Posted By: Muddawg
How Are They Getting In There? - 10/15/19 01:43 AM
You ever go to a squirrel job and wonder "How?". You can plainly see the entry hole, but there is no sign as to how the squirrel is getting to it. You just stare at it, walk around, then stare at it some more and wonder, "Okay. Where's he coming from?"
I set up one like that today. Where the power came into the building, on the corner of the back wall, were three 2 inch PVC conduit pipes that came out of the breaker boxes, up a little ways, then 45ed over and 45ed up again straight into the soffit. Next to the center one, on the right side, there was a hole chewed into the vinyl soffit and the aluminum trim. But there no dirty smugges, no scratch marks, no sign at all where a squirrel might have climbed those pipes. The panel boxes were low enough to the ground that it could easily hop up on the top and just shinny up those pipes, but that would have left at least some sort of tale tale sign of usage. No paw prints on top of the panel boxes, no scratch marks on, around or near the pipes.
As I had just come down from the attic where I had been screening off a gable, sweat pouring off my nose, I had to stop for a cold drink anyway. I just sat there on the tailgate of my truck and stared at those pipes and that gaping hole. I lit a cigarette and pondered my next actions. I know how I'm gonna attack this situation, but I was baffled by the lack of evidence at that particular entry point. "Maybe they are no longer using this hole." I thought. In which case I could just seal it off and move to the next one.
As I sat that, drinking my cold drink and puffing on the coffin nail, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Mr. Squirrel had pranced up from behind me headed to the corner where I stared. He stopped only briefly when he saw me, then scampered on and disappeared around the corner of the building. I sat motionless and just waited to see what happened next. Low and behold! Mr. Squirrel pops his head out from around the corner just under the facial board. He had shinnied up the brick wall around the corner from me and then hopped onto the down spout, and flipped right across the first two pipes, right in the top 45 degree bend and hanging upside down like an acrobat, with a flip of the tail, disappeared into the hole.
Uh, huh! Looking closer now, I can see that claw marks and the smudge spots on top of the down spout and on the back side of the pipes. Well, alrighty now then! When he comes out, I got a surprise waiting for him!
I set up one like that today. Where the power came into the building, on the corner of the back wall, were three 2 inch PVC conduit pipes that came out of the breaker boxes, up a little ways, then 45ed over and 45ed up again straight into the soffit. Next to the center one, on the right side, there was a hole chewed into the vinyl soffit and the aluminum trim. But there no dirty smugges, no scratch marks, no sign at all where a squirrel might have climbed those pipes. The panel boxes were low enough to the ground that it could easily hop up on the top and just shinny up those pipes, but that would have left at least some sort of tale tale sign of usage. No paw prints on top of the panel boxes, no scratch marks on, around or near the pipes.
As I had just come down from the attic where I had been screening off a gable, sweat pouring off my nose, I had to stop for a cold drink anyway. I just sat there on the tailgate of my truck and stared at those pipes and that gaping hole. I lit a cigarette and pondered my next actions. I know how I'm gonna attack this situation, but I was baffled by the lack of evidence at that particular entry point. "Maybe they are no longer using this hole." I thought. In which case I could just seal it off and move to the next one.
As I sat that, drinking my cold drink and puffing on the coffin nail, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Mr. Squirrel had pranced up from behind me headed to the corner where I stared. He stopped only briefly when he saw me, then scampered on and disappeared around the corner of the building. I sat motionless and just waited to see what happened next. Low and behold! Mr. Squirrel pops his head out from around the corner just under the facial board. He had shinnied up the brick wall around the corner from me and then hopped onto the down spout, and flipped right across the first two pipes, right in the top 45 degree bend and hanging upside down like an acrobat, with a flip of the tail, disappeared into the hole.
Uh, huh! Looking closer now, I can see that claw marks and the smudge spots on top of the down spout and on the back side of the pipes. Well, alrighty now then! When he comes out, I got a surprise waiting for him!