I did a google search for squirrels chewing on Christmas lights and found that this is a fairly common occurrence, although new to me. Some solutions were proposed, such as:

1. Spray the wires with a pepper spray. I don't want to spray something that I will have to handle when I put it away until next year.

2. Someone claimed that squirrels chew all LED lights except red lights. If so, I'm not sure I want to have the whole yard glowing red.

3. Use the LED rope lights, which are encased in thick plastic and supposedly not fun to chew. I haven't really looked into these, but suspect they may be very commercial looking and not so good for a residential application.

4. My own thought for why I haven't had this problem before is because previously I used the "pre-lit" faux evergreen garlands. Last year the "pre-lights" finally failed and I dismantled them so I could reuse the garlands. I bought separate LED light strands and loosely wrapped the naked wires around the garlands. Worked fine for 2 or 3 weeks, but it eventually occurred to the squirrels to chew on the exposed wires. Maybe I could more carefully wrap the new light strands so the wires are hidden by the faux evergreens.

Does anybody have any thoughts or experience with this problem?

Claire

Right now I have one and a half light strands still operating. I'm hoping they last until Epiphany (Thursday) when I take the lights down by old family tradition.

Claisre

I leave my Christmas decor up 24/7 until just before Valentine's day when I remove Xmasy things like wreaths and tree and garlands around lamp posts, but leave up the red and white outdoor lights. After Valentine's day I take down the red lights and leave up the white ones until after St Patty's day. It brightens the dark days of winter. Wouldn't want any nibblers putting out my light show prematurely...or worse yet igniting the barn or house.

Hope you find a solution to the pesky critters.

All of my outdoor lights are on GFI or similar circuits so I hope that any sudden electrical surge would immediately switch off the power. I don't see any sign of scorching where the squirrels chewed the wires - just a neat cut, and the LED strings draw very little power anyway. I don't think there's much of a fire hazard here, but I'm no electrician.

I'm seeing somewhat of a pattern. They didn't touch the naked light strand on the wisteria, even though they do occasionally climb up there. What they did chomp on is naked light strands associated with faux evergreen garlands. Since they love to chomp on real evergreens, they may just not have distinguished between the wires and the "evergreens". They can't claim they're hungry, they get plenty of birdseed and peanuts.

I'm considering keeping light strands separate from the garlands next year. I'm certainly not going to do without lights, particularly in the gloom leading up to the solstice.

Claire

It's a challenge trying to keep the rope lights looking residential, but worth it if the the lights last for several seasons. I really don't want to keep buying expensive light strings every year and only having them last a few weeks. All these photos were taken from inside the house.

The problem was on the deck and porch railings so on the deck I've wrapped the rope and the garland together, hoping to soften the rope light a bit.

These lights are really, really red.

On the porch I've wrapped the rope light around the railing separate from the garland.

In the background you can see the wisteria with a standard light string.

I prefer the wisteria lights, shown here early this morning as the sun was staggering up.

The wisteria lights shining through Miscanthus seed plumes.

I'll try living with these lights this year and then decide whether I want to use them again next year. I need to get used to the non-traditional look of Christmas lights. I'm already enjoying the lights at night, though.

Claire