Florida squirrels make the papers

[TheTreeSpyder]

They've known about squirrels shorting out lines down here for awhile. Mostly from the length of their bodies allowing them to contact both sides of a short insulator. Carrying the charged wire to the ground doesn't do much for the conducting squirrel; as it knocks out the power and fries the rodent.

They have plastic cup/overlays that can be put on 'trouble areas'; to make the length needed to short out the ground to power; longer than a squirrel body can reach.

Thus, we have less power outages and more squirrels living until retirement noted in these areas.

 

[vharrison2]

I love her necklace!

 

[rb_in_va]

...well, you could always starve your family's pet cat for a couple of days and then lock it in the attic! ...its just a thought...I'm kidding. HC

Believe me, if I had a cat I would have done it. As it turns out there are people that specialize in removal of squirrels and other "intruders." They're not cheap though.

 

[rebelman]

I saw a squirrel skeleton hangin from the wire by his teeth. Like spyder said, he was stretched out from one line to the other.

 

[Tree Machine]

I'm particularly fond of the little buggers. For a couple years now I've been attempting communication. If you mimic their sounds and kinda flick your hand like they do their tails, you can get their attention. You're not actually 'communicating', but you're letting them know you're attempting to step over to their side of the language barrier.

Once one was trotting across a yard and I called to it, he stopped in his tracks, sat up on his hinds, and then three others came out of nowhere and the 4 of them hung there for a few moments. This was a proud moment for me.

Certain things I can share with you that I probably wouldn't with family, friends and clients.

 

[hobby climber]

TM, as I read your post, I get a picture in my mind of these four squirrels on the ground looking up a tree... at you! HC

 

[moss]

I have to admire them for their climbing ability and toughness. I walked out onto my third floor porch one morning and surprised a squirrel. It took a flying leap and missed the nearest branch by about 3 ft. Right to the ground, thud. Got up, climbed a utility pole, perched on it and scolded me. Rodent as a putdown means nothing to me. Hamsters, beaver and cute little bunny rabbits are rodents. Nothing wrong with having 4 big front teeth

As far as the article goes, the squirrels are just doing what they always do, getting from point A to point B by whatever means necessary. It's an engineering problem for the utilities, squirrels aren't going away. Typical to blame something else for a problem that's theirs to solve.

Squirrels are hawk food, life's no picnic except for the hawk in this case:

 

[clearance]

An engineering problem for the utility Moss? Like I said, drive down the roads with boom trucks and whack the snot outta the trees, they can only jump so far, at the same time the branches won't be falling on the lines. Guess the people there have to decide if they want a reliable power system or not.

 

[clearance]

Guess the linesmen will have to put in bigger fuses and juice up the line a little more, huh? We don't have that problem here, must be why, a big bird put out the power when he cross phased the 3 phase 25kv distribution line I was working by. Only reason he didn't just burn off and the powers stay on is because the recloser was disabled, single shot, cause I asked for it.

 

[monkeypuzzle]

Being a Tallahassee boy gone Montana kid I too am quite fond of squirrels. Squirrles give folks something to gripe about I think. Never heard of this problem in Tally before. Whatcha think Cross?

Funny thing about these squirrels in Montana they have never been hunted like the southern squirrels. No season for squirrels here. Can get close as you want no problem, try that with the his southern cuzz. Bigger out here also.

 

[Tree Machine]

Here's another interspecie happenin'.

I was repairing a bent gutter (oops!), I was on a ladder doing my thing, I saw a squirrel in a nearby tree and started doing the squirrel 'talk' and got his attention. I flicked my hand a few times and continued chirping at him. He ran out to the end of a limb toward me, about 10 meters away. I opened my eyes wide and got a big smile on my face, continuing the 'conversation'. He was rattling off all kinds of squirrel noises and did a quick series of little push-ups. I bobbed my head up and down, mimicking his motions and then I just started laughing. There we were looking at each other, connected on some bizarre little level. I don't know if squirrels can laugh, but that was the impression I got. :hmm3grin2orange: We did this together for a couple minutes, then went back to what we were doing.

Something tells me we both went home that night and told our respective partners about the experience.


Moss, that is a fabulous picture of the hawk having the picnic. I've seen your stuff. Your photography is impressive.

 

[hobby climber]

Take Five...

I think we can all take a lesson from this guy. After a hard days work up a tree, its good to kick back and have a cold one! HC

 

[b1rdman]

That's one way to get a hair cut...

This little bugger took out one leg of three phase in an industrial park that I was working at last summer.