all you are doing is ****ing him off. he will figure how to get in there if he has
to pole vault in. ............

On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 07:07:16 -0400, Phisherman wrote:
Yesterday a squirrel put his foot on the electrical wire that protects
the vegetable garden. He flipped back 5 feet and scolded the wire. He
then cautiously jumped onto the fence between two electrical wires and
touched the top electrical wire. That zapped him and retreated up a
large tree. The Hav-A-Hart trap works too.

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...
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.

Will keep you posted.

Steve


Why?

Why what?


Why are you fighting squirrels?

Because they come into my property, and will strip an apricot tree in
half a day. They don't eat the meat, they leave that on the ground.
They take off the pits. Same thing with almonds. They eat a lot of
stuff, and also destroy a lot without eating it. They chew their way
into the shed and plow through a bag of feed, eat some, and urinate and
defecate in the rest of the bag while they're in there. We have
hantavirus here, and so they bring that with them.

Other than that, I guess they're pretty okay.

Steve


Is there a reason you haven't tried a Havahart trap? You'll obviously have
to dispatch the squirrels somehow after you trap them, but there are lots
of imaginative ways to do that.

I used a Tin Cat for the mice, but you have to handle them too much. I just
tossed the Tin Cat in a 5 gallon bucket of water for three minutes. Now I
take them out with a large metal spoon and fling them like a lacrosse toss
into the chasm that borders our property for the raptors to have free lunch.
Setting and resetting HavAHarts every day is a pain, not to mention cost
times three or six.

Steve

"John McGaw" wrote in message
.. .
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.

Will keep you posted.

Steve

Simple cheap solution: procure one barn cat.

Have one, but it is an inside cat. She loves to bring them in alive and
play with them, sometimes allowing them to escape and go live under the
fridge until I catch them.

"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...
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.

Will keep you posted.

Steve


Why?

Why what?


Why are you fighting squirrels?

Because they come into my property, and will strip an apricot tree in
half a day. They don't eat the meat, they leave that on the ground.
They take off the pits. Same thing with almonds. They eat a lot of
stuff, and also destroy a lot without eating it. They chew their way
into the shed and plow through a bag of feed, eat some, and urinate and
defecate in the rest of the bag while they're in there. We have
hantavirus here, and so they bring that with them.

Other than that, I guess they're pretty okay.

Steve


Is there a reason you haven't tried a Havahart trap? You'll obviously
have to dispatch the squirrels somehow after you trap them, but there are
lots of imaginative ways to do that.

I used a Tin Cat for the mice, but you have to handle them too much. I
just tossed the Tin Cat in a 5 gallon bucket of water for three minutes.
Now I take them out with a large metal spoon and fling them like a
lacrosse toss into the chasm that borders our property for the raptors to
have free lunch. Setting and resetting HavAHarts every day is a pain, not
to mention cost times three or six.

Steve


Oh well. Whatever method you use, it'll make you feel like you're being
successful.

"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.

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...
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.

Will keep you posted.

Steve


Why?

Why what?


Why are you fighting squirrels?

Because they come into my property, and will strip an apricot tree in
half a day. They don't eat the meat, they leave that on the ground.
They take off the pits. Same thing with almonds. They eat a lot of
stuff, and also destroy a lot without eating it. They chew their way
into the shed and plow through a bag of feed, eat some, and urinate and
defecate in the rest of the bag while they're in there. We have
hantavirus here, and so they bring that with them.

Other than that, I guess they're pretty okay.

Steve


Is there a reason you haven't tried a Havahart trap? You'll obviously
have to dispatch the squirrels somehow after you trap them, but there
are lots of imaginative ways to do that.

I used a Tin Cat for the mice, but you have to handle them too much. I
just tossed the Tin Cat in a 5 gallon bucket of water for three minutes.
Now I take them out with a large metal spoon and fling them like a
lacrosse toss into the chasm that borders our property for the raptors to
have free lunch. Setting and resetting HavAHarts every day is a pain, not
to mention cost times three or six.

Steve


Oh well. Whatever method you use, it'll make you feel like you're being
successful.

You have no earthly comprehension of how your approval has made me feel.

Steve

"SteveB" wrote in message
news

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...
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.

Will keep you posted.

Steve


Why?

Why what?


Why are you fighting squirrels?

