wrote in message
...
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

I wonder if the fleas on them that carry plague have the capacity to
intellectually comprehend this discussion.

Steve

"John McGaw" wrote in message
.. .
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

When I was a kid, we used to go visit our uncle in northern Idaho. They had
a farming operation, and a couple of dairy cows along with that. After
being familiar with "city" cats, meeting a "barn" cat was scary. They
hissed and spit, and didn't want to have anything to do with you. My uncle
cautioned not to try to pick one up. Well, this little city kid figgered a
cat was a cat. I never got close enough to pick one up, and shortly saw
that picking up one would be akin to picking up a full throttle chain saw.
I have seen feral cats that are meaner than the dickens, and tapes of animal
control officers getting hold of them. Or vice versa.

I live in an AG1 zone, on a ranch, and a perfect place for a "barn cat."
Yet, I guess I'm too citified not to want to let it in when it's blowing a
gale and zero outside, thus training it to meow at the door whenever it
wants to come in and lay by the fire or cozy up on the bed. Maybe in the
future, but right now, my own version of "mousers" is working great.

Steve

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?

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

Plague, hantavirus, and ebola are very rare. But it's one of those things
that can change your life if you're the one in a million that's under a
doctor's care for it. And IF you happen to live in an area where it is
present, no matter how minimal, you must be aware of it, and at least use
common sense minimal precautions.

Do you live where there is lightning? Pretty low odds for getting hit by
lightning. But, in my own life, I have had three VERY close encounters with
lightning. Within 15' each time. So, although one can't live in a closet
and just come out for food, bathroom breaks, and the Larry King show, one
does need to take reasonable precautions.

Or not.

Steve

"Billy" wrote in message
...
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

Oddly enough, these squirrels live in a lava rock canyon next to my
property. One day, I saw movement, and declared, "There's a squirrel."
"Pshaw (not the word she used), squirrels don't live in rocks." So we
watched for a while. Yes, it was a squirrel. We have killed some very
large squirrels.

My neighbor has an orchard. They give him so much grief he carries a
semi-automatic shotgun on his ranch ATV. One day, he sat all day long, and
fired at squirrels in the canyon. He got 17.

They run across open ground to get to the trees and gardens.

My two dogs don't pay them any attention at all, and the cat seems not to
notice them, but does go after the mice.

Squirrels live in all sorts of habitat.

Steve

In article ,
"SteveB" wrote:

My two dogs don't pay them any attention at all

Maybe you need to stop feeding your dogs, or get a couple of border
collies, and let the squirrels know there's a new sheriff in town.
--

- 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

"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"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


You need to bone up on the reality of squirrels. You can drown them all day
long, but there will be more next week or the week after.

On 4/25/2009 8:13 AM, 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.

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


I'm a docent at a showcase garden. I'm there every Tuesday morning and
Saturday afternoon. After I wrote the above, I went to the garden for
my Saturday shift.

Near the garden's resource center are two large white mulberry trees
(Morus alba), that seem to be late leafing out this spring. During my
shift today, I watched a squirrel running up and down the bare branches
of one of these trees, devouring all the little green shoots. No wonder
the branches are bare!

--

David E. Ross
http://www.rossde.com/.

Don't ask "Why is there road rage?" Instead, ask
"Why NOT Road Rage?" or "Why Is There No Such
Thing as Fast Enough?"
http://www.rossde.com/roadrage.html

On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 18:14:09 -0600, "SteveB"
wrote:


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?

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

Plague, hantavirus, and ebola are very rare. But it's one of those things
that can change your life if you're the one in a million that's under a
doctor's care for it. And IF you happen to live in an area where it is
present, no matter how minimal, you must be aware of it, and at least use
common sense minimal precautions.

Do you live where there is lightning? Pretty low odds for getting hit by
lightning. But, in my own life, I have had three VERY close encounters with
lightning. Within 15' each time. So, although one can't live in a closet
and just come out for food, bathroom breaks, and the Larry King show, one
does need to take reasonable precautions.

Or not.

Steve

We get lightning and tornados here. I've had a tree drop on the house
but besides eventually needing a new roof, no real damage. . Honestly
Steve, if I'd had 3 close encounters with mother nature, I wouldn't be
killing squirrels, but that's just me.

Kate - and I do have a dog who adores chasing squirrels

On 4/25/2009 11:08 AM, wrote [in part]:
On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:13:27 -0700, I previously wrote [also in part]:
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.

Plague among humans is rare but not unknown in southern California.

