How (and why) to Ramble on your goat sideways
Depends on where they are. If I’m guessing right, they’ve invaded a space occupied by some of your station’s less rodent-gnawing-proof equipment.
I’ve never had to take out tree squirrels, but have had good success against flying squirrels and other more land-based rodents with Bromethalin-based poisons made by Ramik. Tomcat also makes them. I like the Ramik stuff because they come in large blocks - you have to secure them (I use wire threaded through the blocks, screwed to a board) - so they are effective for longer. Bromethalin is a neurotoxin that kills with a single feeding, so you can get a lot of results from each installation. Of course, OSHA might not approve without “proper safeguards”(which would probably reduce effectiveness significantly). Your Facilities Management team would probably have their own ideas.
Possible downside is that it’s pretty effective against any mammals or birds. Tough to come up with a fixture opening that would be big enough to admit a full-grown squirrel but exclude a cat.
I use the stuff to control all the rodents that try to find shelter from the Maine winter in my attic or basement. No cats or dogs there, anything else I don’t need to care about. You can get the stuff in any hardware store around here.
I’ve never had to take out tree squirrels, but have had good success against flying squirrels and other more land-based rodents with Bromethalin-based poisons made by Ramik. Tomcat also makes them. I like the Ramik stuff because they come in large blocks - you have to secure them (I use wire threaded through the blocks, screwed to a board) - so they are effective for longer. Bromethalin is a neurotoxin that kills with a single feeding, so you can get a lot of results from each installation. Of course, OSHA might not approve without “proper safeguards”(which would probably reduce effectiveness significantly). Your Facilities Management team would probably have their own ideas.
Possible downside is that it’s pretty effective against any mammals or birds. Tough to come up with a fixture opening that would be big enough to admit a full-grown squirrel but exclude a cat.
I use the stuff to control all the rodents that try to find shelter from the Maine winter in my attic or basement. No cats or dogs there, anything else I don’t need to care about. You can get the stuff in any hardware store around here.
Boost Pope
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,027
Total Cats: 6,593
But there's only so much time in the day, and I have to treat all of that as secondary to:
1: Building new stuff, and
2: Dealing with all of the unique and challenging special requests which the busiest news department of any local TV station in the country (literally, we do about 29 hours a day (on average) of local programming, split across two channels, three control rooms, and six studios) generates on a daily basis.
I found more coax 10b-2 Ethernet today. This segment starts at an AUI (remember when Ethernet adapters used DB-15 connectors?) at the old NetPOP room (the one which still has active POTS lines terminated on Western Electric branded wooden blocks). The sad part is that I have utterly no idea what it does, or where it goes. It's completely un-labeled.
Last edited by Joe Perez; 03-26-2019 at 07:41 PM.
Boost Pope
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,027
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Yeah, we don't exactly have any TSC locations nearby.
This dish is covered on the front by a thin, teflon-impregnated fabric stretched taut, and is electrically heated inside. (This prevents snow and ice from accumulating, which impede RF transmission.)
I have no idea why the squirrels prefer this specific dish. I mean, yes, I get that it's warm and cozy and sheltered inside, but so are all of the other dishes surrounding it in the yard. The squirrels don't care. They like this specific one. They chew through the fabric cover, and then start filling the dish with nuts / twigs / etc. Every time we clean it out and sew a patch over the hole, they just gnaw a new hole in the cover and start again.
I'm at my wits' end. My plan is to place some kind of substance on the inside of the dish (beneath the cover) to make them stop wanting to nest inside it. I'm not concerned about birds / dogs / the coyote (yes, we actually have a coyote, in the middle of Chicago, which considers our lot part of its territory) simply because they don't fit through the squirrel-hole.
I'll check into the stuff you listed.
Yeah, we don't exactly have any TSC locations nearby.
They have invaded satellite dish #8, and have occupied it for several years:
This dish is covered on the front by a thin, teflon-impregnated fabric stretched taut, and is electrically heated inside. (This prevents snow and ice from accumulating, which impede RF transmission.)
I have no idea why the squirrels prefer this specific dish. I mean, yes, I get that it's warm and cozy and sheltered inside, but so are all of the other dishes surrounding it in the yard. The squirrels don't care. They like this specific one. They chew through the fabric cover, and then start filling the dish with nuts / twigs / etc. Every time we clean it out and sew a patch over the hole, they just gnaw a new hole in the cover and start again.
