We have a big silver maple outside our house. Recently some squirrels made a home in it. Was wondering if this means the inside is a big hole and we should plan on taking the entire tree down, or what? Or if it's normal, it will all be fine.
Doom or good tidings?
by bliswell
13 Comments
Look at those judgy little eyes 👀 …
Not bad at all! Mine also has holes and if it wasn’t for the fungal disease – I would have left it. If you want a true assessment of your tree, get an arborist report done!
It is bad depending on your risk tolerance. Silver maples are notoriously bad about rotting very quickly. If you are fine knowing this one can fall at any moment they you are good but if you dont want it to fall and hit something you need to get it inspected by a certified arborist. If it is bad structure wise and they recommend removal they could leave the snag for the squirrel and other wildlife when they remove the rest of the tree
No, Squirrels have houses in trees
thats his house ☺️
Squirrel homes in trees (habitat holes) are defects that could cause the tree to fail. You should have a TRAQ arborist do a tree risk assessment on the tree and use resistance drilling to determine how much if any decay there is in the core. As another Redditor mentioned silver maple’s are prone to rot and failure. That habitat hole is basically an open wound to the xylem where pests (Boring beetles) or fungal could easily gain access. This goes for woodpecker homes as well.
Show that dumb squirrel who’s boss and take down that tree. Become the squirrel master
Landlord of my previous abode took down 2 large Silver Maples which were apparently home to generations of squirrels. The closest thing to the tree was a free standing garage and they took up residence there, for at least 4 generations more. Do squirrels have an imprint where they’ll nest as close as possible to their original family home? Always wondered this.
I removed two 95 yo silver maples in 2020. One had broken and crushed the neighbors garage two years before I bought. Hollow trees can be a hazard and I wasn’t willing to risk it. I had these two and two more removed right before covid hit. I was lucky. Only cost me $4k. Price has gone up since then unfortunately!
This proves that you have pockets of mold in your maple, however the gray squirrels will clean out the hole; they should not get any bigger due to the mold.
That is the most solid looking silver maple i have seen in recent memory… just one big trunk
Charge him $1800 a month for rent. Utilities not included. He must know our pain
He’s judging you so hard. Personally he looks like not the one to fuck with.
I had a large silver maple that also had a big hole/ house for squirrels . The tree was mostly healthy for 15 years since we owned it with said hole( and who knows how many decades before that), but i recently had a large limb break off and we noticed there was some rot and decay. We also have a small bungalow so any falling branches get alot more momentum and do much more damage.
So the hole isn’t good, but it doesn’t mean you need to cut the tree down right away