Why Build a Squirrel Obstacle Course?

By: Nolan Wilson

            Squirrels are the main enemy of anyone who enjoys feeding and watching birds. A gray squirrel can eat two lbs of sunflower seeds per week. A bird however, eats very little feed, and are fairly cost efficient to feed. While a squirrel is busy eating, few birds will use that feeder. Squirrels, however, are a very important part of the local ecosystem. Stashing away certain seeds, it helps replenish and populate the forest, and squirrels’ love of mushrooms help spread mychorrizal mushrooms, which are critical to the health of tree roots. This is why building a squirrel obstacle course in your yard would not only be entertaining, but also environmentally friendly.

 Instead of keeping squirrels out of our yards all together, maybe we should give them a feeder of their own. If you have one squirrel-proof bird feeder and one feeder that the squirrels can access fairly simply, the squirrels will choose the simple feeder while the birds are happily eating their bird feed. The squirrel feeder should have a cheaper feed like corn or peanuts. Why not make the squirrel feeder more entertaining by giving the squirrels a challenge, and make them work for their food?

            The key to building a successful squirrel obstacle course is incremental development. The squirrels can learn one obstacle at a time much quicker than they will learn the whole obstacle course at once.

Step 1: Take some peanuts or corn and put in on the ground in your yard for one week. This will get the squirrels to get in the habit of returning to your yard daily for the free food.

Step 2: Put a very simple foot long pole in the ground with a small platform on top of it. Then, put the feed on top of the small platform and the squirrels will quickly learn to reach up and grab the feed off the platform

Step 3: Construct a platform about the width of a yardstick that come out from a tree or fence about four feet in the air. The small platform should be sturdy and flat. Then you should set peanuts on the platform spaced out one foot from each other.  The squirrels will learn to walk across this platform to get the peanuts in about one day.

Step 4: Use four or five yardsticks to construct a sturdy vertical t-shaped pole about four feet away from the fence or tree. The peanuts should be put on top of the “T”. Then tie a shoelace or small rope from the tree or fence to the top of the “T”. The squirrels will then learn to walk across the small rope. 

Step 5: Take a flat shoelace and hang it down from the horizontal rope. Take whole peanuts and tie them on the shoelace one foot away from each other by wrapping the lace around the peanut and then looping it similar to the first step of tying your shoe or tying a knot. The squirrels will learn to either pull the shoelace up to themselves to untie the knots and get the nuts, or they will climb down the shoelace.

Step 6: Take three pieces of 1” PVC pipe and stick them in the ground three to four feet away from the original “T” structure. They should be the same height as the “T”. Then you can use duct tape to attach rulers to the top of the PVC pipes. Set the peanuts on top of the rulers, and the squirrels will learn to jump from platform to platform.

Take these simple supplies and experiment to make a custom squirrel obstacle course in your own back yard. The acrobatic abilities of the squirrels are sure to keep you watching for days.