Moving objects: Motion activated sprinklers, pinwheels, hanging cds, or streamers will startle squirrels for a while. They can get used to them, however, so they need to be used in rotation.
Objects like windmills, spinners, CDs, or reflective objects may make squirrels look at your garden less desirably. Make Changes to Your Bird Feeder: Squirrels are attracted to feeders; they sometimes like to gnaw on the opening to birdhouses so that they can eat the seeds or eat the nesting birds inside.
Use Strong Odors
Scents like white pepper, black pepper, and garlic are naturally unpleasant to a squirrel. The same goes for sweet smells such as peppermint. Try spraying your plants and flowers with water and then sprinkling on pepper or peppermint oil to deter squirrels.
Instead, select poles made from PVC or copper. When a squirrel climbs poles like these, they'll have a harder time reaching the birds' food source. Most feeder poles are not made from these materials, so you may need to get your hands a little dirty. Or, you can buy a prefabricated pole designed to deter squirrels.
An ultrasonic pest repeller for squirrels is an effective and humane solution for keeping these critters away from your property. These devices emit high-frequency sound waves that are disruptive to squirrels, making the environment uncomfortable and encouraging them to leave.
Squirrels have a strong sense of smell, which they use to find food sources and shelter. You can repel squirrels using scents they hate such as, capsaicin, white vinegar, peppermint oil, coffee grounds, cinnamon, predator urine, garlic, dryer sheets, Irish Spring bar soap, and rosemary.
For outdoor squirrel control, the Yard Gard and Solar Yard Gard are electronic ultrasonic repellents that use sounds out of the range of human hearing to irritate pest animals, repelling them from your property.
The only true way to keep squirrels out of the garden is physical barriers. We use bird netting over hoops, which keeps squirrels out but still allows bees to pollinate.
While most of these predators eat adult and young squirrels, raccoons and gray rat snakes prefer to prey on nestlings. However, the truth is that humans represent the greatest threat to gray squirrels. Untold numbers are killed by vehicles racing down our highways.
Fake owls are marketed as effective deterrents against squirrels due to their resemblance to natural predators. The idea is that squirrels, seeing what appears to be a predator, will avoid the area for fear of being attacked.
Dryer sheets are often used to make clothes smell fresh and clean. They also work great for repelling squirrels! The strong scent of dryer sheets will keep squirrels away. You can place them around your property or add them to a bag and hang them in areas where squirrels are active.
Irish Spring soap is one of many homemade solutions people use to repel squirrels. While it may work for some, other homemade solutions, like cayenne pepper or vinegar sprays, can also be effective. However, like Irish Spring, these methods often provide only temporary relief.
The purpose of hanging CDs in gardens is to protect fruits and vegetables from predators like birds. Despite their reputation, birds are actually scared of CDs, so they won't steal your strawberries or nibble at your raspberries if you line CDs along your raised beds.
There are several effective homemade squirrel repellents. One popular option is to create a strong-smelling mixture using vinegar, ammonia, or essential oils such as peppermint, eucalyptus, or citrus. Soak cotton balls in these scents and place them in areas where squirrels are active or use them to block entry points.
Scare Them Away
Noise makers like wind chimes, or disposable pie plates and whirligigs, can be used to scare off unwanted visitors. Motion detectors that set alarms or lights work well with night foragers.
Rodent-chasing dogs and motion-activated noisemakers, such as garden spinners, pinwheels, and aluminum pie tins, all make good squirrel deterrents. In addition, if you're watering your lawn anyway, consider using a motion-detecting sprinkler to increase the scare factor.
Owls also pose a significant threat to squirrels, particularly at night. Great horned owls are adept hunters and can silently approach their prey under the cover of darkness. Their acute sense of hearing and exceptional night vision make them effective nocturnal predators.
Although the animals seem to have little fear of humans, he said he theorized they should still act in accordance with optimal foraging theory and remain, “sensitive to cues that inform them about levels of risk, allowing them to reduce costs by not overreacting to innocuous stimuli.”
The taste and smell of coffee is pleasing for many, but squirrels disagree. Coffee grounds are a natural repellent for squirrels, and they're easy to mix in with your soil. Instead of discarding your leftover coffee grounds, sprinkle them around the surface soil in your potted plant.
Squirrels are offended by many of the same scents as deer, so repellents like Plantskydd Deer Repellent work well. You can also try a thin layer of coffee grounds or tucking a small amount of dog hair around and under plants.
Remove/rake up food sources, such as nuts, berries, fruits, and acorns. Secure all trash cans with tight lids and bungee cords. It helps to rinse them out occasionally to remove the attracting odors. If you have a bird feeder, buy a squirrel proof feeder or equip it with a baffle.
The fastest way to get rid of squirrels is to remove what they're attracted to around your yard, whether that's trash or another food source. Then use safe repellent sprays or plants they hate to keep them from wanting to come back in the yard.
Research and anecdotal evidence suggest that mothballs have limited effectiveness in repelling squirrels. Squirrels have a keen sense of smell, and while they may initially be deterred by the strong odor, they often become accustomed to it over time.
There is no such thing as an effective squirrel repellent.