On Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:31:22 -0400, Pat Kiewicz
wrote:

said:
:
:However, yesterday I went outside and found 3 squirrels feeding on the
:remains of what I had left there of the attacked pumpkins. This made me
:think: Was it squirrels or were they just scavenging on what was left by
:another animal? One of the squirrels repeatedly looked longingly at one
:of the suspended pumpkins but didn't try to climb the trellis system,
:which is pretty flimsy, evidently too flimsy for it to attempt to climb.
:This makes me further suspect that the squirrels may have been the
:original attackers. There are a LOT of squirrels around here (Berkeley,
:CA). I wonder if squirrels could have eaten THAT much of the
umpkins,
:though. Two pounds or more of pumpkin were evidently consumed.
:
:My concern is for next year. I don't know if these animals are smart
:enough to "remember" and come back for next year's harvest.
:
:Pumpkin eaters I have known:
:
:Squirrels (especially to go after the seeds in the fall): small gnaw marks
:
:Groundhogs (will eat them at any stage): large gnaw marks
:
:Mice (rarely, and without much damage): tiny, tiny gnaw marks
:
eer will go after pumpkins, but are likely to break them apart with
:their hooves as they are mainly after the seeds and soft pulp.
:
:I'd probably finger the squirrels for this one, especially considering
:the day-time damage.
:
:You may be at the peak of a population cycle. Live trapping squirrels
:isn't too hard.

Thanks, Pat!

OK, so your take is that the brazen eating of maybe a third of two 2-lb
kabochas in mid-day (it was probably between noon and 3 PM) suggests
squirrels rather than opposum! There were also one or two small ones
attacked at the same time. It's hard to believe that one possum would do
all that. Do they go in packs or are they always solitary?

I guess I'm going to have to try squirrel repellent strategies.
Possibilities seem to be:

Live Trapping (I'd need traps and a decision what to do with them)
Tinsel scarecrows
mouse traps (to scare them away)
sling shot

There are a LOT of squirrels around here!

I even thought of throwing a wire cube (with one side open) over each
squash. That would require a lot of handiwork.

Dan