The Expanding Legion of Evil (ELoE) appears to be on the advance again. For about six weeks, we appeared to have a truce. No real real hassles from any of the squirrels, other than the odd one on the sunflower feeder ball.
I had already changed the thick electrical cord it was suspended from to a single bare copper wire. Then, about two weeks ago, the trouble started. Early in the morning is when they performed their raids. The first one, I found the feeder on the ground and the lid off and five, yes five, squirrels eating from it. I chased them away.
the next day, the ball was still hanging, but the lid was off. I figured that they had to literally be leaping at it with the hopes of landing on it. My theory was proved right when I saw one getting ready to do just that.
Then, two Fridays ago, I did not see the feeder hanging or the feeder on the ground. Something actually pulled it up and installed it in a "Y" branch. The wire was mangled a bit. I pulled it down, straightened out he wire, and moved it further out on the branch.
The next day it was pulled up and twisted around the branch until the feeder ball was on top of the branch and stable with lid removed. Really?
I moved it yet further out so now I need a step ladder to refill the feeder. I also put a wire on the other side to keep them from pulling it up.
Next day, the two wires are twisted together as much as they will go and the feeder is directly against the branch and the lid is off. The wire looks like it was maliciously twisted together. I mention it to the wife. And she asks if I honestly believe if someone is coming in to our backyard and doing this? Of course not, it just looks like a lot of effort for a squirrel to be going through.
The boy suggests a monkey. One probably without any opposable thumbs. I know he is joking, but with the wire getting all twisted, out of anger by the looks, the thumbless monkey is sounding more and more plausible.
During all this, some of the regular feeders were hit. Two of them, which are of the tube style, were completely emptied. The lids were wide open and there was almost no spillage on the ground. So, something ate it all up from the inside of the tube. As evidenced by mud inside the second feeder which also looked like whatever was in there had a little trouble getting out. Too bad it did not get stuck in there. Some gorilla tape to keep the lids closed has seemed to work for more than a week now.
On another occasion, a hanging ornament was completely removed from the tree. It had a rigid hook that it was hanging from and the thing was a pretty heavy-duty resin-type plastic cast in a mold. It was on the ground. Shattered. Like someone picked it up and smashed it. That is why an angry, thumbless monkey begins to seem more plausible.
Yet, they kept hitting the ball feeder. So, I attached yet another wire to it and ran it to another branch. It now has wires pulling it in three directions. That should keep them from doing anything to it. Nope, what slack there is in the wires is exploited. One wire, the second one, is disconnected and the remaining attached wires are twisted as much as can be done and the lid is off.
This is unbelievable! Not sure who is going through the greater effort? Me or the monkey? Or is it a possum? Or a badger? Or a really strong squirrel. I am certain it is not raccoons. The are really rare around here and are usually ones dumped by city people who capture them and release them in our community. What a bunch of ass-clowns. The joke is on them. Animals like that will return to where they were trapped. Raccoons, skunks, and the like will return even if it is 20 or 30 km. I wish I had a trail camera to get photographic evidence, but I do not. I have determined these commando raids must be happening between 3:00 am and 6:00 am.
So, one more major effort on my part. I fix up the wires and twist them together at the carabiner so they cannot be pulled out of it, but the carabiner would have to be removed. No rodent ca do that surely. I also drill three holes in the top and screw the lid down. What a pain in the ass it is going to be to refill. I also tie a nylon cord from the hanger handle on the top of the feeder and and run it down to the corner of the deck where I have a bent nail that I use for a tensioner for something else and tie it off.
I used cord on purpose. I wanted to see if something was going to try to chew through it or untie it. I will replace it with bare wire though. Well they did not knock it down, or twist it up or get the lid off last night. Then again, a few of us stayed up to about 4:30 in the morning talking on the back deck. I actually went to bet about 5:00 am myself. It supports my theory of the timing of the raids though.
However, I am pretty sure the squirrels are still trying to jump on it during the day to knock seeds out to eat them on the ground. I said it before, but I will repeat myself: squirrels will work really hard to be lazy. The efforts they are going through and whatever other creatures they have recruited in to their Legion, exceed the reward.
Me? I will go to great lengths and expenditure of time and energy to not be defeated by Squirrel Vader and the Expanding Legion of Evil. No rodent is going to beat me. Neither is a thumbless monkey? Or is it a kangaroo? Land dwelling octopus? blbbl
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