All I have to do is tell a neighbor I have too many squirrels. He’ll come down and get some meals and I’d be rid of them. They don’t bother me much. I don’t have any bird feeders yet and I make sure to prop the hood open a foot or so on any vehicle that’s going to sit for more than a couple of days. We have pack rats here that will make a big old nest under the hood and chew wires and hoses off to use as building materials for it. They’ll steel a small wrench to decorate it with if I leave one out too.
James Madison’s home ‘Montpelier’ was being renovated some years ago. On the grounds were trails through a ‘Landmark Forest’ and our Appalachian Trail maintainer crew was asked to come & do some trail repair for them. After we finished, we were given free admission & a tour of the place, which was a nice thank you for our work.
During the house tour, the archeologists told us about finding pack rat nests in the walls of the house. The items in the nests were very interesting because depending on when the rats were taking items, some went back to the early years (house built by Madison’s father in 1760) prior to the Revolution, through the 1800’s, Civil War Era, & into the 1900’s when the Duponts owned the place. The pack rats preserved some historical items in their nests :-)