Where are all the squirrels?

Has anyone else noticed a dearth of squirrel activity around town (Maplewood) this fall / winter?  Seems past falls/winters I noticed many more squirrels around our house, running around the back deck, devouring halloween pumpkins, etc.  This year, I hardly see any and our pumpkins went unscathed.  Additionally, my yard is almost like a scene out of Keystone Kops where someone being chased tosses a sack full or marbles behind them with respect to the number of acorns in our yard - seems like past years, the local squirrel population did a decent job of cleaning up the acorns and well, squirreling them away...

They are all in my yard---and, multiplying like rabbits!

I still see plenty of squirrels...my dog keeps me very aware of each little furry invader!

OK - perhaps it has to do with one significant change pertaining to our house this year vs. last year - the addition of a dog to our household.  But has you say @susan1014 your dog doesn't seem to be a squirrel deterrent! 

Yes, but our new dog is smallish, indoors except for walks, and doesn't have a very scary bark!  Maybe yours is better at deterring squirrels?

Given the amount of damage and money that we've had due to squirrels over the years, I'm OK with nuts all over the lawn if our dog does eventually scare them away!  

I've had a squirrel fall down the chimney, make messes all over our ground floor, and have to be trapped (all when I was home with a newborn!).  

Another squirrel had blocked the other chimney with nuts and had to be trapped at chimney top (creating a caged snack that drew an amazing collection of birds of prey).  

A third squirrel had the extremely poor form to die in a chimney, leading to an awful smell, fly infestation, and the worst home maintenance job my husband has ever had to do.  

Yet another squirrel ate the wiring insulation for my airbags, shorting them out and costing us the deductible for a very complex repair. 

Overall, we've spent at least $3-4000 on squirrel remediation over the years.  I don't find squirrels nearly as cute as I used to.

lanky said:

OK - perhaps it has to do with one significant change pertaining to our house this year vs. last year - the addition of a dog to our household.  But has you say @susan1014 your dog doesn't seem to be a squirrel deterrent! 

Our dogs never paid any attention to the squirrels, and we've always had them around our house. Our daughter has a dog (terrier mix) who DOES notice squirrels and chases them, so she has fewer of them by her. Lanky, what type of dog do you have? Some of them will chase squirrels (some to play, some for fun, some to pursue) and that could be why you are seeing fewer squirrels this year.

They didn't go after our pumpkins, either, which was a surprise. I just thought that Home Depot might spray them with something to repel squirrels. Usually any pumpkins we put out are chewed up in a day or two and these lasted from Halloween to Christmas without even a nibble.

We have a mostly lab mix and the dog does enjoy a good squirrel chase.  I figure that's why squirrels are no longer in our back yard (where the dog has free rein) but the lack of varmints in our front yard is more of a head-scratcher.  Maybe they just aren't smart enough to figure that dog doesn't hang out there...

There was a very bad drought this summer and fall. It might have taken down their numbers somewhat.

I have plenty of squirrels and had plenty when I had my Lab. He didn't care a whit about squirrels and they figured that out.

I think lanky is onto something.  I've had my bird feeder filled for the past few weeks, and haven't seen one squirrel eating from it - which is very unusual. Plus, no squirrels ate our pumpkins - in fact there is still a small pumpkin on my front porch which is completely untouched, which is odd. 

In my yard and in the tree in front of my house.  I saw five of them running across my lawn just the other day.   Please feel free to adopt them if you are mourning the loss of any squirrels who live by you.

Today I saw about 7 squirrels climb out of a hole in one of our trees and chase each other all over the place. I swear it looked like a clown car emptying

finnegan said:

I think lanky is onto something.  I've had my bird feeder filled for the past few weeks, and haven't seen one squirrel eating form it - which is very unusual. Plus, no squirrels ate our pumpkins - in fact there is still a small pumpkin on my front porch which is completely untouched, which is odd. 

My feeder has been squirrel free as well. I remembered a wild life rehabber telling me a few years ago that there were not enough squirrels that year. She blamed pesticides. I brought her 3 that fell from a nest and returned them to my property months later. I then had many around, but this year is worrisome. Not as many winter birds around either.

Anyone with a chimney should get a cap for it as a general preventative measure.

Squirrels gone wild.

Anyone with a chimney should get a cap for it as a general preventative measure.

Well, yeah.  It looked like we had caps, and our chimney service guys never told us we needed new caps or cap repairs.  But the squirrels found a way.

Now we have new caps, and new chimney guys. 

So yeah...how many of you have taken out the ladder or binoculars and checked for gaps in your chimney cap mesh this year?

Um, we have two dogs and that doesn't seem to stop 'em from hanging out in the yard, scurrying on the roof and jumping and playing on the trees on the lot. Some of them don't seem to be deterred by the dogs at all. Gangsta Squirrels

Last year, I was riding my bike to work in Fort Washington Park, and a squirrel crossed my path and got caught up in my rear wheel. He went thump-thump-thump against the bike frame as my wheel spun. I stopped as soon as I could. He fell out, and landed on his chest with his legs splayed out. I was sure he was dead, but then he got up and walked away.

Great last sentence of story...

http://news.yahoo.com/squirrel-triggers-power-outage-vermont-statehouse-180435606.html 

I haven't seen as many squirrels as the previous year. Yesterday in our backyard, a huge Chicken Hawk had a squirrel in its mouth as it flew up into our tree. I guess they're on the prowl for food. Perhaps contributing to the shortage?

All the squirrels are at my bird feeder... little mf'ers.

Send this guy over to my neighborhood in Maplewood.  The squirrels continue to multiply, have been breaking into my neighbor's house and are now attempting to break into ours.

phenixrising said:

I haven't seen as many squirrels as the previous year. Yesterday in our backyard, a huge Chicken Hawk had a squirrel in its mouth as it flew up into our tree. I guess they're on the prowl for food. Perhaps contributing to the shortage?

We have many many squirrels and they are extra chubby this year!!!!!!