#!@#*&% Squirrels

[PaphMadMan]

Can anyone recommend a truly effective squirrel repellent? They won't stay out of the potted perennials on my balconey. Most of the plants are well established and can tolerate a little digging, but Cyp Gisela is getting irritated at being thrown out of her pot completely. And within a couple weeks I have a dozen new containers going out and I can just imagine the mess.

 

[nikv]

Go to Costco or some other warehouse type store and buy the giant-sized container of cayenne pepper. Sprinkle it liberally on all of the plants and the surrounding soil in your windowbox and flower pots. That will teach the little buggers a lesson without actually harming them. I've done this in the past and it works fabulously.

 

[Rocketman30]

Unfortunately, the best way to control your problem is to elliminate the problem. You can use a racoon trap with nuts as bait in a cup and relocate the little buggers. The other option is a pellet gun. Show no mercy!!!!

 

[Candace]

I like the idea of the ratzapper. I bet it works on tree rats too.

 

[PaphMadMan]

Unfortunately, the best way to control your problem is to elliminate the problem. You can use a racoon trap with nuts as bait in a cup and relocate the little buggers. The other option is a pellet gun. Show no mercy!!!!

I actually have experience trapping squirrels - tortilla chips and peanut butter are much more effective bait than nuts. But I'd have to get at least 20 of the tree rats out of the neighborhood to make a dent in the population, and since I don't have a car I'd have to mail them out. Anyone need some wildlife via USPS?

 

[Ernie]

Build cages for your plants.

-Ernie

 

[PaphMadMan]

Build cages for your plants.

-Ernie

That might work for Cyp Gisela, but the Amorphophallus and Alocasia will need some rather large enclosures as the season progresses.

 

[Hiker]

I think those buggers are nothing but an irritating rodents that should be gotten rid of. Traping and releasing is transferring the problem to someone else. Use poison and get rid of the damn &*^%$ things. Here they are going out of control and destroying fully grown trees potted plants and even lawns. I have not seen an apricot from my large tree now for years! they are nothing but hairy rats.

 

[luvsorchids]

Of course there is always this option

http://edibletulip.typepad.com/edible_tulip/2006/07/f_is_for_urban_.html
http://www.getlostmagazine.com/mcbee/2004/0404squirrel/squirrel.html

Susan

 

[biothanasis]

Whatever u do, do not use poisonous materials!!! Some nice ideas were suggested above and u can combine them!!! Good luck!!!!

 

[Hera]

How about a nice, fat outdoor guard cat?:fight:

 

[goldenrose]

Unfortunately, the best way to control your problem is to elliminate the problem. You can use a racoon trap with nuts as bait in a cup and relocate the little buggers. The other option is a pellet gun. Show no mercy!!!!

I'm with you Rocketman! I started trapping them at the bird feeder & then ooops - the trap fell in the pond with a squirrel in it.

How about a nice, fat outdoor guard cat?:fight:

Is the average squirrel too big of a rodent even for a skinny fast cat?

 

[PaphMadMan]

How about a nice, fat outdoor guard cat?:fight:

A cat or dog would certainly help, but my 4' x 20' balconey isn't an ideal home for one.

 

[PaphMadMan]

Of course there is always this option

http://edibletulip.typepad.com/edible_tulip/2006/07/f_is_for_urban_.html
http://www.getlostmagazine.com/mcbee/2004/0404squirrel/squirrel.html

Susan

I'm not enthusiastic about the culinary uses of squirrel, they can carry a spongiform encephalopathy similar to mad cow disease, but I have considered that squirrel fur slippers might be nice and warm. A few of these squirrels are blond rather than the usual gray so there are fashionable options.

 

[tocarmar]

I also have the trouble with them & chipmunks, I tried to do the good things have had a cat but he never got the squirrels, did help with some chipmunks. I also tried the catch-them alive traps & relocated a few, but I live in the country & always will have them. I found out that they both love a mix of rat poison & birdseed. I put a little in a small dish & cover it so the birds don't get it and leave it out for a few hours and they dissappear.

Tom

 

[Hera]

On a more serious note than the cat, is there anything that can scare them away? I heard somewhere along the line that chipmunks are afraid of snakes. Could you buy rubber or plastic snakes and distribute them around the area? I know this sounds weird but I have heard anecdotal evidence of this working with chipmunks.

 

[NYEric]

Hmmm Squirrel curry. :evil:

 

[goldenrose]

On a more serious note than the cat, is there anything that can scare them away? I heard somewhere along the line that chipmunks are afraid of snakes. Could you buy rubber or plastic snakes and distribute them around the area? I know this sounds weird but I have heard anecdotal evidence of this working with chipmunks.

A HAWK! (should be their top predator, but on a 4' wide balacony?)
Squirrels are so darn smart it isn't funny so I doubt that the fake snakes would work. If they're sensitive to cayenne, I wonder if some plant might be stinky smelling to them. I noticed this year in my flower beds if daffodils were surrounding tulips the deer didn't touch them, the tulips by themselves in a cluster were chewed down!
Going back to the cages .... the bigger plants would just need a cage to keep them out of the pot, right ? ....
cage the pot, not the whole plant!

 

[Inverness]

The cayenne treatment works pretty well, I've used it for many containerized plants. It does have to be applied fairly liberally, and repeated irrigations and rainfall will diminish its usefulness. As to some of the comments about daffodils, they contain a naturally occuring toxin that animals will always avoid. That's why they naturalize so well for years and years.

Ken B.

 

[Wendy]

I got fed up with squirrels eating the bird seed and destroying the feeder so I switched to seed with hot pepper 'juice' already mixed in. Laughed my a$$ off when the squirrels dove into that....they were eating away for a few seconds and suddenly began pawing at their mouths. Birds can't taste 'hot' but tree rats sure can. I haven't had a problem with them since. I would add hot peppers/cayenne to your pots.....I bet that makes them think twice, especially when they have to lick their paws! :rollhappy::clap: