Rodents/Squirrels Chewing Composite Decking

ApS · Today, 10:39 AM

Bait the trap with a scrap of composite decking.

Or you can put your favorite shirt in there. They'll want to chew holes in it, just to keep their teeth sharpened.

To make your trap more sensitive, tape or glue some weights atop the metal plate that triggers the trap. (Coins, washers, composite decking scraps).

If a chipmunk couldn't get out, I'm curious how your trap's model was selected.

NH.Solar · Today, 11:39 AM

First of all, I hate to kill anything, but I dispatch red squirrels anytime I can with a high powered pellet gun and like someone else mentioned here the grays and chipmunks have taken over since. I had no problem with either until last winter when I found out that grays are not much better. I've had to replace the caps on multiple fuel cans because they are apparently still made using the soy based plastics thatcritters so like to chew on. But the real clincher is that over the winter the gray squirrels destroyed about half of the young red maples in my yard. I had assumed it was woodpeckers until I happened to see a red squirrel in late winter at the top of one of my trees happily stripping the bark, eating the sugar sweet cambium, and dropping the outer bark at the base of the trees ...they are occasional target practice now
Still killing anything is not my nature, and as an alternative I also spray fox or coyote urine around the base of anything valuble and my sheds. Rodent don't like it and will often move on, but if they don't the foxes and coyotes will enforce the ruling. Poisons? absolutely no way, I like my hawks and ground predators

Today, 10:39 AM	#1
ApS Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Florida (Sebring & Keys), Wolfeboro Posts: 5,955 Thanks: 2,231 Thanked 783 Times in 559 Posts	A Dead Red is a Good Red... Bait the trap with a scrap of composite decking. Or you can put your favorite shirt in there. They'll want to chew holes in it, just to keep their teeth sharpened. To make your trap more sensitive, tape or glue some weights atop the metal plate that triggers the trap. (Coins, washers, composite decking scraps). If a chipmunk couldn't get out, I'm curious how your trap's model was selected. __________________ Is it "Common Sense" isn't.

Today, 11:39 AM	#2
NH.Solar Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2017 Location: Jackson Pond, New Hampton Posts: 243 Thanks: 48 Thanked 142 Times in 79 Posts	First of all, I hate to kill anything, but I dispatch red squirrels anytime I can with a high powered pellet gun and like someone else mentioned here the grays and chipmunks have taken over since. I had no problem with either until last winter when I found out that grays are not much better. I've had to replace the caps on multiple fuel cans because they are apparently still made using the soy based plastics thatcritters so like to chew on. But the real clincher is that over the winter the gray squirrels destroyed about half of the young red maples in my yard. I had assumed it was woodpeckers until I happened to see a red squirrel in late winter at the top of one of my trees happily stripping the bark, eating the sugar sweet cambium, and dropping the outer bark at the base of the trees ...they are occasional target practice now Still killing anything is not my nature, and as an alternative I also spray fox or coyote urine around the base of anything valuble and my sheds. Rodent don't like it and will often move on, but if they don't the foxes and coyotes will enforce the ruling. Poisons? absolutely no way, I like my hawks and ground predators __________________ Peter NH Solar