Squirrel Platform = FAIL

I hope you enjoy my spooky site decor!  Don’t worry, it will revert to it’s normal self next week 🙂

Last March I was SO HAPPY to finally install a squirrel feeding platform outside our dining room window:

        

We got all kinds of visitors, including raccoons, chipmunks, birds, and even some mice who must have climbed the lilac tree to reach the platform.  I didn’t get a picture of the mice, but I did catch the raccoons, chippy, and birds:

       

        

Darwin spent hours on his indoor platform watching the birds on the squirrel platform.

I even installed an outdoor water bottle back in May, figuring it might help the squirrels on hot days:

        

       

But alas, the squirrels either weren’t interested, or didn’t know how to use it.  Although since they are very similar to rats, I’m guessing they could have used it, but chose not too.

All spring & summer I enjoyed leaving food out, and we enjoyed watching the animals eat at the platform.  Look how relaxed the squirrel in the 2nd pic is!:

        

        

A few times we had 3 and 4 squirrels all happily taking turns eating, and a few times they even traversed our window screens to reach the platform:

        

The cats [mostly Darwin] were endlessly entertained [mostly by the birds]:

        

And I was endlessly entertained by the beautiful squirrels:

        

But last weekend I had to take the platform down.  The issue was mice.  Stupid, hangry, devious, mice.  They found a hole under the squirrel platform leading into our basement.  It’s the hole the HVAC tube goes into.  They started ripping insulation out of the hole, and they chewed the hell out of the HVAC tube insulation:

       

That little bit of pink insulation is nothing compared to the original mountain I cleaned up last week.  JEESH.  Darwin watched as I swept up all the seed and insulation from under the platform and dumped it in the trash:

Then used copper mesh and spray foam designed for rodents to seal the hole:

Ugly, but effective [I’ll be installing some replacement insulation foam next spring for the HVAC coolant line]:

        

I also sealed an area the mice like to use in our basement stairwell:

So now the squirrels will have to be content eating peanuts and seed from the backyard wall, which isn’t near any basement holes:

        

Meh.  I loved having the platform, but not at the expense of a solid foundation.