That Gnawing Noise

[swestrup]

There is a persistent and annoying noise coming from near the air conditioner in my office. My initial investigations seem to implicate a squirrel that is trying to gnaw through the plastic around the AC unit in order to escape into the warmth of my office. I can sympathize a bit, as its bloody cold outside (and shouldn't the squirrel be in hibernation right now, anyway?) but I would rather NOT have a hole gnawed in the plastic. I've made several attempts to discourage him, but so far it only stops him for a few minutes at a time.

Comments

[terheyt.livejournal.com]

Take a paintbrush and bottle of tabasco sauce outside. That will dissuade him for a great deal of time.

And all hibernation sequences were messed up by the ridiculous weather we had this fall/winter. A lot of bulb-dropping flowers already bloomed and died, a lot of butterflies/moths already pupated and died, a lot of migratory birds didn't migrate, and died, and a lot of hibernatory animals are finding themselves hungry and awake (as they ate their stashes when under a normal metabolism earlier in the warm portion of the season.

But everyone was so happy about the warm weather...

[swestrup]

My neighbor told me some horror stories about what tabasco did to some of the squirrels she tried it on, so I'm not so keen on it.

Besides, I'd have to find a way to paint it around the A/C unit, which sticks out a second-story window.

[rosy1.livejournal.com]

Protect yourself!

Remember... squirrels are just rodents with good PR.

[swestrup]

Right! From now on, I'm keeping a loaded cat in my office.

[angorian.livejournal.com]

Try putting some mothballs out there. It works to discourage cats and racoons, so maybe it works for squirrels too.

[swestrup]

Its on the second floor, so I don't know how I would get them up there. It would be easier to dismount the A/C unit, but I don't have anywhere to put it...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_grey_knight/]

We had rats..erm, squirrels in our attic in Laval. Destructive little things - ate fiberglass insulation (a large 3x2ft area fer pete's sake!) gnawed through wood. I asked the animal control for a safe catch cage, and they asked if I could just live with squirrel family...

They can eat through chicken wire, but not through sheep fencing (I think that's what it was called. It's thicker, and stiff.) Try making a protector out of that. It would involved taking the A/C unit out and mounting this as protection, but the alternative is to have squirrels in your office - for they will not stop of their own accord.

[swestrup]

I may very well do that, if the gnawer returns. So far, I haven't seen him come back. He may have decided its too cold a location to hang onto and gnaw, and he's gone looking for easier entrances. I can hope, anyway.