squirrels chewing through christmas lights!!

Hey Folks.

I have (well, had) soft white strawberry-style LED christmas lights outlining the railing of my deck and run up to the underside of the deck above. They are (were) controlled by an Insteon Outdoor ApplianceLinc. That was until yesterday when I discovered one of the LEDs had been chewed off and a 10" section of wire was missing. I assume it was the one (or more) of the many squirrels I see running around that jump from my deck to the hemlock tree next to it and back.
My question is: Has this happened to anybody else? How do you prevent it? I don't want to spend money and time putting up new lights if only to have this happen again.

(Yes, I know it's not Christmas, but it's nice to sit on the deck in the summer with soft ambient light)

Thanks in advance for any tips and tricks.
-Andrew

You could try smearing a thin layer of something greasy on it that would taste bad to them. A quick search of tinterwebs suggests they dislike 'Nyjer seed, millet, safflower, canary seed and canola seed' so you could try grinding up some of that and putting it into the paste.

Thanks - my searches all yielded stuff about cayanne pepper. I might try some of the other suggestions too. However, as one internet user noted one would typically have to re-apply such deterrent after a rain storm. My hope is there's a more lasting method. (maybe there isn't one!)

you will lose.. posing for the camera

What about perhaps strip/rope LED lighting that is thicker, maybe less inviting to be chewed through? Probably a PITA, but could route a groove on the bottom of the railing and push the wire in there to keep it away from critters...

Adam beat me to it. I bought LED rope lights for my kitchen which came encased in a flexible plastic tube. Definitely not impervious, but perhaps less appealing.

The channel idea is a great one, if you can do it.

I got mine in the States at www.ledropelightsandmore.com

[matt (support)]

Since this is a squirrel thread I thought I would share the photo sequence one of our security cameras caught of our resident squirrel jumping from the roof onto the fence. It captures him doing this once or twice each day.

Nice resolution, Matt. What camera are you using?

joe

[matt (support)]

That one is a HIKVISION DS-2CD2032. Good hardware. If I remember correctly it was somewhat of a PITA to get configured/setup (requiring Window browser). But once setup it is working great with SecuritySpy.