Squirrels are eating my lead pipe flashings

I have recently noticed that squirrels are eating my lead pipe flashings. I have called roofing contractors and none of them have ever heard of this. They all were under the impression that squirrels would not eat lead. There are no shavings around so they must be eating it. Does anyone have an answer for me?? What should I use instead??

Do you like owls?

They eat rats also. A city around here is getting them to remove the rat problems.

Yea down here we have some rats problems … this ones are the worst kind … the two legged ones :x

this is comon in my area.
dont know exactly why they do it.
but nontheless they chew the tops of the lead boot.

you can take some hardware screen and wrap it around the top,
that usually does the trick.

gweedo.

That is quite common here in Houston. I’m not so sure they are eating it as much as they chew on the lead. Heck, maybe that is their way of brushing/flossing their teeth. Anyway, the typical way to make them stop on a flat roof is to coat the lead flashing with roofing cement. If you have the problem on a slope shingle roof where it is visible, you may want to coat the lead with another product that is not so appealing to the squirrels. If you have to replace your lead flashings, you may also want to look at doing it with copper flashings.