On Sat, 29 May 2004 12:05:51 GMT, Phisherman wrote:

I have a pesky squirrel that figured out how to get into my protected
garden. The garden has a chicken wire fence with two electric wires
(one 6" and the other 15" from the ground). He jumps over the wires
and digs up the young cucumber sprouts, then manages to leave the
garden without getting shocked. I have a .22 air rifle (legal here
in the city limits although it might be hard to get an accurate shot
at a distance), but last night I set a Hav-A-Hart trap baited with
peanut butter graham cracker. The squirrel is not touching the
beets, carrots, radishes, tomatoes, peppers or zucchini. He makes
daily 8 AM rounds. Any other ideas?

so put in more wires, put a milk crate or make a box from 1" or less
opening chicken wire .. 3 sided of course and put that down over the
plants anchor it with heavy wires bent into a long U shape .. like
long staples, on each side at least, if it's longer then use 4 or 6
however many it takes to do the job.. leave it over them until they're
big enough to fill it up.. or leave it in place if they can grow
through it ok, although I would think they holes too small for
something to not get tangled in it.. but if you want to take it off
each day later in the day, weight it down with bricks or rocks to keep
it from picking it up, if it digs under, then find some scrap metal
and push it down in the ground around the edges, you just have to be
more persistent and smarter than the squirrel, if you try something
and it's not enough, do more! make it so the squirrel can't jump
through wires, put up more wires, connect them vertically .. without
letting them touch the ground.. just weave in some more wire up and
down between the wires.. I'd put in another below and between the
wires, and maybe over it.. but yup, they're evil pests.. hate 'em.

Even something like a laundry basket would deter the beast a little,
maybe enough to go elsewhere, but if it is plastic, he might chew
through it to get to them. Is there a shortage of plants there still
this spring, or does it just love cucumbers? If there is a shortage
of forage plants for the beast, yeah you could just distract it by
providing a few seeds and some water elsewhere. If there are lots of
things to eat, then cover and protect, if you know it's schedule,
watch it to see what it's doing and correct accordingly.

Janice