"Phisherman" wrote:
John McGaw wrote:
SteveB wrote:

I have made mouse traps out of five gallon buckets, and a tin can on a
wire
stretched over the open end. Wipe peanut butter on the can, and when
the
mouse steps out on it, it spins and dumps the mouse in the water.

I have been fighting squirrels all spring. Tomorrow a king size version
goes up, and we'll see how the squirrels do. Going to get two more for
other positions on my property.



Simple cheap solution: procure one barn cat.


We have a stray neighborhood cat with one eye. He got into a fight
with a squirrel.

Costs a lot more to feed a cat than a squirrel.

The domestic cat will almost always lose a fight with a squirrel... mine
stay indoors, keeps the vet bills down, however they've never lost a fight
with a mouse... don't even have to fight, after two days hiding under the
fridge surrounded by six salivating cats the mouse just gives up by
commiting suicide.

Squirrels being very territorial will protect the area around their food
supply from other squirrels so there will never be too many in one area...
their only real competion are the crows... if you find damaged fruit it's
much more likely initiated by birds than squirrels, birds will knock fruit
to the ground, eat the best parts, and then the squirrels find the pits. My
veggie garden isn't far from where the squirrels hang but I've yet to see
even one squirrel in there, it's mostly birds that peck the veggies. The
easiest way to keep squirrels from ones food crops is to feed them something
else that they like better and put it out away from your crop. There are a
half dozen squirrels that live in the windbreak of 70 foot Norway spruce
trees near my fruit trees. I put out peanuts, sunflower seeds, cheap stale
crackers, bread scraps, and whatever bits they will eat that most folks toss
in the trash anyway, they love old dried/molded cheese... I simply toss it
out my side window at the same time each morning, within two minutes they
arrive for their breakfast and to entertain my house cats. They never
bother my fruit trees, why would they chose measly fruit pits over peanuts,
sunflower seeds, and cookies... doesn't cost me $10 a year to feed the
squirrels, certainly less than you'll pay for traps, and I have no
aggrivation from squirrels whatsoever... even if you dispatch a few new ones
will come to take their place, you'll never get them all. You can't beat
squirrels at their own game so it's best to join them... I sorta feel pity
for anyone with an IQ less than that of a squirrel.