This morning as I took my morning walk through the garden I found about a dozen damaged/half eaten tomatoes laying on the ground. Until now I only saw one Paul Robison sticking through the fence that they ate. Now that the citrus is done, they have decided to move on to my tomatoes. I do have a bird bath set on the ground under the edge of my Navel Orange tree, to help supply water to thirsty critters, but it didn't help.

I'm very upset about this and don't want this happening every day now. They don't even finish what they pick! The greedy little rodents knock the tomatoes down, chew on them a while and then go get another one. I guess they like variety and different flavors.

What can I do to put an end to this? I've never killed, cleaned or eaten a squirrel, but I would be willing to learn. (Hey! You eat my food, you just might have to take it's place and become my food!)

I'm not sure what happened overnight to bring on this tomato massacre. The temperature is getting into the 90's now, so I'm sure they are hot and thirsty, but this HAS to stop. Anyone have any suggestions?

Hey Michael.. I'm down the road from you here in Altamonte Springs. I'm having a similar problem with the squirrels chewing on my mulberry tree. I will be purchasing a live trap from the feed store since I hate to kill things(rats are the exception). I have some huge rats in my yard (and compost pile ). The best way I've found to get rid of outdoor rats is with a pellet gun and spotlight at night (still not easy). Squirrels are just way too easy a target. There's no sport in it. For example, I don't think I've ever hit a rat with my car.

Cowboy up, them squirrels are free meat..quarter, roll in flower, salt and pepper and fry. Or collect 3 or 4 of them and stew with tomatoes, taters, carrots, onions and whole kernal corn, tea spoon of chili powder and table spoon of sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Oh a little oil or grease makes the flavor stick to your tongue a little better since wild game dont have much fat to carry the flavor. Serve over fresh cornbread or saltine crackers....Killin aint wrong if you eat what you kill.

I started ridding myself of squirrels many years ago, when I found the same thing in my garden - tomatoes with a bite out of them and dripped on the ground. I thought about eating them (I have a bunch of Chinese recipes for them!), but around here I don't know what anybody else has out, as far as poisons, so I figured it wouldn't be safe, since they eat just about anything.

Good luck ridding yourself of those critters. It's really a never ending battle - I have traps out year round, and they get hits even in the dead of winter.

Dave

pepperhead,
If you don't eat them, what do you do with the ones you catch in your trap? I have ordered a trap from the local feed store.

farmhound,
Sounds good. I MAY "Cowboy up" and give one a try at some point. What's the best way to kill them once I catch one in the trap?

ChrisD,
WOW, You really are just down the road from me. Our squirrels are probably related.

For several years my Dad trapped and relocated squirrels. A new neighbor didn't like it, he thought Dad was killing and eating them, so he called the sheriff. A deputy came by, told my Dad it was illegal in MS to trap and relocate wild animals. Dad asked how then could he protect his property (veggie garden and fruit trees)?? Deputy said if squirrels were damaging your property you could kill them
Dad uses a pellet gun(inside city limits), or traps and drowns the squirrels. He uses a water barrel and drops the trap into water deep enough to cover the whole trap.
Neighbor sorry he called.

Have you tried any 'scare' tactics? Do you think a scarecrow would work? Maybe hanging tin pie plates so they will move in the breeze?



Robin

I was willing to let our squirrels have some birdseed this winter, but when I saw one big fat red one (nickname Fat B*stard) pulling off each of the strings that held my bentwood trellis together it was war.

We started out shooting them with bb guns. I didn't want to kill them, I just wanted to sting them and scare them away. LOL squirrels don't scare away, they just get smarter. The bb's had no effect.

Then we brought out the pellet gun and found if you hit the squirrel just so it drops dead. What to do with dead squirrel? Son says "can we eat it?" so we did. I wasn't very interested in eating Fat B*stard or his friends but the kids say it's really really good!

quote:

Originally posted by hotmail:
For several years my Dad trapped and relocated squirrels. A new neighbor didn't like it, he thought Dad was killing and eating them, so he called the sheriff. A deputy came by, told my Dad it was illegal in MS to trap and relocate wild animals. Dad asked how then could he protect his property (veggie garden and fruit trees)?? Deputy said if squirrels were damaging your property you could kill them
Robin

I had a similar problem - found out that you can't transport them (probably more to protect us that the squirrels, given the diseases they can carry), but you can kill them on your property, if being damaged. Since they set up nest in one of my soffits one year, I figured I had a legal right to, not to mention the one bite out of many of my tomatoes on the ground one year! I have no qualms about killing rats with fuzzy tails!

Dave

I always thought drowning a trapped animal was cruel. And thats coming from an east texas redneck hunter, spotlighter, if it moves we eat it kinda feller. I would surely rather take a bullet to the head and be dead than have some one confine me in a cage and drown me...Slow death so to speak...Get you a pellet gun. They have pretty powerfull .22 cal ones now. One pump or cock can have a velocity of over 900 feet per second. Thats faster than a .45 colt revolver..And most cities allow them used by adults on your property. I just shudder when I think of someone drowning an animal...To me thats torture. You can kill without causing suffering. That little feller is gonna try to hold his breath till he passes out or finally has to breathe..then has to strangulate before he dies...That pellet will knock him out cold as his body shuts down. Probably wont know what hit him.

thanks farmhound, I couldn't agree more.

I have a .177 caliber pellet rifle that shoots 1,000 feet per second. It will drop groundhogs out to 50 yards. I would not worry about killing squirrels with it if we had any out here in the desert.

The groundhogs get buried in shallow graves to add organic matter to the soil. Years ago my wife bought me a sign that said, “No trespassing, violators will be composted”. But then I doubt that the squirrels can read very well.

Squirrels showed up here only about 7 years ago. Now, even with cats killing them, there are a lot of them. It didn't bother me until last summer they made off with all my sunflowers, biting off the flowers before they went to seed. And now they're in the pineapple guava, which is in full bloom. I'm afraid they eat the entire flower; I'll write to the Rare Fruit people and ask. The birds are in the same tree but I think they only eat the petals. So far I chase them off with a strong spray of water from the hose.

If it turns out that they do eat the whole flower, and/or if they start eating tomatoes or other vegetables, we'll have to do something. But in the middle of the city you can't go shooting off guns. Well, some people do it, but they're gangbangers, and are trying to hit other people! And a killing trap could hurt people's cats or even my little dog. So I don't know what I'll do.

PELLET GUN..QUIET, EFFECTIVE, LEGAL.

Never noticed squirrels in my garden here in NJ, but the ground hogs are a different story. I feed the birds all year long and maybe that help keep them out of my garden. I also buy peanuts for the chipmunks which I'm sure the squirrels have there share. They are always in the bird feeder also, so maybe that helps keep them out of the garden. I get the peanuts at Agway, they are not to expensive because they are not food grade. I also have 3 dogs that hate squirrels, they havn't caught any yet but the sure as heck try. In the fall after the farmers pick thier feed corn they always leave a bit behind so we pick it up and put it out for the animals in the winter.

Had ot buy a small op-up greenhouse due to all the squirrels we have even in the city-ish area of Fla.I was told that cayenne pepper sprinkled along the ground will deter them.I'll let you know if they get anywere near my greenhouse.Also heard of sprinkling moth balls on ground to deter racoons(have then here too)Sorry I don't have anything else more exciting...
FernMarie