On Sunday, December 20, 2015 at 10:09:10 AM UTC-5, John H. wrote:
On Sun, 20 Dec 2015 05:40:21 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Sunday, December 20, 2015 at 8:16:39 AM UTC-5, Mr. Luddite wrote:
Good news is: They're gone.

Learned a lot about theses little pests though and thought I'd pass on
what I discovered in case anyone else ever has this problem.

We are now squirrel free.

Our old house was constructed with cedar siding. One day, the squirrels decided that it tasted good, and started chewing on it. The offenders got a tub of rat poison and peanut butter mixture on the roof for a day. That stopped the chewing. A "magnum" pellet gun cut the local population down, and we never had the problem again.

The current house (brick) has an issue with squirrels getting into the leaf-guarded gutters. They chew a small opening in an end and setup a home in there. Then they run through the gutters, which drives my black lab, Buddy, crazy. I've lost two downspouts... one chewed flat, and one pulled completely off the house. The suppressed S&W M&P 15/22 is currently handling that task.

Tell me you're not going to shoot the dog!


No, of course not.


Mine has chewed up the cornerpiece of the vinyl siding where a chipmunk (I guess)
climbed up. The siding was on the house when we moved in, twenty years ago, and
finding the same stuff is impossible. Of course, the siding companies would *love* to
redo the whole house!

I've only lost one downspout.

Yeah, the one that was chewed flat was like a cheese grater inside. When I cut it off, a squirrel fell out that had fallen down into it and was scrambling around inside when Buddy attacked. (our downspouts empty into corrugated pipe that is buried and eventually ends up in the woods to carry water away from the house) He looked pretty bad, but shot off into the woods, happy to make it out alive.