if we capture the alpha squirrel, etc.), but, again, I was unable to concentrate once the words "packs" and "turf" were mentioned. Basically, if we eliminate the current trespassers, a food source has been identified and a permanent, cozy nest has been established. Even if we eliminate the current pack, a neon "vacancy" sign may as well be lit. Therefore, I met with a tree company today, and we are taking down the tree.
The next long-range plan is to make our yard as unattractive as possible since squirrels follow the path of least resistance. Traps have been set so that we may catch and release these lovely animals. Finally, I jokingly mentioned getting a dog, and the CC representative immediately said, "That would eliminate your problem altogether." We are saving the dog plan, dubbed plan "D" (sorry), as a final, thermonuclear option. Given our time limitations, we would likely explore condo life first.
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