@#$%^&* Thief!!!!

[brewmaster15]

Got to love it. Spend $100 on fancy string lights to go around our deck.. and they looked great. Had them up all summer. Then a few weeks ago bulbs started disappearing.. Some critter was systematically taking the bulbs. We had 2 guesses ..rats or squirrels. Both are known to chew through wires and take away souvenirs. As we have chickens rats are always a possibility and one that needs to be dealt with ASAP. We found a bulb or two but most disappeared with out a trace. I was pretty sure it was squirrels but we wanted to find out. I had a small string of lights that was damaged left so I repaired it and set it up as bait with the game camera on it .. 2 weeks go by and not a bulb disappears.. You are kidding me right? So we wait and wait .. and then nailed the culprit!

20230116_144018 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

20230116_144034 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

IM_00134 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

IM_00134_01 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr


That little fuzzball stole a total of 19 lights from my deck! That squirrels nest has got to be jam packed with bulbs

al

[Vanman]

They are called tree rats for a reason.

[Iminit]

Were the lights lit and it bit through them? May want to run 220v instead of 110v. That will shock them from returning .

[jwcarlson]

Oh, it was the tree version of rat. That's weird, why in the world would they take something like that? I guess maybe to light his porch. Maybe he has an electrician friend.

We have chickens too and have only had a rat once. It ate a couple of chicks that my hens hatched. I set up some traps and it tripped a few but wasn't killed. Finally got him with a plastic TomCat trap. I ended up moving the trap like six feet farther up under the shed. I've not seen a lot of rats in my life, but it was BY FAR the largest rat I have ever seen. I still regret not taking measurements/pictures. I was so ecstatic that I got him.
Opossum have been a lot bigger deal than rats for me. I've killed three of those.

[jwcarlson]

What if he was trying to put it back and you just frightened him, Al?

[brewmaster15]

Were the lights lit and it bit through them? May want to run 220v instead of 110v. That will shock them from returning .

Looks like they were daytime thefts.... lol. Yeah I would love to "deter" them right now.

I read somewhere that soybean is used to make the jacket and they may think these are big nuts but jeeze after the first bulb you would think they would learn otherwise.
Al

[brewmaster15]

What if he was trying to put it back and you just frightened him, Al?

Lol..yeah maybe he kids took it as s prank!

[Hicgup]

Maybe needed some more mood lighting in his tree house to get the Mrs. In the mood to make a whole bunch more tree rats

[Hicgup]

My wife felt the need years ago to put out a bowl of mixed nuts for the squirrels Christmas dinner even though we have a dozen mature oak trees in our yard and mast production in the Fall can fill multiple pickup truck beds. For decoration she put a handful of blue glass Christmas balls in the bowl and somewhere we have the video of a squirrel coming to our porch picking up one of the ornaments in his hands and twirling it around in front of his mouth before running off with it. We think maybe he that it was a gift wrapped nut?

[Hicgup]

661557E7-03E2-48BF-A8EE-2616406C740A.jpg

[brewmaster15]

661557E7-03E2-48BF-A8EE-2616406C740A.jpg

Okay.. they can be cute.. when not stealing light bulbs.

Al

[brewmaster15]

My wife felt the need years ago to put out a bowl of mixed nuts for the squirrels Christmas dinner even though we have a dozen mature oak trees in our yard and mast production in the Fall can fill multiple pickup truck beds. For decoration she put a handful of blue glass Christmas balls in the bowl and somewhere we have the video of a squirrel coming to our porch picking up one of the ornaments in his hands and twirling it around in front of his mouth before running off with it. We think maybe he that it was a gift wrapped nut?

Your wife probably saved his butt.. he probably remembered he hadnt gotten Mrs.Squirrel a gift yet!

[Second Hand Pat]

That is just too funny Al Who would have thought lightbulbs would be "a thing" lol
Pat