X#%*&$# Squirrels!

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rp2813

rp2813

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How do I discourage, or preferably, eradicate these menacing rodents entirely?

 

I've had it with the one (or more) squirrels that are regularly digging up potted plants and destroying smaller ones I'm growing from cuttings.   Strategic placement of pots has proven to be anything but.  Nowhere is safe.   I've placed rocks, flagstone, etc. on the soil surface of potted plants and that has worked well -- up until today, when I found a rock dislodged, spilled soil, and a hole dug in my prized Royal Poinciana that I sprouted from a seed 15 months ago.  This is war.

 

At this point, I'm not opposed to using bait.  The cats around here are all well fed, and the two males that come around courting my girl couldn't care less about checking out her food dish on the side porch.  If I owned a pellet gun, I'd be lying in wait and taking care of business, or at the very least, scaring them off with something more than chasing and yelling.   They are persistent little devils and have been on a destructive tear since spring.

 

Like Rich stated in a recent post, something needs to be done about protected wildlife that have become an urban gardener's worst enemy.  The population needs a serious reduction.  I've never had this much trouble in any other part of town I've lived before.  The peregrine falcons that nest atop a nearby office building prefer easy prey like pigeons.   Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
Ralph.

I love the squirrels that we have in our complex.  They are a pleasure to watch and as far as I can tell they haven’t interfered with any of our plants.   They play in front of our house climbing the trees.

 

 They have a right to live in the nature that we as humans have systematically destroyed.  I’ve never before heard of anyone that didn’t appreciate them.  Just two days ago when it was 111F we saw a big squirrel right in front of our house that appeared to be overcome with the heat.  We put a pie pan of water out for it.  The next morning the water was all gone.

 

Be worried when you no longer see the squirrels, birds and other wildlife.  When they cease to exist the conditions for human life are also in jeopardy.

 

That being said, if you want them to leave your plants alone, try sprinkling pepper around the plants.  Its non toxic, but the squirrels and other wildlife won’t like the pepper and will probably stay away from the area.  

 

Eddie
 
Eddie, I appreciate the points you made and I agree.  At the last rental Dave and I lived in before buying our first home, I used to feed shelled walnuts to a squirrel that would visit on our patio every afternoon. 

 

But, there are too many of them now, and over the generations they have learned that the best soil for digging is found in pots.  They don't have enough predators in urban areas.  I've tried "Critter Ridder" which definitely contains pepper because it was getting to me even as I sprinkled it around.  It wasn't terribly effective.   Maybe there's a sonic repellent that doesn't bother cats.  I have a handy outlet on the rear wall of the house.  That's one solution that could be the easiest, and it would probably also work on the rats that use the top fence rail as a highway every night.
 
Ralph,

I had a similar problem last summer with my Christmas Cactus plants.  I've always put them on the carport during the summer, no problem.  But last year they were constantly getting dug up - most annoying.  I have two traps, I used both of them.  All totaled I caught 5 squirrels.  They all went to Squirrel Heaven.  I have a HUGE live oak in the backyard and there are squirrels all over the place.  Constantly running from tree to tree, chasing each other, and making babies.  The five I eliminated did nothing to threaten the squirrel population in West Mobile.

 

lawrence
 
I . . . did nothing to threaten the squirrel population . .

AMEN Lawrence!

 

Please do share more information about your lethal trapping device!   I own a "Have a Heart" trap for cats that I use for possums and raccoons (which I release into an open space area by a creek), but it's way too big for squirrels, I think.
 
Squirrels can be mennacing

I have a contract with mine, I will keep your feeder full, you stay out of my garden. I keep my part of the contract, most of the time. I enjoy them anyway, they are such happy little creatures. We've even named some of our regulars. Lucy is the big Red, I mean fire red squirrel.

We had a bunch of their relatives move in this summer, then all the sudden these two Hawks show up, and not a squirrel has been seen in over a week. The food is untouched in the feeder, the plants are still buried in the planter, no activity at all. I don't know if the Hawks have scared them or eaten them. All I do know is the Hawks are pretty majestic with a wing span of about 4 ft, and very noisy with their screeching this may be enough to keep the bushy tail gang in their tree stumps.
 
in lieu of a paucity of hawks & properly re-introducing...

their natural fox, bobcat, &c predators, the populations of which we humans have decimated, a .177 pellet air rifle works well. Quiet and effective. Any biologist will tell you their population is way out of balance, there is nothing that can keep them in check at this point. They can be incredibly destructive, not just to gardens, but to buildings. The Bambi Syndrome need not apply, as they will bounce back quickly enough no matter how many are taken, and they do make good eating if properly prepared so need not go to waste. Do you have a favored recipe Sarah P? It's always been a deservedly popular dish in rural areas.
 
We live in a heavily treed old oak neighborhood and have oodles of squirrels and chipmunks and plenty of cottontails as well. Not to mention the nocturnal skunks, racoons and possums and not sure if they eat that sort of thing, they do dig into the grass/sod looknig for grubs They, mostly the chipmunks, are notorious for digging into pots, eating bulbs etc. The rabbits like to take a bite out of tomatoes, at least I think it's the rabbits. Larry bought some sort of plastic spike mat stuff that he cuts to fit into the pots. Sort of like a bed of nails type of thing.. seems to help.. Not sure if he got the stuff a dollar store or garden center. We did have a two year hiatus last year when a pair of hawks nested high atop the spruce tree in the front yard.. Not a chipmunk to be seen and way less squirrels, even the birds were scarce. I'm glad the hawks are gone though.. I can live with the bit of plant damage from the squirrels and chipmunks. I like to sit out front and watch them. The other creatures we have now quite often are wild Turkeys. It's comical to see them trotting and zig zagging down the street checking out everyones lawns.. They don't seem to be timid either. It's becoming more like living in a Disney movie year by year LOL
 
Petek

your area sounds just like where we live.  We also have squirrels, skunks, raccoons, possums   and LARGE flocks of wild turkeys.  Even though we live in town, we are only a 10 minute walk to the country.  The Walgreens Drug Store a 10 min walk from here has at least 12 to 24 chickens that roam free in the parking lot and on the lawn.  I love living in an area  where there is lots of wildlife.