I'm at my wits' end. My plan is to place some kind of substance on the inside of the dish (beneath the cover) to make them stop wanting to nest inside it. I'm not concerned about birds / dogs / the coyote (yes, we actually have a coyote, in the middle of Chicago, which considers our lot part of its territory) simply because they don't fit through the squirrel-hole.
I'll check into the stuff you listed.
Boost Pope
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
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I'll admit that it's a concern, but this part of the facility is inside a chain-link fence. My assumption is that anything capable of getting inside it is not sufficiently cute to generate public outrage.
From the googs:
Do bird spikes deter squirrels?Bird-X Spikes. Providing 10 linear feet of spikes per box, this bird deterrent is also a very effective squirrel deterrent around your attic access points. The spikes are long enough where the squirrels can't step on them, nor can they step through them.
Boost Pope
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,027
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In regards to predators, my first concern would be more inclined toward birds of prey. Is there any way to wrap the access path the squirrels use with some of that spiky wire stuff they use to keep pigeons from nesting?
From the googs:
Do bird spikes deter squirrels?Bird-X Spikes. Providing 10 linear feet of spikes per box, this bird deterrent is also a very effective squirrel deterrent around your attic access points. The spikes are long enough where the squirrels can't step on them, nor can they step through them.
From the googs:
Do bird spikes deter squirrels?Bird-X Spikes. Providing 10 linear feet of spikes per box, this bird deterrent is also a very effective squirrel deterrent around your attic access points. The spikes are long enough where the squirrels can't step on them, nor can they step through them.
For a number of reasons.
Boost Pope
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,027
Total Cats: 6,593
No idea, but snow and ice would definitely stick to it, which would defeat the purpose of the cover being there in the first place.
I went to home depot this morning, and the lady in that department recommended that I try a bag of dried blood. Says that it "smells like death" and repels vermin.
So, now I have a bag of blood in my office. We'll see how it works.
I went to home depot this morning, and the lady in that department recommended that I try a bag of dried blood. Says that it "smells like death" and repels vermin.
So, now I have a bag of blood in my office. We'll see how it works.
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BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (WPEC) - A man is accused of attacking his mother in Boynton Beach after she refused to dress his mannequin, according to local law enforcement.
Boynton Beach Police arrested Mikkel Dankner on charges of aggravated battery on a victim over 65 years old and domestic battery by strangulation.
Dankner's mother reportedly told investigators they were in the backyard when Mikkel asked her to dress his mannequin. When she refused, she said Mikkel stood in the doorway to keep her from getting inside her home. That's when she said she pushed the mannequin over.
She said Mikkel moved out of the doorway, grabbed his mannequin and followed his mother inside and pushed her to the ground.
Mikkel's mom said he hit her in the head several times with a wooden stool and stuffed dumplings into her mouth. When Mikkel started throwing things in the kitchen, his mom ran to a neighbor for help.
Dankner is due in court Tuesday morning.
Boynton Beach Police arrested Mikkel Dankner on charges of aggravated battery on a victim over 65 years old and domestic battery by strangulation.
Dankner's mother reportedly told investigators they were in the backyard when Mikkel asked her to dress his mannequin. When she refused, she said Mikkel stood in the doorway to keep her from getting inside her home. That's when she said she pushed the mannequin over.
She said Mikkel moved out of the doorway, grabbed his mannequin and followed his mother inside and pushed her to the ground.
Mikkel's mom said he hit her in the head several times with a wooden stool and stuffed dumplings into her mouth. When Mikkel started throwing things in the kitchen, his mom ran to a neighbor for help.
Dankner is due in court Tuesday morning.
Not sure how I'd attach them to the rim of the dish. The cover, as I said, is teflon-impregnated. Adhesives don't adhere to it well, which is why we have to sew the patches on.
Yeah, I don't think I want to sit outside in 20° weather all day, shooting bullets at an expensive satellite dish.
For a number of reasons.
Yeah, I don't think I want to sit outside in 20° weather all day, shooting bullets at an expensive satellite dish.
For a number of reasons.