It seems that the newspapers carry an article at least once each year,
warning people to avoid contact with squirrels and other small mammals.
This warning is especially strong when the animal appears ill.
However, such a warning could also apply to avoiding rabies as much as
avoiding plague. When the warning mentions dead animals, then plague is
usually the concern.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote

You need to bone up on the reality of squirrels. You can drown them all
day long, but there will be more next week or the week after.

Still, it makes me feel better than just watching them raid my garden and
trees.

On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:51:17 -0700, "David E. Ross"
wrote:

On 4/25/2009 11:08 AM, wrote [in part]:
On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:13:27 -0700, I previously wrote [also in part]:
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.

Plague among humans is rare but not unknown in southern California.

It seems that the newspapers carry an article at least once each year,
warning people to avoid contact with squirrels and other small mammals.
This warning is especially strong when the animal appears ill.
However, such a warning could also apply to avoiding rabies as much as
avoiding plague. When the warning mentions dead animals, then plague is
usually the concern.

We get a few cases and a couple of deaths state wide a year from bird
flu - lots more people die in car accidents. I can't see condemning
the species squirrel (or bird) over a remote possibility. Same goes
for rabies. Obviously, if an animal is acting oddly, don't engage it
but the media seems to enjoy public hysteria, imo.

Kate

On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:47:03 -0700, "David E. Ross"
wrote:

On 4/25/2009 8:13 AM, 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.

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


I'm a docent at a showcase garden. I'm there every Tuesday morning and
Saturday afternoon. After I wrote the above, I went to the garden for
my Saturday shift.

Near the garden's resource center are two large white mulberry trees
(Morus alba), that seem to be late leafing out this spring. During my
shift today, I watched a squirrel running up and down the bare branches
of one of these trees, devouring all the little green shoots. No wonder
the branches are bare!

If they had a better food source, would they harm the mulberry?

Kate

On 4/25/2009 7:27 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:47:03 -0700, "David E. Ross"
wrote:

On 4/25/2009 8:13 AM, 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.

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

I'm a docent at a showcase garden. I'm there every Tuesday morning and
Saturday afternoon. After I wrote the above, I went to the garden for
my Saturday shift.

Near the garden's resource center are two large white mulberry trees
(Morus alba), that seem to be late leafing out this spring. During my
shift today, I watched a squirrel running up and down the bare branches
of one of these trees, devouring all the little green shoots. No wonder
the branches are bare!

If they had a better food source, would they harm the mulberry?

Kate

The showcase garden is in an urban area, directly across the street from
city hall (city has a population of ~127,000). On the same side of the
street as the garden, there is a neighborhood shopping mall on one side
and an up-scale steak house on the other. On the street behind are
apartments and small houses.

The garden is not intended to be a lunch buffet for rodents. It's
intended to be a showcase of garden design concepts from different parts
of the world.

Let someone else feed the squirrels . . . and put up with squirrel crap.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

On 4/25/2009 10:57 AM, wrote:
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

I use a HavaHart at home. When I catch a squirrel, I take the trap down
to a state park where there are plenty of hungry coyotes, hawks, and
owls and probably some snakes.

Next, I'll have to buy a larger HavaHart to catch raccoons. Raccoons
stripped my grape vines of 3/4 of a year's crop. The law does not allow
me to relocate raccoons, so I'll let the county's animal control service
dispose of them. They will probably dispose of them the same way they
dispose of 1/3 of the stray dogs they collect -- not by adoption or
relocation but by extermination.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

On 4/25/2009 5:09 PM, SteveB wrote:
"John McGaw" wrote in message
.. .
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

When I was a kid, we used to go visit our uncle in northern Idaho. They had
a farming operation, and a couple of dairy cows along with that. After
being familiar with "city" cats, meeting a "barn" cat was scary. They
hissed and spit, and didn't want to have anything to do with you. My uncle
cautioned not to try to pick one up. Well, this little city kid figgered a
cat was a cat. I never got close enough to pick one up, and shortly saw
that picking up one would be akin to picking up a full throttle chain saw.
I have seen feral cats that are meaner than the dickens, and tapes of animal
control officers getting hold of them. Or vice versa.

I live in an AG1 zone, on a ranch, and a perfect place for a "barn cat."
Yet, I guess I'm too citified not to want to let it in when it's blowing a
gale and zero outside, thus training it to meow at the door whenever it
wants to come in and lay by the fire or cozy up on the bed. Maybe in the
future, but right now, my own version of "mousers" is working great.

Steve



Where I live, a coyote is more likely to catch a cat (even a feral cat)
than either of them is likely to catch a squirrel.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary