sandpat

Mel...thats great news about the squirrel. I am really sorry for starting the hijacking... :oops: my apologies.

k..I think the key to the mouse problem is keeping the scratch in metal cans with the tops where they can't get in at all...and keeping the feeders hanging...not on the ground. If the chicks can scatter the scratch and leave some..you will have mice. (From my experience..and I have lots of lazy cats) Or...you can quit feeding your cat..now theres a thought. :wink:

k3n

The feed storage bin is mouse proof - it's from the feeder itself they steal it and leave their droppings in and around it! Yeuch! I'll try and suspend it from the beam - I suppose a few inches up is fine - mice can't jump, can they? :shock: And as for not feeding Barney Cat - :shock: :lol: he yells aat me now if he's not fed 3 times a day (kitty crunches at breakfast, meat at dinner and more kitty crunches at supper and enough over in case he needs a little snack in the night!) Yup, he's spoilt! :oops: :lol:

rita333

We have lots of gray squirrels here too. They are a pest at times. They do dig in the yard and since there are lots of nut trees around this time of year they are very busy. A few years ago they got under our roof vents and chewed threw the screen and got into our attic. What a mess they made. To solve that problem we took old freezer baskets and put them over the top of the vents. Now just a few days ago one not so smart, nosey squirrel fell down our chimney and landed on the pipe for our wood stove. After a lot of scratching the stupid thing slipped down the rest of the way to the wood stove. So you think you have a problem. There is no way to get the critter out with out having it running around the house, so we are waiting for the poor thing to die. Now will have to put something over the chimney top so this won't happen again. My grandkids couldn't figure out why the squirrel couldn't climb back out, after all Santa does!!!

burnsk

Cayenne pepper works as long as it doesn't rain. Then you have to reapply it. I put it in my bird feeder and it keeps them away from it. Birds can't taste it. I buy it at the bulk food store. I think the guy there thinks I have a cast iron stomach (LOL).

Skeat

Rita....you are having your fill, literally w/these! Here's a suggestion for your fireplace visitor....take a thicker rope....w/a weight on one end, leave that end on your roof....drop the other in the fireplace. He will climb out. We had to do that for a cat once that fell in the barn walls. I only suggest a weight on one end as I don't think you want to hold it when it does come out:) Love the Santa thoughts!! Who can't appreciate those innocent and simple solutions to problems?!LOL Skeat....who has a chimney cover too...(I heard about coon stories like this!)

sandpat

Skeat, I'm soo glad you suggested that to Rita! I had horrible thoughts of the poor squirrel in there...trapped...now if it was stupid enough to fall in there...do you suppose it is smart enough to climb out?

Skeat

Yep....instinct is to climb higher....:)

rita333

We thought of the rope. That would have worked if the squirrel would have stayed in the chimney part, but when it hit the metal stove pipe that comes up from the wood stove it crawled into that. Then there is the elbow in the pipe that goes down to the wood stove. That's where it ended up. If it would have missed the metal pipe and went all the way to the bottom of the chimney, which is in the basement, I wouldn't have heard the thing and I wouldn't known it was in there until it got smelly. I guess things like this, is part of nature, life and death of nosy critters.

sandpat

What about one of those plumbing snake type of things Rita? Don't those wind through ell curves in pipes?

Mousie

wow, Patti, that is a really good idea...like my gma used to say, two heads are better than one...
dunno about two-headed creatures, though! :lol: