Squirrels love new paint!

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arkitkat

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This is weird. I had my house painted about 3 years ago. We had never had a single problem with squirrels chewing the paint off the house until we painted. No neighbors have the problem either. Our trim is gnawed down to the raw wood. Our front porch has had the siding torn off almost completely along the bottom board of whole porch. They tear off quarter, or larger, sized pieces of the siding and spit it out!!! On my dormers, they have torn the siding off exposing the metal flashing! These little animals have continued doing this from the day the painters left until today, off and on. Does anyone have any idea how to stop this? And yes, I know, shoot them. I don't want to kill them, just make them stop the destruction. I know it sounds crazy, but the only thing I can think of is the paint that is making them do this. They don't seem to prefer the green or the white, which IS called White Chocolate.;) Thanks for any info.
 
There is a spray available that has a horrible taste without smelling too badly.
You will need to talk to a local hardware supplier or pest control specialist to see what's available in your area.
 
I had no idea there was a spray! I will check with the hardware store. Thank's Square Eye! Also, the addition to your porch is lovely. Very nice! Thanks again!
 
What kind of paint? We got squirrels here too. Not munching on my house and would like to keep it that way.
 
Some paint colors use organic-based tints, which might be attracting the critters. I painted a room a few years ago with a color that smelled exactly like grape Nehi!
 
It's been a while since the original post so I'm not sure if this is relevant to the original poster, but this might be informative to others.

We're dealing with the exact same issue. Freshly painted base board on the outside of our house showed strange chew marks. We repainted and the same thing happened. So I setup a webcam:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqFk44QjijA"]Squirrels vs. House I - YouTube[/ame]

I bought a bag of habaneros and grated them on it. That stopped them, but not sure how long it will last with rain etc. Went to the do it yourself pest control place to buy some of the squirrel repellant (Ropel), thinking it might work better, but they said it didn't work very well. He suggested I just use the habaneros if it's working.

I would like a longer term solution, and am thinking about mixing pure capsaicin (the chemical that makes peppers hot) into the paint. Wouldn't take much, so I don't think it would effect the paint.
 
ive never heard of squirrels chewing off paint. that's crazy. i wouldn't shoot them either, that's a little dramatic if you ask me. i would go with the spray. sounds like the best option.
 
maybe you need an animal advisor from veteriner, how to scare of the squirrel, that might be solve your problem.
 
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