Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
We've got an overpopulation of fox squirrels in the neighborhood, with at
least five nests in our backyard alone. The squirrels have always gone after our fruit, but in the last few years they have begun stripping entire treesful before it fully ripens. We have walnut trees and I don't begrudge them walnuts, but the loss of oranges, persimmons, pomegranates, plums and apricots ****es me off. Now we have a new problem: they are stripping the bark off elm and chinese silk trees and eating the new leaf shoots off the apricots. Peaceful coexistence is ending. I'm getting a slingshot and looking for squirrel recipes. But I wonder about this bark-eating behavior, which I never noticed or heard of before. It's not like these guys are starving--they're some of the plumpest squirrels I've ever seen. Is this usual behavior? nf |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
I gotta get me some trees like that...
Best regards, Bob |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
The chewing is partly need for simple sugars at the end of the dormant
season; partly the marking of territory - but this latter is usually accompanied by some sort of scent marking as well. This is a very common occurrence with grey, red, and flying squirrels in the Northeast US (IME). Mike -- Mike LaMana, MS Heartwood Consulting Services, LLC Toms River, NJ www.HeartwoodConsulting.net "nutso fasst" wrote in message om... We've got an overpopulation of fox squirrels in the neighborhood, with at least five nests in our backyard alone. The squirrels have always gone after our fruit, but in the last few years they have begun stripping entire treesful before it fully ripens. We have walnut trees and I don't begrudge them walnuts, but the loss of oranges, persimmons, pomegranates, plums and apricots ****es me off. Now we have a new problem: they are stripping the bark off elm and chinese silk trees and eating the new leaf shoots off the apricots. Peaceful coexistence is ending. I'm getting a slingshot and looking for squirrel recipes. But I wonder about this bark-eating behavior, which I never noticed or heard of before. It's not like these guys are starving--they're some of the plumpest squirrels I've ever seen. Is this usual behavior? nf |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 18:03:29 GMT, "nutso fasst"
wrote: We've got an overpopulation of fox squirrels in the neighborhood, with at least five nests in our backyard alone. The squirrels have always gone after our fruit, but in the last few years they have begun stripping entire treesful before it fully ripens. We have walnut trees and I don't begrudge them walnuts, but the loss of oranges, persimmons, pomegranates, plums and apricots ****es me off. Now we have a new problem: they are stripping the bark off elm and chinese silk trees and eating the new leaf shoots off the apricots. Peaceful coexistence is ending. I'm getting a slingshot and looking for squirrel recipes. But I wonder about this bark-eating behavior, which I never noticed or heard of before. It's not like these guys are starving--they're some of the plumpest squirrels I've ever seen. Is this usual behavior? nf Seemes to me you need to get a falconers license and take up hawk raising and flying as a hobbie very fun way to hunt pest rodents :-) |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
nutso fasst ) wrote:
with editing... : We've got an overpopulation of fox squirrels in the neighborhood, with at : least five nests in our backyard alone. The squirrels have always gone after : our fruit, but in the last few years they have begun stripping entire : treesful before it fully ripens. We have walnut trees and I don't begrudge : them walnuts, but the loss of oranges, persimmons, pomegranates, plums and : apricots ****es me off. Now we have a new problem: they are stripping the : bark off elm and chinese silk trees and eating the new leaf shoots off the : apricots. Peaceful coexistence is ending. I'm getting a slingshot and : looking for squirrel recipes. But I wonder about this bark-eating behavior, : which I never noticed or heard of before. It's not like these guys are : starving--they're some of the plumpest squirrels I've ever seen. Is this : usual behavior? You could put those little pests up for sale. English elm has invaded our natural landscapes and is rapidly replacing snowberry, rose and oregon grape. It is even replacing Scotch broom and gorse. We would love to have some of those little critters to strip the bark and slow down the spread of the elm. And if they dig up the roots, that's a bonus. Regards. RAF |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
"nutso fasst" wrote in message . com...
