Squirrels are no doubt beneficial and adorable. But they are destructive and can do a lot of damage to your garden and home.
Apart from that, if squirrels take any space, they can tear up the garden and get into the wall of your home. But if this happens, it won’t be easy to handle.
They can do several damages to your garden and home. Such as, they can eat up the plant that you might have planted a few days ago. Or they can eat the food from the bird feeders.
Additionally, the squirrels are the reason for constant frustration for the gardeners. They not only eat the plants and fruits, but also they can do several damages to your home.
In that case, you must look for ways to repel squirrels from your yard. I hope these solutions will help you a lot.
What Attract Squirrel
Squirrels generally like the backyard and gardens because of the plenty of food there. The squirrels live in woods parks and are active during the daytime.
The squirrels are excellent runners, and they could nest in various trees in the garden of hiding trees and care for their babies.
The squirrels generally eat berries, fruits, nuts, eggs, seeds, and sometimes young birds. Primarily, the squirrels are vegetarian. But if they find little eggs or seeds in the bird feeder, they will not leave it.
In that case, you can try various ways to protect the bird feeder from squirrels. In the market, certain bird feeders are designed in such a way that they can prevent the squirrels from getting the seeds from the feeder.
The squirrels are also attracted by freshwater. So, you can disrupt the freshwater source to get rid of squirrels.
Apart from that, squirrels are nut lovers. However, they may not eat it all the time. But they store nuts for winter.
The squirrels can also easily identify the smell of nuts. So, if there is an orchard tree in your home, it will attract the squirrels.
I hope you have understood how the squirrels get attracted to your home and garden. Let’s know about some ways to keep these menace from your area that we will cover in this article.
What Are The Signs Of Squirrel Damage In your Yard
Most of the gardeners face squirrel problems in their garden. Before you take action against this problem, learn the signs of squirrel damage. Apart from that, knowing the squirrel damage sign, you can take necessary action. Let’s know about it in detail:
- Absent Crops: If you found a constant loss of crops in your garden, then the squirrel might be responsible for this. The squirrel generally damages crops, tomatoes, berries, lettuce, etc.
- Bulb damage: Bulb damage is another sign of squirrel damage in your yard. Although, their main food source is nature. Still, they don’t know the difference between foods that fall from trees or foods that grow in the homeowner’s garden. They can also dig up the planted bulbs in the garden. They do it for hiding and to store food that they have collected.
- Stealing Bird Food: The squirrels can easily investigate any food source. They can even find the seeds in bird feeders. Generally, squirrels love sunflower seeds which are common in any bird feeder. Not only do they eat that fall from the bird feeder. But also they can investigate the bird feeder and eat from this.
- Soil Disruption: Mulch and soil disruption is another way to find the squirrels in the garden. The squirrels love to dig up the oil and create mulch in the garden bed. This is a possible sign of squirrel infestation. In that case, you should implement ways to repel the squirrels from the garden.
How to Keep Squirrels Away Naturally?
This is probably the most important part of the article that you were looking for. Before trying these ways, make sure that the squirrels will not die with your tried methods. By following these below ways properly, you can keep the squirrels away from your yard.
1. Test An Ultrasound Squirrel Deterrent
The squirrels can also respond to a frequency range wider than humans. In that case, install an ultrasound squirrel deterrent that will keep the area squirrel-free and other rodents away from the garden.
Ultrasound Deterrents are small-sized devices that produce sound to keep rodents and other insects away. It emits a minimal range of frequencies that is not detectable by humans. So, you and your family will not be disturbed by this sound.
2. Hide or Relocate Their Food
Once you see the fallen nuts, acorns, and berries in the garden, make sure to pick them first. Now, relocate the food outside of your home or yard.
3. Feed The Squirrel
This is another method to keep the squirrels away from your yard. If your garden is set up in a larger area, then make a feeding ground for the squirrels themselves.
You can also use a squirrel feeder with sunflower seeds, peanuts, and corn feed. Some gardeners also opt for harvesting more tomatoes to keep these tiny creatures satisfied.
4. Give Them To Drink
If you see the squirrels eating up the juicy vegetables from your yard, then they might be thirsty. In that case, by setting up a drinking space for the squirrels, you can save up your tomatoes for harvesting.
5. Frighten Them Up
You can use visual deterrents to frighten the squirrels. You can also turn to artificial birds of prey such as owls, falcons, etc. But make sure to move those birds from the same area because the squirrels can get used to these artificial predators.
6. Squirrel-proof the Feeders
Peanuts and nutritious bird seeds are a magnet for the grey squirrels. Squirrel-free bird feeders are one of the best ways to deter squirrels. In that case, the bird feeder will be covered with metal nets that don’t allow the squirrels to get in.
The metal poles should also be greased with smear oil and Vaseline so the squirrels don’t get gripping support.
