So my son likes watching the squirrels outside through the living room window. I had a squirrel feeder my dad built that I used to fill in the back, but raccoons raiding it constantly made it too much of a pain in the ass to keep filling. I took a chance and hung it in the front thinking "I doubt coons would be up front much." Wrong. Second night the feeder was up, it was emptied. Since, I have tried to raccoon proof it with mixed results. First, I added some wooden pegs to try and keep a coon from getting as close to the feeder, limiting how much they could reach inside to steal corn. That helped a little. Then I added the wood strips to make the entrance hole smaller, and that helped a lot more.
When I added the wood strips, just to be a dick to raccoons, I added an angled nail to help snag a raccoon if it tries to get its head in there. As you can tell, it's taking some hair every night.
I may add an extra wood strip, I'm just trying not to make the entrances too small to make squirrels stop using it. I'm also not putting much corn inside the jar, and when I do I'm putting it all the way in the back where the coons can't reach it. I caught and dispatched one bandit with a box trap, but I hate using the trap because we have so many freaking skunks around our place. Don't like rolling those dice. Now the assholes are climbing our second-floor deck (no stairs leading to it from below) and stealing fruit my wife puts out for the birds. Two nights ago they drank every drop of nectar from the hummingbird feeder. I hate raccoons with a passion.
The squirrel feeder is fun for the squirrels, though.
When I added the wood strips, just to be a dick to raccoons, I added an angled nail to help snag a raccoon if it tries to get its head in there. As you can tell, it's taking some hair every night.
I may add an extra wood strip, I'm just trying not to make the entrances too small to make squirrels stop using it. I'm also not putting much corn inside the jar, and when I do I'm putting it all the way in the back where the coons can't reach it. I caught and dispatched one bandit with a box trap, but I hate using the trap because we have so many freaking skunks around our place. Don't like rolling those dice. Now the assholes are climbing our second-floor deck (no stairs leading to it from below) and stealing fruit my wife puts out for the birds. Two nights ago they drank every drop of nectar from the hummingbird feeder. I hate raccoons with a passion.
The squirrel feeder is fun for the squirrels, though.
