Squirrels chewing holes in your birdcage.
 

Does anyone have any idea how to keep the squirrels from chewing holes in our birdcage, short of shooting the dam things?

Who ever comes up with a way to beat these pesky squirrels at their game is going to go home with 'all the marbles'

they are tough, resilient and creative

they may be seeking water...you might try making water available to them outside your birdcage

when we lived up north I'd find green leaves on the lawn on hot summer days....finally I found out that it was the work of squirrels....they would bite off the leaf so that they could drink the water (sap) flowing in the outer branches of the tree

Squirrels
 

No, you can't shoot 'em. I've even trapped them, but others show up. Make sure there is nothing for them to eat in the birdcage. My solution was, as an OP wrote about providing water, was to put up a birdfeeder. Yeah, I knew they would go after it. But they do leave enough for the birds to eat.

This is Earl D. Squirrel, a retired acrobat enjoying life.

Maybe trap them and haul them off to wet land away from housing?

Get a hawk.. lol. Where we live now the squirrels like to feast at the bird feeder out by my shop. There will often be a red tailed hawk sitting on the peak of our roof like he's waiting in line at the buffet..

Have you seen a squirrel? At my place the varmit man thought it was a rat. He set a trap by the hole and no more problems.

I keep my birdcage inside my house so my birds don't get eaten by squirrels or catch covid because they refuse to wear masks. :loco:

We have seen the squirrels. They are chewing the holes high up in the birdcage. If the rats were the problem then they would be chewing holes near ground level. We saw a red tailed hawk dive bomb our next door neighbors birdcage to get a gecko and go right through the screen. The poor bird was stunned and trapped inside the birdcage. I had to call my neighbor, who was up north, and get permission to go into her birdcage and leave the door open so the hawk could find it’s way out. I guess these are the type of things one deals with when your property abuse a preserve. It’s a good problem to have : )

Squirrel problem
 

A product called Liquid Fence. It could be applied to exterior of bird cage. The initial odor wears off but animals can smell it. Home Depot

If you spray bleach on the screen when you clean it or have it cleaned, they will not chew on it. Or, just spray diluted 1:1 bleach:water if cleaning is not needed. I have used clear packaging tape to repair any holes. It frustrates them as they can't get a bite because it is too slippery.

Rats with a bushy tail.

Illegal to trap and release in Florida check the law

Remove their food source. We had a palm tree with palm berries on it next door. That is squirrel food. If you our your neighbors close by has a palm tree with berries on it cut them down And clean up all the berrys. Once our palm tree was down all the squirrels were away.

I would use dried blood I purchased from a nursery that would repel squirrels from digging up potted plants. It worked very well.

I filled a kids water gun with vinegar and would run out and spray the squirrel. After a few weeks no more squirrels. They actually run across the grass now then jump onto the neighbors bird cage. I read it somewhere, they hate the smell and when they try to lick it of, hate the taste, cheap and it worked for me. Give it a try and it's kind of fun shooting them.