Now it's war! and I need help. - Montana Owners Club

snowbunny · 05-02-2005, 03:29 AM

Kindly folks that we are, we feed the birds all winter and when we saw red squirrels at our feeder we welcomed them too. This was a big mistake. First they chewed through the screen on our gable vents and took up residence in the walls of our home. Last year they got into the belly of our Montana and filled it full of spruce cones!

I spent a lot of time cleaning that out and making sure that they couldn't get back in this past winter, but they did!

I just spent most of the weekend replacing all the 4" flexible ducting on our heating system. The dear little squirrels chewed into a duct and used it as a highway to get through all the belly compartments.

For the life of me, I can't be sure of how they got in this time but I am guessing that they climbed up into the propane tank spaces, over the angle iron frame (a 1" gap) and into the front compartment. They couldn't get into the duct from there because I had put 1/4" metal screen over the end but they chewed into the metal duct that feeds heat into the bedroom and from there they chewed into and out of all the rest of the ducting.

I have now put 1/4" hardware cloth over every 1" gap I could find, but, (while this may be politically incorrect) would like to find some squirrel bait that I could spread around the ducting and belly to put an end to these cute little suckers.

Can anyone help?

BillyRay · 05-02-2005, 03:39 AM

wow! what a mess! maybe take them for a ride far away and let them loose....nice thought, but I'm sure as soon as you tried to leave they would get out. I was worried too as we left a bag of bird seed in ours for the winter (by mistake) now I'll have to look as well. who would ever think such a problem would happen. let me give it some thought....

mazeeff · 05-02-2005, 03:49 AM

I have found that Fox urine is one of the best ways to keep Squirels out of your house, trailer, etc. You can buy this at a local HW store, and a "little" goes a long way. A few drops on a rag, tied around the landing gear, and axles, should work. Do NOT use it anywhere inside the storage compartments. It is strong smelling. One whiff of this stuff, and the Squirels will move on, for fear that their arch enemy has moved into your trailer!

jrgwdenner · 05-02-2005, 04:32 AM

Whew, Mike, I'd move on, too! Nasty solution to a nastier problem. Good luck!

Sunshine · 05-02-2005, 04:53 AM

Sorry to hear about your squirrel problem. Lots of those "cute" critters turn out to be a royal nuisance!! In our country it is chipmunks (sage rats) that give us fits at times. We took a trip to Utah with our pickup and camper towing the Jeep (pre-Montana days) a few years back and barely made it up the mountains - low power, black smoke, etc., and this is an F350 diesel! When we got home hubby got to checking and the sage rats had chewed the insulation off the inside of the hood and used it to build a nest in the air cleaner!!! No wonder the pickup was gasping!! We haven't tried the natural deterrents like animal urine yet, but we sure keep a vigilant eye out so Chip and Dale don't get where they shouldn't! Good luck with a solution to the problem.

Parrothead · 05-02-2005, 06:06 PM

I feel your pain. When I lived in Upstate NY, for a while we lived in a mobile home. A squirrel or several took up residence. They ate my decorative corn, and then ate my bar soap or chewed on it, and them ate the back of my couch. We tried everything nice and then I got mad because I could hear them at night. Dcon (rat kind because they are bigger than mice) did the trick - got rid of them and no smell.

jrgwdenner · 05-03-2005, 12:20 AM

We had a flying squirrel live in our house for six weeks in Virginia, on the sly. I thought he had scooted out the back door when I was chasing him. He lived on the dog's food. I would find a nugget out in the middle of the family room but never attributed it to the squirred, who I thought was long gone. Finally the dog picked up his scent in the couch and we got him outside where he belonged.

Bob Pasternak · 05-03-2005, 12:33 AM

One can also get some stuff called capsaicin at Walmart or Menard's. It is usually in a spray container and is the stuff that makes Jalapenos hot. I've sprayed bird feeders and food with. It won't hurt or bother the birds but will give squirrels a hot foot or anything else they get it on.

tbhd · 05-03-2005, 06:19 AM

We've heard those electronic pest controls (battery or plug in) work great. Sam's club and Costco have them. Good luck!!!

Sue · 05-03-2005, 06:31 AM

MOTH BALLS....if you can stand the smell yourself. It's a smell I hate, but it does work!

old turbo · 05-03-2005, 09:22 AM

I know what your going through. I have a friend who camps with us who is real tight when it comes to driveing his vehicle while we are camped,like maybe never the whole week or better. He learned his lesson, went to start his truck,it would not roll over. We looked under the hood and the ground rodents had chewed all the insulation off his wireing.Cheap Charlie got a payback. I put aluminum 1/4" square hole fenceing in the area under the lp bottles,its easy to put in and it keeps the critters from getting up in the trailer and still ventilates the lp bottles.

tbhd · 05-03-2005, 09:29 AM

Snowbunny

Dennis just went out and checked and our 3670 is exactly the same way. Looks like he is going to be busy for awhile sealing up holes. No rodents yet---also took the bag of dog food out. We live kinda out in the country and have all kinds of different bugs and critters. Thanks for the post.

Montana_2779 · 05-03-2005, 09:46 AM

Down here in Texas we use the Red Rider that Dad bought us for our 10th birthdays. Yeah, it's not the PC way to cure the problem, but neither is the 12-gauge that we use on some other unwelcomed guests.....just a heck of a lot less damage to the peripheral materials. This is more the "Ted Nugent" method.

snowbunny · 05-04-2005, 03:05 AM

Thanks all, Mazeeff can you tell me a brand name for the fox urine? We have used Decon at home and it worked but I was a bit concerned about using it in the Montana as it sits so long unattended. Maybe I'll try a bunch of strategies. Bounce in the hot air vents, fox urine on the landing gear and decon in the storage compartments. If that doesn't get rid of them I'll adopt them and leave the Montana to them.

mazeeff · 05-04-2005, 03:42 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by snowbunny

Thanks all, Mazeeff can you tell me a brand name for the fox urine? We have used Decon at home and it worked but I was a bit concerned about using it in the Montana as it sits so long unattended. Maybe I'll try a bunch of strategies. Bounce in the hot air vents, fox urine on the landing gear and decon in the storage compartments. If that doesn't get rid of them I'll adopt them and leave the Montana to them.

I think this is the brand that we used. If you go to a good old fashioned HW store, you can just ask for Fox urine. The newer HW stores like Home Depot, will just look confused.

http://www.pestproducts.com/fox_urine.htm

tbhd · 05-04-2005, 03:51 PM

Snowbunny

Thanks for the heads up. We never realized there was a gap there. Hopefully, we have it all blocked off now and have solved a problem before it became one. Went to Home Depot and bought a 10ft piece of of flashing that was already bent 90 degrees. I screwed it to the floor and pop riveted it to the frame. Here's a picture.

Amps · 05-04-2005, 04:17 PM

We leave our 5er at the camp site all year round. So to eliminate the possibilities of invasions we used STEEL WOOL to plug every single cracks, openings around water lines, sewer pipes, power cable, you name it.
Steel wool does a nice job on teeth, claws.

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