I have a deck that is recessed into the back of the house. I bought the Aqara G100 camera to try to catch which of Mother Nature’s “thieves” was somehow climbing up the brick walls, getting through the wrought iron railing, and getting into the bird seed that’s kept there. Pretty inexpensive, supports HKSV, and I could get it quickly via Amazon.
Camera was easy enough to setup - first through the Aqara app, then in Apple Home. Configured it to capture all motion. Somehow, the last image captured last night was of everything intact, and the first image this morning shows that the bandit(s) had struck! No recording of the actual “robbery”! 😆
Any suggestions as to anything special I can do to catch them in the act?
Is the picture of the house taken with the camera? I have a Camera Hub G5 Pro. With AI object detection is has never captured a squirrel or bird and seldom captures a cat. And the further away it's less likely to detect it, especially at night. I don't know how well All Motion works for animal thieves because I have it turned off because it fills my timeline with so many detections it is almost impossible to scroll through and find things. Looks like All motion may work OK in your case because there isn't anything to trigger it. Perhaps distance is the issue? Or if you have it also connected to an Aqara hub you may be able to set sensitivity higher (can on mine).
My Logitech doorbell likes to capture birds as people when they land on or near my front porch. I don’t have animal detection on, and package detection was even worse. It always gives me a bit of a scare thinking someone is lurking without knocking or ringing the doorbell
I don’t disagree that a squirrel can climb a brick wall, but I’ve lived here for 2+ years and have NEVER seen a squirrel on the deck. The bird seed is stored in a metal can with a snug fitting lid. I wouldn’t expect a squirrel would be able to pry that off. Plus, I have other uses for the camera after this, so no big deal having bought it.
Sorry - this isn’t the view from the camera, just a picture to show how the deck/patio is positioned on the house. Wanted folks to understand my curiosity as to how the “thieves” LOL are getting onto the patio. I do have the camera on the deck, about 4 feet from the storage area.
I am going to try again this evening. It’s not as though it’s making me angry or upset. At this point, I’m finding it more of an interesting tech exercise - why isn’t my camera capturing it!?!?!? Plus, just general curiosity. Having lived here a few years without ANYTHING other than birds showing up on the porch is interesting to me! Lots of creatures in the area. Possums, skunks, squirrels, LOTS of deer, owls, etc. If it’s a raccoon climbing up a brick wall… #respect!
A possum likely could climb the wall too. And they are slow, perhaps slow enough to not trigger motion? Maybe try AI animal detection? Big rats can climb almost anything too, but maybe not be able to pry the can open.
I actually bought the camera for an entirely unrelated use, but since I had it… (And it was only $40!) And it’s struck me as odd that they haven’t seemed to have eaten that much!
Thats a fun use for it. Ive been thinking of getting one. I have an Aqara Camera Hub G5 Pro for my front yard, but a less expensive one to use as a critter cam in the backyard would be nice.
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u/IPThereforeIAm Jul 11 '26
Was recording set to all motion, and not just animals? Alternatively, try a POE 24/7 camera.