 

Last April our next door neighbor had a skunk take up residence underneath his deck during mating season.  Now that was unpleasant.  He had to get some wildcat scat from the county animal control and place it under the deck in order to get the skunk to vacate.

 

Eddie
 
Roger, thanks for your post.  That biologists recognize that the squirrel population is way out of balance gives me hope that there will be some sort of answer that won't alarm wildlife lovers and still provide a solution to the problem in urban areas.

 

I wish a couple of hawks would make themselves at home nearby.  That would solve the problem right away.
 
I love the squirrels too but they can be very destructive if they get into your home. When I was younger we had squirrels get up into our attic and they were chewing the wood up. My parents had to call the ASPCA to have them removed.

I still like to watch them run around play with each other. Cute little tree rats they are.
 
My 9th grade history teacher had two pet squirrels that got loose in her house, never to be caught again.  They made a home out of an easy chair.  We'd regularly hear more about the latest squirrel episode than world history.
 
I hope I didn't come across as being anti-culling of vermin and pests because I'm not. I am against sport hunting and animal cruelty. Hunting for the purpose of feeding yourself and family is one thing, anything else is a no go in my book. My folks, as I was brought up, were longtime members of the local SPCA, dad was director for a time. We had tons of pets as kids, dogs, cats, birds, hamsters, guinea pigs, snakes, chameleons, fish etc. The only rule was if you got it you had to look after it and there was absolutely NO returns. As a kid mom saw some boys playing street hockey out front with a mouse. She ripped into them for doing that, it was unnecessary cruelty. She had herself in one of her first jobs at the MInistry of Food in London UK, had to actually go out and catch and kill the rats she needed for dissection, dad always joked he'd married a rat catcher..
Back when we lived on the acreage we were being over taken by gophers and as much as I hated to do it I used to shoot them with a 22. On one visit to us mom saw me doing it (from the front porch) and was sort of dismayed until I handed her the binoculars so she could see for herself how many dozens of them there were. Mom had never touched a gun let alone shot one, so I asked her if she wanted to try it, not to kill anything ,just to try and she did at about 80 years old. LOL. You can't poison wildlife here in town nor shoot them, all you're allowed to do is trap them and you can't relocate them more than 1/4 mile or something like that..which means a city park to release them. I'd be more than pissed off if I found out a neighbor was poisoning them,, that's too dangerous to other critters and birds who might eat them.
 
Moth Balls

I moved about 6 months ago from a 100 year old house in a 100 year old neighborhood. Oak trees were every where. I had the same problem with all my potted plants along with them building nest in my attic and rooting up my flower beds. Cute as they may be, they are destructive little beast. Moth balls will keep them out of your pots and beds for about 2 weeks then you'll need to reapply. I did go to the farmers co-op and buy a can of "Squirrel Away". The guy that sold it to me said it worked really well. I moved before I had the opportunity to give it a try. I'm sure it's sold in your area.
 
Tree rats----good to eat!!!I have used .177 cal and .22 cal air gunson them-squirrels are TOUGH so you have to use a pellet gun that has min 800FPS in .177 and 600FPS in .22.BUT-is it legal to shoot them with any weapon in your area-if they get into attics--rat traps work well as some suggested baited with peanut butter.Outside---There is a black cat that is really TOUGH ---he catches them and gives the famous cat "neck bite" you see the squirrel go limp as he bits it.And the cat has competition-a hawk that swoops from the sky and grabs them!!The hawk grabbed it right in front of me!!A neighbor says "Did you see that hawk grab that squirrel?-He was so MEAN"I said back-the hawk and his family has to eat the same as you do.How many plants and animals are sacrificed to feed you?"The neighbor got quiet.
 
I hear you!
We live in a fairly rural area, and there's a big state park a little more than a block away. We get our share of critters.
I've never seen the bears myself, but several neighbors have.
We've seen deer, lots of turkeys, saw a bobcat on our trail camera once.
Nighttime brings skunks, opossums, raccoons, rabbits. Occasionally, you can hear the coyotes howling. Foxes, semi regularly. And one year, they set up housekeeping under our shed. The young ones were so much fun to watch! The downside was the smell. I don't know if it was their droppings and urine, or the half-eaten small critters that they'd leave all over the yard. And, we have hawks in the area regularly. I even had a picture of one resting on our front railing.
Despite all of that, we are somewhat overrun with squirrels and chipmunks. And, yes, they're destructive. Just recently, we've started seeing red squirrels in addition to the plentiful grey or black ones. The red ones seem even more destructive, and seem to like getting up into vehicles.
I actually bought a couple of .177 pellet guns, but I haven't tested my marksmanship as of yet.
Despite being a rural-ish area, the houses are fairly close together. I can just picture our neighbors freaking out at the sight of me prowling around my back yard, with what I'm sure they would think was a real rifle.
In this state, it's illegal to trap and relocate wildlife. But, if I could do it inconspicuously, I wouldn't mind popping a pellet into a few red squirrels and chipmunks.

Barry
 

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