The Kitchen Staple That'll Make Deterring Squirrels A Breeze

If you have a garden or bird feeders in your yard, squirrels may be as troublesome as they are cute. They're constantly digging up flower beds as they search for buried nuts, eating seeds earmarked for finches and cardinals, and chewing holes in fruit that's not quite ready to harvest. One of the best tools for driving them away is both inexpensive and easy to find. You may even have a stash in your kitchen right now, alongside other squirrel repellants such as cinnamon. This miraculous product is aluminum foil, and there are several ways to deter squirrels with it.

Aluminum foil appears to freak squirrels out with its sheen, texture, and sounds. Aluminum foil may startle squirrels when it reflects light or makes a crunching or crinkling noise. They may stay away because they can't make sense of the shiny surface or the unexpected sound. They may find the foil so unusual that they avoid it in case it's dangerous. It's also possible that foil's sounds provoke discomfort for squirrels, much as the sound of fingernails scratching a chalkboard does for many humans. Squirrels reportedly find foil's texture off-putting if they happen to place their paws on it. They usually don't take this step, however, because foil gives them the creeps.

Figuring out what repels your neighborhood squirrels the best may involve a bit of trial and error. When it comes to aluminum foil, think like a squirrel and don't be afraid to get creative. One method of evicting squirrels from gardens is laying foil sheets on the soil surrounding the plants, like you might do when creating a cardboard weed barrier in a flower bed. If you cover all of the ground in a squirrel-prone bed, the bushy-tailed bandits are unlikely to disrupt your plants since they won't have a comfortable way to scamper between them.

If squirrels are ravaging your fruit trees, wrap large portions of their trunks with foil. Though squirrels might be capable of jumping over the foil, some gardeners report that the creatures don't bother. There's also anecdotal evidence that this strategy can steer rats away from fruit-bearing plants. For example, YouTuber Riddle says that no squirrels or rats have stolen peaches from his trees since he started outfitting their trunks with foil armor. You could even pair foil with cinnamon to rid your garden of rats and squirrels.

Are squirrels hogging your bird feeder's seeds or scaring away your feathered friends? Try combining foil with a Slinky to protect your feeders from squirrels. If you mount your bird feeder on a pole or shepherd's hook, enrobe the long, vertical portion in foil, just as you'd do with a tree trunk. Even if squirrels haven't been climbing the pole to reach the seeds, the shiny foil may keep them far away, preventing them from leaping onto the feeder in the future.