How To Repel Squirrels

This morning I found a squirrel running around my furnace area &, after trying to "motivate" it out the door with a 2x4, I finaly just had to kill it. Tough to get behind the furnace to see where it got in, but I have an attached shed on that wall, outside. (I know, I know.......I've got to get out there & straighten out the cluttered shed!) I'm assuming they made a nest in the shed & somehow got in. I read that squirrels are repelled by mothballs so I bought some & spread them in the outside shed & behind the furnace. Only saw the one, this am but I'm wondering if anyone has any other ideas on squirrel repelants? (I'm gagging on the smell of these mothballs!()

A big cat.

I agree with the Cat. A nice cat keeps many 'rodents away. Cats take very little care , only some fresh water and a little food per day also they are clean and quiet. Not really sure how they got a bad rap .

I saw a show on TV once where the people were trying to get rid of squirrels in the garage. Nothing worked, not even moth balls. The only way these people got rid of the squirrels was by getting a dog that spent a lot of time in the garage. The only other sure fire way of getting rid of them would be to kill them. (trap and shoot them or just shoot them) a .22 with bird shot ammo would work fine in close quarters (10ft). I have shot critters in the house with them and did not cause any damage to the house.

the problem with cats is their fur and claws and the smelly litter box. Between the three your house could be ruined. I love cats, mine live outside in the barn. They can also live under a porch perfectly fine and repel as many rodents or more as a cat that lives inside and sleeps all day. Mine are lazy because I over feed them but they still catch quite a bit. Another solution that is cheaper is to get some extra large mousetraps and snap them dead. Another solution and my favorite is to get a .22 with a nice scope and blast his ass when he goes up a tree. I've tried .22 shot and the the things I shot didn't die.

Cat won't work because my youngest daughter is allergic to them & we already have a small dog.

You could get yourself a cheap pellet/BB gun. Shoot pellets and not BB's. BB's are steel and have a tendancy to bounce around where as pellets are soft lead and do not bounce. If you get one of the pump up kind you can only pump it 4 or 5 times and use it inside the shed if need be.

I read some where that either basil or oregano repells them but I have never tried it . I had a colony of the little hemlock rats in the garage last summer but after shooting or wacking them with a shovel , I got nine out of the ten before the last one decided it wasn't welcome. I'll second the pellet gun or a 22 that will use short loads like a revolver will work well but be carefull not to swiss cheese your shed roof.

About 20 years ago, during my wood burning days, I heard a strange noise in my basement. I went down and looked around but didn't see or hear anything. I was just about to go back up stairs when I heard it again and it was coming from inside my wood stove. It was summer. I walked over and opened the door and out comes this squirrel at about mach 2. Scared the crap out of me. So I opened the basement door and got a broom and started to chase it around but he would not go out the damn door. He jumped on some stuff and bounded up and sat on the sill plate. After chasing him some more with the broom and looking foolish, I ended up shooting him with a .22 rifle. That next weekend, I installed a cap on the chimney. Damn tree rats!

I have a CO2 pellet pistol but it's not very powerful. I'm not crazy about firing a 22 cal rifle in the house so what kind of muzzle velocity would I need if I went out & bought a pellet rifle? ( I also would rather have a pellet rifle that I dont have to pump. Is there such a thing that is powerful enough to drop a squirrel quickly?)

Hey Devil - My wife wasn't crazy about me firing the .22 in the house either!

A buddy lives in Manhattan and has a cottage nearby for weekends. They have a garden and he thought it would be good to get a pellet rifle to plink and kill pests. And so it did; squirrels, crows, etc.

He and is wife are gardening early on a beautiful August Saturday morning and 3 deer step out and head for him and his plants. He thought they were pretty bold, and he's ticked that they eat all his plants so he gets the pellet gun out and cuts loose, aiming for its butt (@ about 15 yds). He's such a great shot that he hits the 100lb doe in the eye and drops it instantly. Dead. All parties in the matter are very surprised.

Wife, gardening about 20 feet from the doe, howls. He, of course, calls me up to ask, "got yer deer?"

It is a $100 spring type, made in turkey "Winchester" pellet gun and it can handle a squirrel. Cabela's has a lot like it in their catalog.

Devil5052 wrote:I have a CO2 pellet pistol but it's not very powerful. I'm not crazy about firing a 22 cal rifle in the house so what kind of muzzle velocity would I need if I went out & bought a pellet rifle? ( I also would rather have a pellet rifle that I dont have to pump. Is there such a thing that is powerful enough to drop a squirrel quickly?)

At close range I would think a pellet traveling at around 400 fps would do the trick. One of the cheap chinese (xisico BAM) break barrel spring piston type would serve you well. I think one of the cheaper models $60 would be low enough in velocity and still get the job done. I own 2 of the chinese springers one in .177 with a velocity of 950 fps and one in .22 with a velocity of 800 fps. I would not cosider shooting either one of those in the house at a squirrel. If I would happen to miss and even if I hit it the pellet would go through and make a bloody mess and a hole in the wall. I have taken quite a few raccoons at 20 yrds with both of my guns. So for shooting in the house lower velocity is a good thing.

On a side note, I once shot a squirrel off of my VCR with a daisy pump up type BB/pellet gun. I pumped it twice and shot him but it knocked him down but did not kill him. So as he was gathering himself together I pumped the gun 4 times and let him have it and that snuffed out his life with no damage or blood in the house.

Charlie Z wrote:A buddy lives in Manhattan and has a cottage nearby for weekends. They have a garden and he thought it would be good to get a pellet rifle to plink and kill pests. And so it did; squirrels, crows, etc.

He and is wife are gardening early on a beautiful August Saturday morning and 3 deer step out and head for him and his plants. He thought they were pretty bold, and he's ticked that they eat all his plants so he gets the pellet gun out and cuts loose, aiming for its butt (@ about 15 yds). He's such a great shot that he hits the 100lb doe in the eye and drops it instantly. Dead. All parties in the matter are very surprised.

Wife, gardening about 20 feet from the doe, howls. He, of course, calls me up to ask, "got yer deer?"

It is a $100 spring type, made in turkey "Winchester" pellet gun and it can handle a squirrel. Cabela's has a lot like it in their catalog.

I'm friggin' dying!!! That story is classic and the rest of my office is laughing their a$$es off.


Don't much care for lawn rats myself...very destructive. Also, if you don't have a chimney cap I highly suggest it. After I left home, parents were still stoking with an EFM boiler, a family of squirrels made a nest in their chimney. Don't know how or why... you'd think the gasses would have kept them out of there or at least killed them. The good thing is that it was the first year that they invested in a CO detector which worked great. The other good thing is that their new neighbor worked for the gas company so he was a lot of help for them.
Anyway...I agree with the .22 with shot...killed a few and it doesn't leave much damage at all. Single pump pellet will drop them also depending on range...if the first one doesn't the second one will (or the third, or the fourth, or the fifth...if the sixth doesn't do it...just step on its head).
Was watching Bill Engval's redneck videos on CMT yesterday after work, some guy had an air rifle that fired something like 2000 BB's per minute (got to get me one of them!!!)

By the way....Do you need any good squirrel recipes???

I grew up most of my life in Georgia and there were squirrels every where. We never had a real problem, mom had a great squirrel pie recipe. If we killed it, she cooked it, no questions asked.