Many of us love going outside and seeing the nature that surrounds us. It is a great escape from being cooped up inside a house. If you are like my family, we have trees growing all around us! In my family’s case we have some for shade and some for pecan production. With trees, and especially fruit and nut trees, comes the never-ending battle against the tree rodent known as the tree squirrel. If you are in production of a crop that is grown on trees, such a pecan grower or peach grower, you are very aware of these critters. For those of us that are just moving out on our own and buying a house, creating the landscape around the house is important and you will too, soon join in the battle with the squirrels. That is why I felt that this topic is very important and relevant to what we all are dealing with. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources published a full PDF on this topic. I took that information along with some personal knowledge and wanted to present tips on successfully winning against squirrels. Georgia currently is home to several species of tree squirrels, most common is the Gray squirrel followed by the Fox Squirrel and the Southern Flying Squirrel. In Georgia the Eastern Gray Squirrels and Eastern Fox Squirrels are considered game animals and they have a hunting season from Mid-August through the end of February. These critters love some big tree forests, but that does not mean that is the only place you will see them. Commonly around here we see them in pine forests and also in urban settings where bigger trees are found. We have some pines by the house and man oh man, do those squirrels come out the woodwork for some pecans. The Gray and the Fox species are active during the day time while the Flying is a nocturnal animal. So are you saying that if I do not have pecan trees or fruit trees I should not really care that squirrels are living in my backyard? Not exactly. Of course keeping your fruit and nut trees protected is a big factor as why we find squirrels to be annoying, but if you have a huge population of squirrels in your yard they could end up getting into your house’s attic or other nooks and crannies and cause issues. They chew on the siding of houses, to get into the attics, insulation, and electrical lines as well. This is a fire hazard and could cause a case of potential wet pants… not sure if you have ever woken in the middle of the night to scratching and gnawing noises coming from your attic, but I have seen enough horror movies where that would make me have quite the case of goosebumps. The squirrels also chew the bark and limbs of trees which causes structural damage to the actual tree. Some smaller limbs can fall because of this which is in itself a safety hazard. Even a small branch from the top of a tall pine can cause injuries. The damage felt for backyards of homeowners and smaller growers is more extreme than the damage of the squirrels to larger scale orchards in terms of the loss that comes from squirrels eating fruits and nuts or knocking them down. The last bit of warning in allowing a big population of squirrels in your area is disease reasons. Squirrels can carry several diseases that infect humans such as Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and Leptospirosis. They also can transport fleas and botflies which cause their own issues and can potentially carry even more diseases.
Okay you convinced me to keep a watchful eye on these critters, but what are some ways to manage them??? Good question, and the answer depends on what you want to do. If you are trying to keep them out or extremely reduce the number you have, you can do either the repellent method, trapping method, or the exclusion method. For repellents, there are those that are classified as taste repellents. That means once the squirrel eats something with the repellent on it, they will experience an unpleasant taste that will encourage them to not eat that tree or plant again. Ropel, which contains a bittering agent, and Miller hot sauce, which contains capsaicin, are two of the most common in the taste repellent category. Polybutenes is a repellent that deters the squirrels from climbing. It is a sticky substance that you can apply to structures like a building or house side. The success rate with repellents is so-so. It really varies from use to use. Trapping on the other hand is common in fighting the squirrel. Cage traps and box traps are most common and can be combined with some good bait to be more effective such as apple slices, nuts, sunflower seeds, or even peanut butter. Exclusion is the most effective method that has been seen to prevent tree and property damages. In protecting individual trees, you can encircle them in a two foot wide collar of metal six feet off the ground. This same technique can be used on poles as well such as bird feeder poles. To protect squirrels running on wires, you can put the wire through some lightweight plastic pipe and when they go to run on the wire the pipe will rotate and cause the squirrel to fall. To help with attic prevention use wire mesh to close off any access points and around the inside corners of your attic. The final way to help ensure that squirrels are not an issue is habitat modification. This does not mean removal or reducing, it also means preventing and properly managing. This includes trimming tree limbs to be six to eight feet from the roof or the building in general, or providing alternate food sources, like a bird feeder but for squirrels, that they can access instead of your trees. In terms of agriculture settings, removal of other near-by trees from your crops is a good idea. They prefer hardwoods or big trees so keeping those away from your crops will help reduce the population significantly. These methods and tips can go a long way in fighting back against squirrels. If you want to read the official PDF Warnell released please send me a message and I will be happy to send it to you! (Blake.carter25@uga.edu)