Because they come into my property, and will strip an apricot tree in
half a day. They don't eat the meat, they leave that on the ground.
They take off the pits. Same thing with almonds. They eat a lot of
stuff, and also destroy a lot without eating it. They chew their way
into the shed and plow through a bag of feed, eat some, and urinate
and defecate in the rest of the bag while they're in there. We have
hantavirus here, and so they bring that with them.

Other than that, I guess they're pretty okay.

Steve


Is there a reason you haven't tried a Havahart trap? You'll obviously
have to dispatch the squirrels somehow after you trap them, but there
are lots of imaginative ways to do that.

I used a Tin Cat for the mice, but you have to handle them too much. I
just tossed the Tin Cat in a 5 gallon bucket of water for three minutes.
Now I take them out with a large metal spoon and fling them like a
lacrosse toss into the chasm that borders our property for the raptors
to have free lunch. Setting and resetting HavAHarts every day is a pain,
not to mention cost times three or six.

Steve


Oh well. Whatever method you use, it'll make you feel like you're being
successful.

You have no earthly comprehension of how your approval has made me feel.

Steve


Steve, you must be new to gardening if you think you'll beat the squirrels
using traps. You may get a one week respite from the attacks, but more will
come next week.

Read what brooklyn suggested a few minutes ago.

"brooklyn1" wrote in message
...
"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.

I MUST get these glasses checked the next time I get to the big city. I'm
sure I know the difference between a crow and a squirrel. Lemmesee, the
crow is the black one that flies, right? But I'm positive it was the brown
ones, the ones with the big furry tails, that's a squirrel, right, up in the
tree eating fruit.

Although, IIRC, crows are smart, and for them to don a rented squirrel
outfit would not be outside the realm of possibility.

Now I'm confused. But I guess I'll just keep a barrel of water in the
garden for those squirrels ...... crows ........... new squirrels
............. old squirrels ......... crows in rented squirrel suits
........... whatever. I need a nap.

Steve ;-)

On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 09:34:47 -0600, "SteveB"
wrote:


"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...
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.

Will keep you posted.

Steve


Why?

Why what?


Why are you fighting squirrels?

Because they come into my property, and will strip an apricot tree in
half a day. They don't eat the meat, they leave that on the ground.
They take off the pits. Same thing with almonds. They eat a lot of
stuff, and also destroy a lot without eating it. They chew their way
into the shed and plow through a bag of feed, eat some, and urinate and
defecate in the rest of the bag while they're in there. We have
hantavirus here, and so they bring that with them.

Other than that, I guess they're pretty okay.

Steve


Is there a reason you haven't tried a Havahart trap? You'll obviously have
to dispatch the squirrels somehow after you trap them, but there are lots
of imaginative ways to do that.

I used a Tin Cat for the mice, but you have to handle them too much. I just
tossed the Tin Cat in a 5 gallon bucket of water for three minutes. Now I
take them out with a large metal spoon and fling them like a lacrosse toss
into the chasm that borders our property for the raptors to have free lunch.
Setting and resetting HavAHarts every day is a pain, not to mention cost
times three or six.

Steve

HavaHarts probably require that you have a heart, at least one that
finds room for other species. Squirrels are fun loving creatures - a
bit opportunistic but then who isn't?

I believe that humans are probably smarter than squirrels and that
humans can deal with problems with squirrels without killing them.
Perhaps I'm wrong.

Kate

On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:13:27 -0700, "David E. Ross"
wrote:

On 4/25/2009 4:29 AM, wrote:
Put out food and water for them and they'll most likely stop marauding
your area.

Kate - squirrels gotta eat too

The problem is that the food they prefer includes the guavas, kumquats,
loquats, and peaches in my back yard. They also really like the leaves
on my dwarf orange tree, and the poor tree (being so small) doesn't have
many leaves.

I have a neighbor who cut down his fruit trees because the birds were
getting the fruit before he did. Seemed like cutting off his nose to
spite his face. I have no advice as the trees I plant are meant for
wildlife, though I'd love to plant a couple of sour cherry trees. Does
netting not work?

One major problem is that squirrels in this area (especially ground
squirrels) carry plague.

How big a problem is plague where you are? I've never heard of cases
of plague in TN, but maybe there are.

Kate

wrote in message
...
On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:13:27 -0700, "David E. Ross"
wrote:

On 4/25/2009 4:29 AM, wrote:
Put out food and water for them and they'll most likely stop marauding
your area.

