Asked on Jan 04, 2017
Help! Outdoor critters destroy wires of the Christmas lights!
by Ann M
+2
This is the second year that outside critters, not sure what kind, have eaten through the wires to our outside Christmas decorations. We live in a cold and snowy area and its too difficult to splice these wires together in the elements so I'm trying to figure some ways to prevent this from happening again next year. I thought of threading the wire ( it's always the wires on the ground that get eaten) through a piece of conduit or plastic pipe beforehand but the connection or even the plug (lg square shape) are too large to get through. On a few the connections are smaller so that would work but then I didn't want a whole hodgepodge of piping at different widths either so it looked tacky. Not every year is a white Christmas so these things would be seen. Any ideas?
5 answers
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![Ric]()
Ric
on Jan 05, 2017
Have had same problem. Rabbits were chewing wires . -
![GoddessOdd]()
GoddessOdd
on Jan 05, 2017
I have seen many squirrels not only chewing the wires but also taking the bulbs and hiding them (I guess they thing they're fruit) . There are several different sprays to make things unpalatable to animals, such as bitter apple or cayenne pepper, but I think I would try either coyote or fox urine (available online, believe it or not, buy the urine of your area's most likely predator) and/or might try one of the plastic owls on the corner of your roof. -
![Qe Terry]()
Qe Terry
on Jan 06, 2017
Most good home and garden centers carry Fox Tail. It is a compound in a bag. Put one on each end of you roof, and you will not be bothered by squirrels, cats, mice, or most birds. -
![Ann M]()
Ann M
on Jan 07, 2017
We'll check it out! Thank you! -
![Anne Coppes]()
Anne Coppes
on Jan 14, 2017
After squirrels chewed through the gas line to my outside grill, I coated the line with Vaseline and then patted hot pepper flakes into the Vaseline. They have left the line alone. (however, they did chew through it twice the summer before!)They also chewed off several holiday lights - and the stinkers only chewed through new sets! There are all kinds of potions to put on things, but they usually need renewed after a rain.
Ric
on Jan 05, 2017
GoddessOdd
on Jan 05, 2017
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