I can't put into words how much I hate squirrels!

[Likebull1]

So far they knocked over my little Fukien tea and snapped it in half, chewed up three of my tiny bald Cypress trees, knocked over my juniper and spilled all the soil and now I come home to this! Does anyone have any suggestions to keep them away short of a .22?


And yes it wasn't wires to the pond basket. I bought it this way off FB auction and I didn't want to dig it out and wire it this time of year.

 

[leatherback]

provide food somewhere else?

 

[gooeytek]

I have several pots of mint placed around my growing areas, also onions/alliums, marigolds, lily of the valley, and garlic planted in the ground in different spots.
Seems to have kept them away pretty well. I also go to Dunkin or Starbucks and ask for used coffee grounds that I sprinkle around the yard every so often.

 

[Likebull1]

provide food somewhere else?

I'm was just talking to my father earlier and he said the same thing. Can't hurt I guess

 

[Cajunrider]

So far they knocked over my little Fukien tea and snapped it in half, chewed up three of my tiny bald Cypress trees, knocked over my juniper and spilled all the soil and now I come home to this! Does anyone have any suggestions to keep them away short of a .22?
View attachment 561478

And yes it wasn't wires to the pond basket. I bought it this way off FB auction and I didn't want to dig it out and wire it this time of year.

Air gun! Quieter, very accurate, very cheap ammo. Knocking them off and leaving blood on the scene has done the trick for me in the past for squirrels and rabbits.

 

[Likebull1]

Air gun! Quieter, very accurate, very cheap ammo. Knocking them off and leaving blood on the scene has done the trick for me in the past for squirrels and rabbits.

It might come to this. I figured it was a once and done thing two weeks ago but now they're out for blood

 

[Likebull1]

I have several pots of mint placed around my growing areas, also onions/alliums, marigolds, lily of the valley, and garlic planted in the ground in different spots.
Seems to have kept them away pretty well. I also go to Dunkin or Starbucks and ask for used coffee grounds that I sprinkle around the yard every so often.

I'll give it a try. I can't stand to lose another tree this week. I repotted the maple but I highly doubt it'll pull through

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

I haven't tried any of these methods, but I've looked before.

 

[Likebull1]

I haven't tried any of these methods, but I've looked before.
View attachment 561503
View attachment 561505

The pouches seem alright but I like your slingshot method better

 

[Michael P]

From a scarred veteran of the Squirrel Wars: dogs, traps, pellet gun.

 

[TrevorLarsen]

I'll give it a try. I can't stand to lose another tree this week. I repotted the maple but I highly doubt it'll pull through

I imagine you already know, but if not, make sure to keep your maple in the shade for a few weeks to give it the best chance of survival.

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

Squirrels don't like my dog, so they stay out of the yard. But he's an old puppy now, and once he's not around to protect the property, I'm not sure how I'm going to keep my pet trees safe.

 

[Cajunrider]

I don't hate squirrels.
I like squirrel stew. I love squirrel fricassee. I think that dish brings out the nuttiness taste in the meat and elevates the umami.

 

[Dogestoevsky]

In my war against rats I managed to get quite a few squirrels this year in the snap traps. At first I was mortified, but then I realized that it did in fact solve my problem… so

In the past I have used a squirt gun. That’s fun!

 

[WNC Bonsai]

It might come to this. I figured it was a once and done thing two weeks ago but now they're out for blood

Be careful, you might shoot your eye out!

I actually bought an air gun pistol a couple of years ago but then realized I am about as likely to have a ricochet take out a neighbors window as actually hit a squirrel.

 

[Maiden69]

Be careful, you might shoot your eye out!

I actually bought an air gun pistol a couple of years ago but then realized I am about as likely to have a ricochet take out a neighbors window as actually hit a squirrel.

That's why you use pellets, not BBs. Pellets don't ricochet.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

That's why you use pellets, not BBs. Pellets don't ricochet.

You might want to do a quick search on that as most sources say they too will ricochet although BBs are more likely.

 

[BrianBay9]

In my war against rats I managed to get quite a few squirrels this year in the snap traps. At first I was mortified, but then I realized that it did in fact solve my problem… so

In the past I have used a squirt gun. That’s fun!

My squirrels have successfully avoided three types of traps, including snap traps.

 

[Maiden69]

You might want to do a quick search on that as most sources say they too will ricochet although BBs are more likely.

I know, a quick search is going to teach me more than what I have learned in more than 40 years shooting. I shoot .177 and .22 pellets quite often, been doing so since I was 12, and I am 55 now, and lead pellets do not bounce. I trained my daughter to shoot in our backyard with a pop-up target at around 20 feet and every single pellet was recovered from inside the box completely deformed. They may deflect if you shoot a hard surface at an angle, but they do not bounce off a concrete wall if shot perpendicular to it, they smash in and most of the times you have to scrape them out.

This is the target I used with my daughter. We had to scrape the pellets off the targets quite often, especially the center one as it is the one that resets them down. Target was set at 20' away. She was 5 then, graduated to a 22LR when she turned 8.

Warning from the manufacturer.

CAUTION: Do not use BBS. BBS will rebound and ricochet and can cause permanent injury.

 

[Wood]

I feel for you @Likebull1. Summer 2022, I bought an exhibition-ready Chinese quince from Bjorn for $2500. That winter, I had mulched it into a big storage bin full of mulch and other trees because I lived in an apartment with a balcony. Early December, I started noticing a couple of nibbles on a handful of trees and piles of twigs and leaves. I cleared them whenever I found them, but they kept coming back to my balcony

Two days before leaving to visit my in-laws for Christmas, a squirrel came and chewed every branch back to stubs, but only on the quince. I started to pull up the new squirrel nest and found a couple of wriggling little babies in the bottom of it. Two days after Christmas, a major cold snap hit and the tree never woke up in the spring.

The best/worst part was that my in-laws, completely unaware of everything, gave me a gag-gift of socks with the squirrel from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation