I have caught all of the babies squirrels at my neighbors in their yard, but the adults refuse to enter any trap. I have 3 rat traps, 5 single door cage traps and one double door multi-catch trap all set between 2 homes. I've used seeds, nuts, peanut butter, cabbage (they were eating the cabbage), peanuts, apples and corn. The main den is under a shed which sits on a large wood foundation and another den is by the wall in the rose bushes.

Anyone have any ideas on how to catch the adults?

Adam, I'm usually the first one to jump on these. But after catching zero squirrels at Fleet and Farm, I'm starting to doubt my own

advice. Where's Jonesie when you need him?

Adam,

First I'd have to ask you a quick question. Are the adults still being seen on the property where you are trying to catch them?

Sounds silly, but if I don't ask that, I don't know if they are still there to be caught. Everyone and their mother has a cage trap
in ABQ and can be out squirrel trapping, the most I heard one client had moved himself from his house to 10 miles up river was
40 during one season.

**

Now if they are still there, I've had limited need to trap them since starting the business and avoid it whenever I can for simple trap check
reasons and business model decisions, however I have had to do it a few times.

What I've noticed about this species in our area is that they seem to be able to stay below ground for days at a time, which further complicates
capturing them quickly.

Since you know where the holes are, I would block them in and make the cages the only way out if you haven't already. They may stay in ground longer
due to the disturbance or under the shed and other, but eventually they are coming out and into your trap. I had an in ground pool that had this issue around it, took something on par with 7 days to be able to leave with all of them.

I refer squirrels every chance I get, unless they are inside the walls of a house, then I'm in.

It is getting cold enough at night too that behavior is going to shift and they can hole up longer... (good times)

Make sure your treadles are light enough too in case they have been relocated multiple times and know what those devices are....

Just my .02, which is about all I have, think I've done maybe 10 total rock squirrel jobs since starting, that was a good number to retire on... lol.

Justin.,,,,,,, you ar the best typer I know....


butttttttttt,,,,,,nothing ever goes away on the internet.............(I pmd him)

Thanks Vinke, lol!

Yes true enough, pm is good for details....

On the sly....

HD is right about asking if they are still being seen. You never know. Good idea to block them off. I carry a bunch of aluminum sheets with me, so that I can completely block off around the bottom of a shed or porch, then put in a double door cage trap or two. It will quickly let you know if they are there.

Thanks everyone I appreciate it.

Yes the adults are still being seen. I will trying to block as many holes as I can, as the shed is in the corner of a brick wall. I can barely get rat traps between one side and the wall.

Justin I can see why you refer them out.

Adam,

My in laws live about a mile away in a housing tract near ours. Not long ago they had noticed a hole under the back of their nicely landscaped shed in the back corner of their lot.

Father in law mentioned it over dinner one night so we went out poked around, I mentioned it was likely a rock squirrel, but they hadn't seen it. They spend a ton of time in the back yard and didn't see anything for literally about 3 weeks.

They got back from a vacation the other night and the next morning while having breakfast at their dining room table they look out the slider and there are two rock squirrels standing on their hind legs looking in at them...

Now, a note, if you are a squirrel, this is a good way to go from pest to positively adorable.... Though he was ready to trap and remove whatever was digging under "his" shed, as soon as they saw them that idea went right out the window!

The house like most in these tracts down here is on grade, no crawlspace, solid stucco walls, etc.... Most folks I see that have these squirrels of this species only really have issues when they have a garden or when there is a crawlspace and then mostly that they dig under the foundation to enter if they have to which ultimately could cause some settling, however I've inspected many crawlspaces for folks just to identify what was there, and I've never seen them chew on romex the way other rodents will, so not the animal that causes the most problems other than just simply being in the yard when folks like a clean slate with no critters or at least nothing they didn't invite (bird feeders).

Justin

Good to know thanks, I appreciate it. The problem started when the squirrels started chewing on drip lines which are next to the (pnm) power box in their yard. They quickly took a liking to the pansies and cabbage in her yard.

Her main concerns were about the drip and electric lines. She was also worried about the brick wall since one of the dens is on an incline in the rose bushes right against the wall. But that den doesn't connect to their neighbors yard and the squirrels climb over the wall instead. She and her husband always see the squirrels running along the wall which connects their yard to 4 others.

Well since Justin called Vinke Vince, it's only fair that we change his name to Jason ( and the golden fleece )

I didn't realize autocorrect must have done that, however in terms of Jason, it is what I am called more than Justin by new clients and even folks who have known me for sometime.

My thinking is as long as your checks clear you can call me whatever you like...



Adam, yes, they will chew on irrigation lines, did that to my in laws last year when holes first appeared, but they never saw the culprit and the lines were right in line with the hole location so more of an "in the way" thing it seemed at the time, not that lots of wildlife don't chew those lines for various reasons including access to water and the odor or chemical composition of them, I remember some folks saying there was a fish oil of sorts in some industrial lines.

Oops good catch. Changed it. Sorry Justin silly auto spell

That's interesting Justin.

I was able to slightlty block around the shed on 3 sides leaving 1 hole open on each side. Hopefully tomorrow they are caged but seeing how the storm is only beginning I doubt any activity until it clears up.

Speaking of checks clearing, did you guys ever have a check made out to the competition? We have had a couple of them made out to

names you all would recognize, sent them in to our bank, and they cashed them anyway. I wonder if they even look?