Predator Guards, don't be complacent!

[Virgil McCoy]

Last weekend while Bass fishing on my favorite lake my son and I quietly trolled into a cove tyring not to scare the fish. As we slowly entered the cove I spotted a Martin House at the end of a shaded dock. While studying the housing I noticed a squirrel watching us watch him as he stood motionless on top of the house. We seemed to have disturbed his robbery attempt for a moment but then he quickly slipped into and out of every hole in the housing. The owner did not have his pole animal guarded. The moral of the story is, "Don't Be Complacent" thinking you won't have your colony raided by some type of predator. Animal guarding is cheap and easily installed. I prefer the fruit netting one can purchase at Wal Mart in the garden dept. Please take it from one who lost at the first attempt as a landlord due to a snake raid!

[Virgil McCoy]

And we did watch him shimmy right down the 20 foot pole and all the way down a 100 ft. dock to his home in the Pine trees.

[Louise Chambers]

Good reminder, Virgil - it's so important not to neglect this step! Netting won't stop raccoons or squirrels, so a barrier/stovepipe is needed too.

Oops, typo - I meant raccoons or squirrels but typed snakes! fixed now

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I think that netting will stop most snakes if properly installed!

Netting won't stop raccoons or snakes.

[Virgil McCoy]

Louise, I began using the 1/2" x 1/2" plastic netting after witnessing the snake captured and shown on this forum. I took down the stove type guards last season. I've also seen many others post pictures on the forum using this same technique, did I miss a review its effectiveness?

[Louise Chambers]

Netting will catch snakes, sure - so many landlords add it above their stovepipe or PVC baffles. Netting is not going to stop raccoons or squirrels, though - it is strictly intended as a back-up for snakes. (sorry about typo in first post, fixed now)

That's why I mentioned it, so newbies would know that just netting will not protect against raccoons, which can destroy a colony with a few raids.

One landlord told us that he wondered why his nestlings and eggs were disappearing - he'd been away a few days, and he did not have predator guards on his poles. That evening, while out on his deck, he saw a raccoon come out of nearby cover and climb a martin pole so fast he could not believe it! Metal pole. His colony went from 25 pairs to 4 that year. He was lucky, though, and his colony is growing again, now that he has added stovepipe guards.

[Peggy Riley]

This can't be discussed enough! I was so paranoid about the snakes I didn't do anything about the coons. That was one bad season for me. Poles are now protected by electric guards.

[shiner]

I did not know that squirrels were a danger to martins. What do they do? I guess I just never though a squirrel as a predator..

[Louise Chambers]

Well, they are not the danger that raccoons or snakes are - but they will eat eggs and baby birds (chipmunks are big threat to songbirds that nest in the understory of woodlands). Squirrels will take over a bird house, gnaw entrances larger, and raise their family in one - which will certainly run any birds off.

Bird houses should always be placed out of reach of squirrels, which can jump quite a distance from overhanging branches and nearby limbs, as well as climb poles, both metal and wood.