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This has been a battle since the beginning of winter. One day my check engine light comes on. O2 sensor is busted. Months later my gas is leaking. Techs found something has been living under my hood and biting random things beneath. Some weeks further, it's the gas line again. $600 in repairs later, I find leaves and branches in a pocket under the hood, but no squirrel. Home Depot, purchase trap, set peanuts inside... it's managing to grab the peanuts without tripping the trap - free meals for weeks.
FINALLY, today I see it climbing into my undercarriage. I open the hood and out it runs. Leaves are overstuffed in the pocket under the hood once again, but there's something still moving inside. I find 3 newborns and the squirrel watching my every move nearby. I place the babies into the cage and a couple hours later it goes for them. This is the release about 2 miles away from the house - complete with some of the garbage it stuffed into my engine compartment.
Wow!!! I did not know squirrels went inside the hoods of cars and made nests too. That's terrible but at least you released them. What happened to the babies??? Did she come back for them??? The ruined my siding and ate the wires for my secrity cameras had to replace all the siding and soffets and have the camera's replaced. SOB'S! They used to eat the tops off of my grandfathers tulips every year, he set a trap like yours with PB and peanuts, caught them and released them in a nearby park. It used to aggrivate him.
Wow!!! I did not know squirrels went inside the hoods of cars and made nests too. That's terrible but at least you released them. What happened to the babies??? Did she come back for them???
kinda interesting... it showed so much concern for them after it ran away from under my hood, but once caught, it was frantic and trampled one of them a bit. Then when I went to release it, it ran out without even grabbing one (you could see it was trying to hold one in its mouth before the gate was open). I left everything that was in the cage in a box under the tree it climbed up. So perhaps it went back for them, but I had left already. They were still alive. Judging by the amount of leaves it shoved into my hood, they need to be really sheltered but for the few hours while I was trying to lure it into the cage, they were exposed. I still classify them as rodents and just did what I had to - I wasn't going to kill them though.
I still have a few more to catch, just to be sure. And to make my $30 worthwhile.
Oh and mechanics mention it's not uncommon for them to nest in cars during the winter... heat source and all. I had a sound barrier which is made of foam on the underside of the hood ($150 I have yet to replace) which it chewed up and stuffed into crevices. I had taken that out afterward and it still persisted with leaves, branches, newspaper pieces, and plastic wrappers.
Let me just add it is illegal to trap and release squirrels since they are considered rodents just like rats.
It states this in the instruction manual that it may be illegal. Do you have a source?
Home Depot removed the sale of some pesticide because it was deemed illegal, yet they openly sell these rodent traps in all their stores in the area. So I didn't bother to look into it. Is the act of releasing the illegal part? Because professionals trap too.
Too lazy to read all 5 pages, but has anyone suggested just going up there with a BB gun and/or a bowl of antifreeze?
IlonaG did, I think.
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