Expert Says: Squirrels More Trouble Than Cute, So Don’t Feed Them

When I bought my house, 14 years ago, I couldn't help but notice just how many squirrels seem to inhabit the trees in my backyard. When the leaves fell in the fall, and you could really see their comings and goings; it looked like the "Squirrel Olympics" back there. They'd leap from the thinnest of branches, balance skillfully on the edge of the roof and slide down tree trunks with ease.

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My kids were still quite little then, like toddlers little, and we used to get a kick out of watching them. We'd even leave them a little pile of mixed nuts on the deck and watch them, from the sliding glass doors, scamper up the stairs to eat some treats.

It was fun...until we got bird feeders.

Then we began to realize just how goofy, greedy, and downright destructive these little suckers could be!

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They took out no less than 3 of our feeders before we just gave up.

According to Maine's own "Critter Guy", we go off lucky compared to some.

In a post on his The Critter Guy Facebook Page, he says feeding squirrels can become hazardous to both you and your neighbors.

In a segment, he calls "The Critter Guy Says," he claims that if you see multiple squirrels in your yard (like we do), there are probably way more out there that you're not seeing--just waiting to eat!

And he says in his line of work, he comes across the carnage a bunch of squirrels in one area can lead to, all the time, especially when folks start to feed them with regularity.

The Critter Guy says the damage squirrels cause, can lead to frustrated residents turning to pellet guns or poison, as a resort for dealing with these unruly rodents. Those "solutions" can lead to their own host of problems.

The best bet, he says, is that if you feel like you just "have" to feed them, only put out a small amount of food--something the squirrel can consume quickly, and only feed them once in a while.

Here are some more animals you could come across in Maine.