Kate - squirrels gotta eat too

The problem is that the food they prefer includes the guavas, kumquats,
loquats, and peaches in my back yard. They also really like the leaves
on my dwarf orange tree, and the poor tree (being so small) doesn't have
many leaves.

I have a neighbor who cut down his fruit trees because the birds were
getting the fruit before he did. Seemed like cutting off his nose to
spite his face. I have no advice as the trees I plant are meant for
wildlife, though I'd love to plant a couple of sour cherry trees. Does
netting not work?


Netting works. But, it requires more than a minute to apply and more than a
minute to remove for harvesting fruit. Therefore, it is not useful to many
people.

SteveB wrote:
"John McGaw" wrote in message
.. .
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.

Will keep you posted.

Steve
Simple cheap solution: procure one barn cat.

Have one, but it is an inside cat. She loves to bring them in alive and
play with them, sometimes allowing them to escape and go live under the
fridge until I catch them.



An "inside cat" is not what you want for this job. That's why I specified a
"barn cat". The typical cat which hangs around the barn on a working farm
can be a pretty fearsome animal and is more wild than domesticated. Not the
sort which will come when you call "kitty, kitty" unless you or something
you are holding seems edible.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

In article
,
Billy wrote:

In article ,
"SteveB" wrote:

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...
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.

Will keep you posted.

Steve


Why?

Why what?


Why are you fighting squirrels?

Because they come into my property, and will strip an apricot tree in half
a
day. They don't eat the meat, they leave that on the ground. They take
off
the pits. Same thing with almonds. They eat a lot of stuff, and also
destroy a lot without eating it. They chew their way into the shed and
plow
through a bag of feed, eat some, and urinate and defecate in the rest of
the
bag while they're in there. We have hantavirus here, and so they bring
that
with them.

Other than that, I guess they're pretty okay.

Steve

Funny, I have to put out a walnut every morning to get Mr. Squirrel to
come say hello.

How do the squirrel get access to your trees? Are they close to forest
trees and can jump from tree to tree or do they have to get down and
walk to your trees. I have two dogs and the squirrels NEVER bother my
peach trees. On the other hand, I used to have a black walnut that
mingled branches with oaks, and I never saw a walnut.
--

- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being
is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the
moment of conception until death." - Rachel Carson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI29wVQN8Go

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072040.html

Your best bet is the Hav-A-hart trap and peanut butter. I can catch
4 or 5 per day, and after two weeks, the population is greatly reduced
for 6-8 months. After that I start catching them again. I have seen
jays divebomb squirrels to drive them off, but there are few predators
here. Feeding squirrels will only encourage them to raise families.

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
news
"SteveB" wrote in message
news

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote in message
...
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.

Will keep you posted.

Steve


Why?

Why what?


Why are you fighting squirrels?

Because they come into my property, and will strip an apricot tree in
half a day. They don't eat the meat, they leave that on the ground.
They take off the pits. Same thing with almonds. They eat a lot of
stuff, and also destroy a lot without eating it. They chew their way
into the shed and plow through a bag of feed, eat some, and urinate
and defecate in the rest of the bag while they're in there. We have
hantavirus here, and so they bring that with them.

Other than that, I guess they're pretty okay.

Steve


Is there a reason you haven't tried a Havahart trap? You'll obviously
have to dispatch the squirrels somehow after you trap them, but there
are lots of imaginative ways to do that.

I used a Tin Cat for the mice, but you have to handle them too much. I
just tossed the Tin Cat in a 5 gallon bucket of water for three
minutes. Now I take them out with a large metal spoon and fling them
like a lacrosse toss into the chasm that borders our property for the
raptors to have free lunch. Setting and resetting HavAHarts every day
is a pain, not to mention cost times three or six.

Steve


Oh well. Whatever method you use, it'll make you feel like you're being
successful.

You have no earthly comprehension of how your approval has made me feel.

Steve


Steve, you must be new to gardening if you think you'll beat the squirrels
using traps. You may get a one week respite from the attacks, but more
will come next week.

Read what brooklyn suggested a few minutes ago.

Joe, you really need to bone up on your reading comprehension. What these
are is barrels of water. They work 24/7. They don't need resetting. They
don't need maintenance. They don't need monitoring.

I put one out last evening at dusk. I just checked them at 5PM, and I had
four.

I am going to buy two new barrels and put the in the other problem areas.

Steve