West Seattle wildlife: Christmas light ‘theft,’ but not Crime Watch

| West Seattle news | Wildlife

Note the missing bulbs, off to the right of the photo, which is from Dan, who explains:

Yesterday we saw a squirrel run off the deck with a bright yellow object in his mouth..and came out to see he had chewed through the wires (and they were turned ON) and grabbed a yellow LED light from the deck railing.

Then today he (or someone he told about it) was back and grabbed another yellow…this time with them unplugged…and later we spotted him with a green one in his mouth running across the deck.

We had no idea that they were nutritious …!

Thought this was very strange, til we found online that this is somewhat common… and most report that the red ones are not ever taken.

cjboffoli November 29, 2011 (3:41 pm)

The amperage of the LED light strand must be so low that it’s not deadly for the squirrels.

Rick November 29, 2011 (4:27 pm)

I always pick the red ones first. Well,it works with candy anyway.

Kelly November 29, 2011 (4:29 pm)

Very interesting about the red lights. Red berries are often poisonous (red being a common danger/warning signal in nature) so that makes sense. Now that I think about it, glowing red berries are probably really dangerous. Maybe radioactive. Squirrels are so smart.

Rick, maybe you should stick to candy ;)

cjboffoli November 29, 2011 (5:06 pm)

Squirrels seem to have had no qualms about going after the strawberries in my garden last summer. Maybe the smell assured them that they were edible.

CJ November 29, 2011 (5:53 pm)

That’s cute-thanks for sharing :)

wswildlife November 29, 2011 (6:32 pm)

I don’t think the LED light thieves are very particular about the bulb color. After our holiday lights went out unexpectedly last year, we found a pile of wire at the base of a tree and watched the squirrels stealing the red bulbs. Some they brought to the neighbors, and we are still finding them buried in the yard!

onceachef November 29, 2011 (7:48 pm)

Very funny!

SSF November 29, 2011 (8:59 pm)

Interesting. A few years ago we had a lighted Christmas sign that we thought thieves must have cut but thought it was weird they didn’t take it. Now it all makes sense it was the squirrel.

Valerie November 29, 2011 (9:38 pm)

Bright Shiny Objects will get ’em every time :-)

WTF November 29, 2011 (9:45 pm)

Didn’t (we) have squirrel-gate last year, too?

WSneighbor November 29, 2011 (11:04 pm)

Hilarious! Thanks for the laugh and I’ll be on the look out for squirrels running with bulbs in their mouth.

Joe November 29, 2011 (11:27 pm)

The squirrels around my house always chew through any Christmas lights we have wrapped around our trees. It’s actually pretty annoying since a good string of lights can be around $20.

wsguy November 30, 2011 (12:19 am)

Now thats a story…
Thanks

Jenifer Lewis November 30, 2011 (11:06 am)

Omgosh, I LMAO. I have to share this. Too funny. I’ll be on guard for the furry little rats stealing Christmas bulbs!

visitor November 30, 2011 (3:28 pm)

Christmas must be really confusing for the squirrels!

WSB November 30, 2011 (3:32 pm)

The old novelty song “I Yust Go Nuts for Christmas” suddenly comes to mind …

Santa November 30, 2011 (3:31 pm)

YIKES!!!

So glad I have not had that problem…

YET!!!

Virginia December 7, 2011 (1:25 pm)

If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it. I saw the little squirrel thief chewing off the LED lights. I couldn’t believe it. Just yesterday, I couldn’t understand why my lights were suddenly not working. Now, I understand. They seem to prefer the blue ones. Are they taking them because they think they are nuts?

LJC December 12, 2011 (12:53 pm)

The $$$ signs are mounting as my Christmas lights are slowing being gnawed away by these rascals. It started with Red C9 LED bulbs and has now moved on to just chewing the wires apart (for fun?).

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