Rats with tales, and a PR agent.

July 3, 2010 3:09 PM

I live in a 19th century Victorian University Residence. Often, a squirrel climbs up the ivy outside the window, launches themselves into my room, Sometimes they stay there and sometimes they leave quickly.I have read this, and I am not quite sure if I want to eradicate them, and most of the other questions

other info---in Toronto, obv. don't own the property, would like to both use the ledge on the inside of the window and keep the windows open, because it is insanely humid and warm here. I cannot kill all the squirrels on the U of T Campus, I am not sure exactly what to ask the maintenance guys and I know they are not going to cut all of the ivy down.

so what are my options?

posted by PinkMoose to Home & Garden (19 answers total)

Can you install a screen?
posted by SuperSquirrel at 3:13 PM on July 3, 2010

Response by poster: nope, the windows are original to the place, and they do not have screens.
posted by PinkMoose at 3:14 PM on July 3, 2010

Response by poster: and installing screens is difficult, because of how the windows are constructed.
posted by PinkMoose at 3:15 PM on July 3, 2010

Could you put something similar to fly-screens on all the windows? Or in this case squirrel-screens with larger spacings to minimize disruption to air-flow. On squirrel-message-boards people are suggesting '1/4" HW cloth'.
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 3:17 PM on July 3, 2010

get a screen like this that fits into the window opening and is easily removable.
posted by gnutron at 3:19 PM on July 3, 2010

Just saw your update after posting. Perhaps some type of ultrasonic device?
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 3:19 PM on July 3, 2010

Response by poster: There is nothing to hold onto the screen, the window would not shut at all, and there is no place for the screen to hold onto.
posted by PinkMoose at 3:21 PM on July 3, 2010

gnutron has a good idea. The screen fits below an open window. You pull the window down on top of the expandable/adjustable screen and that holds the screen in place by the weight of the window.
posted by JayRwv at 3:23 PM on July 3, 2010

Is this Burwash Hall, by any chance? If so, I'll check with my friends who lived there during my Vic days...
posted by avocet at 3:29 PM on July 3, 2010

Response by poster: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkmoose/4758867248/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkmoose/4758240631/

Two photos
posted by PinkMoose at 3:30 PM on July 3, 2010

Response by poster: It's Knox College.
posted by PinkMoose at 3:31 PM on July 3, 2010

ok, how about some pigeon spikes?
posted by gnutron at 3:36 PM on July 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Do the ultra-sonic work for squirrells. because when we had mice in my old place, they did not work at all.
posted by PinkMoose at 3:37 PM on July 3, 2010

Do a google for "casement window screens" and see if that is what you need.
posted by JayRwv at 3:55 PM on July 3, 2010

Best answer: Yeah, that's not that unusual a window, it's just an old casement window. You could get a screen that sits entirely inside that you just place in the window when you've got it open. If you don't want the darkening effect of a screen you could also get some balcony mesh (much bigger holes, will keep out squirrels and birds but not bugs).

Actually, now that I think of it, what you should do is go down Bloor to Weiner Home Hardware and ask the guys there what they recommend. They'll have a solution and everything you need to implement it.
posted by mendel at 3:59 PM on July 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Mendel--that's the ticket!
posted by PinkMoose at 4:07 PM on July 3, 2010

Walk into any hardware store or home improvement place and go to the screen section and you'll find what you need. It's a screen with its own frame that expands and contracts horizontally to match the width of the window. You just stick it in and then close the window on the top and it's held in place by friction, just the same way that you can hold a box fan in a window. People living in older homes all over the place have been using these for quite some time.
posted by Rhomboid at 4:10 PM on July 3, 2010

I'm sorry this isn't really answering the question, but Squirrels at My Window was such a charming read - about a woman and her husband living in New York who have squirrels coming in their apartment window. I don't remember whether it would provide clues as to how to dissuade the squirrels.
posted by AnnaRat at 5:56 PM on July 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

Oh man, you say "you want to keep the window open" because "it is insanely hot and humid here".. you must not have air conditioning, I didn't when I lived there. I wish I lived somewhere like that now =\

Now where I live, if your a/c goes out I think legally your landlord has to put you up somewhere that does (hotel). Man I hate the summer here.
posted by BurnMage at 10:45 PM on July 3, 2010