7. Take Help Of Four-legged Friends
The squirrels are generally afraid of dogs and cats. If you have dogs or cats in your home, keep them in your garden. This way, you can prevent the coming of squirrels in your home.
8. Live to trap
You can catch live squirrels and relocate them to another place through live trapping. Thus, you can get rid of the squirrels without killing and harming them.
The squirrel’s traps are found almost everywhere. Put some food, such as nuts and berries, inside of the trap so the squirrel can resist them from entering.
Keep your eyes on the trap to see if any squirrels have got stuck here or not. Once you find a squirrel, provide enough food and water to survive.
Some Natural Squirrels repellent ideas can help you. Let’s know about them:
Hot Pepper Plants and Cayenne Pepper
You can use the hot pepper plants and cayenne pepper in various ways to repel squirrels. Here these are given below:
- You can sprinkle crushed pepper flakes on the ground or any tree that might attract the squirrels.
- Sprinkle cayenne dust powder on leaves that tempt the squirrel. In that case, you can keep the low-lying leaves as a top priority to work on this method.
- Mix the cayenne powder with petroleum jelly. Now apply it on the branches of trees and fences and poles.
- Mix your favorite hot sauce with a gallon of water and pepper powder. Now spray it onto the plant that attracts squirrels.
Garlic Spray
The squirrels don’t like the smell of garlic. So, you can use garlic spray to keep the squirrels away.
Mix chopped garlic, vinegar, and water. Let it mix and keep it for some days. So, the garlic smell can be mixed with water and vinegar.
Now spray it in your garden or any place where squirrel infestation is possible.
Apple Cider Vinegar Spray
The squirrels also don’t like the smell of Apple cider vinegar. Now spray it on any hard surface or squirrel-infested areas.
But make sure to spray it only on hard surfaces. As spraying it over the plants may kill them.
Use Bulbs and Plants
Bulbs can also keep the squirrels away from your home and garden. Squirrels don’t like some plants due to their smell and look. So, by keeping them in your garden, you can get rid of this infestation.
These squirrel-repelling plants include lily of the valley, peppermint, geranium, daffodils, etc.
Use Mothballs
Mothballs can be an alternative way to repel squirrels from the garden. The mothball processes a strong, pungent smell that the squirrels don’t like.
Spread a few mothballs in all the places where the squirrels are found. You can also spread them in your yard. The attic is another best place to stay for the squirrels. So, it would help if you did not miss it.
Jalapeño pepper-vinegar spray
Mixed with vinegar, Jalapeño pepper provides a strong odor that the squirrels may not like. Mix it with water, vinegar, and Jalapeño pepper, and spray it on all the entry points of the squirrel. For the garden, you can spray it over the leaves.
Safflower Seeds
Sometimes, the squirrels deploy the bird feeder and eat food from there. In that case, you can mix some safflower seeds with the birdseed food.
The bitter taste of safflower seed will not bother the birds, but the squirrels won’t like it.
Fox Urine
The squirrels don’t like any place visited by the foxes frequently as the foxes are natural predators of squirrels.
The fox urine is easily available in an online store or any zoo. Take some fox urine and spray it over the garden or in the entry points of ll all squirrels in your home.
You can also spray it near the street and plant bed so the squirrels stay away from here.
Grow mint
Mint has a strong smell that the squirrels don’t like. Growing mint leaves in the garden, and you can resist the entry of squirrels into your garden. So, planting fresh mint in your garden can work best to repel squirrels.
Use Human Hair
Keep some human hair and dog hair ( if possible) in a place where squirrels visit. It will make them scared by thinking that the humans are close by. However, you can get plenty of human hair from your nearby salon. Please keep them in a bird feeder to avoid squirrel damage.
Wrapping it Up
In the Autumn season, the squirrel comes home to find shelter. You can trim the branches that hang next to your roof to prevent their coming. Don’t miss to close the holes in your home also.
If you find any squirrel trapped inside your chimney, don’t let it die there. Rather, help them to get out of there. You can use a live trap or hang a rope so the squirrel can come outside of this chimney.
If you cannot control squirrels in your home, then call a pest control, who can do this job more efficiently, and you will also get rid of this problem in yo
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What do the squirrels hate most?
The squirrels generally don’t like strong odors like pepper, mint, mothballs, predator urine, etc. Apart from that, the squirrels have a great sense of smell. So, if anything is buried up to 1 foot underground, they can find it.
Q: How do you get rid of squirrels in your house?
If there are pets in your home, the squirrel is less likely to visit your home. If it does so, you can take the help of pest control or use strong odors to get rid of them.
Q: What is the best way to repel squirrels from your home?
Generally, there are several ways to get rid of squirrels. One of the great ways to repel squirrels is by using strong odors. These strong odors include coffee grounds, garlic, peppermints, onions, etc.
