Just for the record - I have heard squirrels growl.
There were a lot of them in Greenwich Park. The ones close to the lake were semi-tame. They would come up and take monkey nuts from your hands. Probably why there wasn't a surfeit of monkeys in the park.

But the ones closer to Trafalgar Road were the wild boys, running free. I heard them chatter at dogs once they were a safe distance up a tree. And during the Spring I heard them shouting and swearing at eachother from different trees. And I don't mean trees with interlocking branches, I mean trees on different sides of a wide path.

Squirrels are growlers.
But growlers aren't squirrels.

I'd be really cautious about that. Just keep trapping them as you are. The plan is in place.

Putting anything (structure, impediment, scent...) that might dissuade them from entering the hole you already have will lead them to create new ones!

To be clear.... Once the trap is sprung, I need to limit it to one end of the cage. So I made a slotted board that fits that purpose. I poke a chopstick at him to get him to the proper end. This last one grabbed it, bit it and growled like a dog fighting over a chew toy. Grrrr grrrrr grrrrr

I dunno, give it a steak.

How are the swimming lessons coming coach? Do you have any potential medalists?

I run a pretty good swim camp in the summer for possums and woodchucks. So far, most of them liked camp so much they refused to go home.

Our team's swim mom shirts say "underwater, no-one can hear you whine". I'm guessing that works for growling too.....

Oh jeez, jim's turned into a squirrel trapper.

I had no idea this was going to turn into such a long journey road to hell. :)

you did too....

one does what one must

happiness is an empty squirrel trap

Stop up that hole. NOW!

that sounds dirty :eek:

all quiet on the squirrel front. Good thing. it was 13 degrees this morning..... I don't know what I would have done with one if there had been one in the trap.

If all is quiet until Sunday, I'll be spending my morning in the attic.

you can't drown them at 13 degrees? ice too thick to break?

I'm not sure if you have a hole plugging plan in place, but may I suggest coarse Bronze wool and expanding foam? In the spring you can get outside and fix the boards properly but for now if you take coarse bronze wool (doesn't rust, get it at a paint supply store or a boatyard) and gently pull it apart so it very loosely fills the hole, then you spray expanding foam into the mess of wool it will expand and create a nice foam plug that noone will want to chew through.