No Stupid Questions

Maybe because 'bird feeder' implies they are trying to feed birds?

I really hated the possums in my old neighborhood because they would always crawl into the soffit and have babies, destroy things I could not afford to fix, and poop stinky poop in my attic. But in my new slightly bougier neighborhood the possums are so cute and just run around eating bugs. Rats I can't bring myself to hate, and squirrels just seem like cute fluffy rats. So I can't hate them but goddam it I have never harvested even one fully ripe tomato because they destroy them. I do hate that.

They eat hella fruit off my fruits trees. And when I say eat, I mean take 3 bites and drop it on the ground to grab a new one and take 3 bites.

They waste 50 apricots to eat 3 apricots.

Until I started taking all the ground fruit and boiling it in a pot to make fruit juice for brandy distilling, it was a complete waste. Now it's still wasteful, because I'd rather eat the fruit, but at least I recover something from it.

Fuck squirrels.

My dog hates squirrels, so I do too.

They're destructive and difficult to deter. If squirrel hate is more common among Boomers, it's probably because they've lived long enough to find this out firsthand.

My bird feeder is for cat entertainment purposes anyway. Cats seem equally happy with birds or squirrels. Not a boomer but I guess I'd understand if I wanted to see birds.

Gen-Xer here, and I used to hate those furry-tailed rats. In one of my old apartments, one lived in the eaves of my building near my window and used to wake me up chewing on shit all the time. I've worked 2nd and 3rd shift jobs most of my adult life, and have found it hard enough to get other humans to respect my sleep time, let alone some rabid rodents that everyone else thinks are cute. I'm pretty much indifferent to them now, not being a property owner, but I can definitely understand why people hate them.

There used to be a clip on Fu Kung (remember that?) where a dude set up a trap on his back porch with a basket and some bungie cords, and when the squirrel took the bait, the guy cut the tether and flings the unsuspecting little bugger like 30 or 40 yards.

37y/o here. Fuck Squirrels, grey and red, as well as chipmunks. They're all just different textured rats. Destroy shit to make nests, destroy shit to get at food or store food, disease spreading, fuckem all.

Anyone needs advice for bird feeders: 4x4 post in ground, thin walled metal rust resistant metal tubing covered in environment friendly lube. I've gone extreme with lard - looked like shit after a week, now I just buy vegetable oil spray and coat it. As long as there are no trees close enough for Squirrels to jump to the feeder you shouldn't have an issue. Every post I put in gets a 4 way cross on top to hang 4 individual feeders from. I do this for any feeder that isn't humming bird/oriole cuz they don't seem to get fucked with.

They destroy whatever they can. They chew cables, rip siding and nest in insulation. Make wherever they can smell of piss. If you try to grew anything edible they eat the sprouting fruit, nuts, and leaves then start eating the bark and kill the tree.

Every since one of them tore out half the insulation from my car hood and stuffed it in every corner of the engine compartment, I've had it out for them. Furry little obsessive compulsive weirdos.

Not a boomer, but as a Brit - the grey squirrel is an invasive species which has pretty much driven out the native red squirrel from most of the country. They also cause damage to trees through bark stripping.

I don't hate them, but since grey ground squirrels are a primary vector for Bubonic plague in the southwest US, I prefer to keep them distanced.

Also don't have a bird feeder, planted natives to provide food and habitat.

It doesn't matter your age, put up a bird feeder and you'll soon hate squirrels. You spend $40 on a bag of seed and they'll scoop out all the stuff that they don't want to get to the stuff they do want. Seed on the ground attracts animals you don't want like rodents or Canadian geese that shit all over. I found it easier to pay the squirrels off like the mafia. Buy a bag of corn or cheap peanuts and sprinkle some around to appease the bastards. It sucks but it's worth it in the long run.

Squirrels were very popular pets in the 1800s. These answers are fascinating though.

I bought a squirrel proof bird feeder pole thing

https://jcswildlife.com/products/squirrel-stopper-deluxe-squirrel-proof-bird-feeder-pole-system-with-baffle

It works great, now I'm happy to watch the squirrels run around not eating my birds' seed.

Only downside so far is some wasps built a nest inside and stung me. But they're dead now.