I don't mind them being there now that I have this all-metal feeder. They chewed up 3 or 4 plastic ones before that. I don't know if you can see the shading around the holes on the side of the feeder, but that's squirrel drool buildup. For some reason a few of them insist on pulling seeds out the little holes on the side (for attaching a suet basket) rather than the big holes in the trays.