We've got an overpopulation of fox squirrels in the neighborhood, with at least five nests in our backyard alone. The squirrels have always gone after our fruit, but in the last few years they have begun stripping entire treesful before it fully ripens. We have walnut trees and I don't begrudge them walnuts, but the loss of oranges, persimmons, pomegranates, plums and apricots ****es me off. Now we have a new problem: they are stripping the bark off elm and chinese silk trees and eating the new leaf shoots off the apricots. Peaceful coexistence is ending. I'm getting a slingshot and looking for squirrel recipes. But I wonder about this bark-eating behavior, which I never noticed or heard of before. It's not like these guys are starving--they're some of the plumpest squirrels I've ever seen. Is this usual behavior? nf That is normal behavior for a dense population of squirrels. Specially in late winter, they have no other food. If their caches are raided, or the winter was harsh, they will eat cambium. I too have very many (thanks to a frontyard of oak and hickory trees, and a backyard of maple and elm trees - all major food sources). At this time, they definitely chew on the twigs of a weeping mulberry (silk tree) outside my kitchen. In april, they raid my mushroom patch and eat the shiitake (which are somewhat sweet). If I had your collection of trees, I would try to eliminate them. They will not touch your fruit trees when the elms are making seeds, or during walnut season, but they need to survive in between. I think that if you had no walnuts or elms the population would ultimately crash, or at least less squirrels would be moving in as you catch them. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
"nutso fasst" wrote in
om: We've got an overpopulation of fox squirrels in the neighborhood, with at least five nests in our backyard alone. The squirrels have always gone after our fruit, but in the last few years they have begun stripping entire treesful before it fully ripens. We have walnut trees and I don't begrudge them walnuts, but the loss of oranges, persimmons, pomegranates, plums and apricots ****es me off. Now we have a new problem: they are stripping the bark off elm and chinese silk trees and eating the new leaf shoots off the apricots. Peaceful coexistence is ending. I'm getting a slingshot and looking for squirrel recipes. But I wonder about this bark-eating behavior, which I never noticed or heard of before. It's not like these guys are starving--they're some of the plumpest squirrels I've ever seen. Is this usual behavior? nf Theory 1: Rodents have teeth that are continuely growing. Perhaps they just need something to gnaw on to avoid getting bucktoothed or having their teeth grow through their brains, especially after plumping up on the softer tasty fruits. The apricot shoots are just for garnish or have an analgesic effect. Theory 2: Squirrels have discovered that if a tree is stressed it will put more energy into nut production and are intentionally stressing the tree by stripping the bark. Theory 3: The squirrels have a serious eating disorder and you should call my Animal Eating Disorder hotline at 1-900-555-NUTS for a consulation. Per minute charges may apply. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
In article , Salty Thumb
wrote: "nutso fasst" wrote in om: We've got an overpopulation of fox squirrels in the neighborhood, with at least five nests in our backyard alone. The squirrels have always gone after our fruit, but in the last few years they have begun stripping entire treesful before it fully ripens. We have walnut trees and I don't begrudge them walnuts, but the loss of oranges, persimmons, pomegranates, plums and apricots ****es me off. Now we have a new problem: they are stripping the bark off elm and chinese silk trees and eating the new leaf shoots off the apricots. Peaceful coexistence is ending. I'm getting a slingshot and looking for squirrel recipes. But I wonder about this bark-eating behavior, which I never noticed or heard of before. It's not like these guys are starving--they're some of the plumpest squirrels I've ever seen. Is this usual behavior? nf Theory 1: Rodents have teeth that are continuely growing. Perhaps they just need something to gnaw on to avoid getting bucktoothed or having their teeth grow through their brains, especially after plumping up on the softer tasty fruits. The apricot shoots are just for garnish or have an analgesic effect. Theory 2: Squirrels have discovered that if a tree is stressed it will put more energy into nut production and are intentionally stressing the tree by stripping the bark. Theory 3: The squirrels have a serious eating disorder and you should call my Animal Eating Disorder hotline at 1-900-555-NUTS for a consulation. Per minute charges may apply. Squirrels are highly territorial & as a rule will not permit any other squirrel, beyond a mate, to live in their territory. Juveniles are kicked out of the parents' territory almost as soon as they are weaned. They sometimes build multiple dreys so I'm not convinced nutsofasst really has them crowded into one yard like that, but if in fact there was formerly so much food in the area that "territories" shrank & overlapped, then they have probably used up their food resources during winter, & it's too early in spring for new food resources to have developed. Squirrels will eat buds early in spring if food they actually like is insufficient, & hungry squirrels really can strip an entire tree of buds (which is also partly also a neurotic behavior when they are crowded & territories undecided among the squirrels themselves, & a squirrel can become frightened to hunt more broadly & risk getting beaten up by the next squirrel). Sometimes when something happens to a large shared food resource -- like when the city comes through an extended area & tops all the walnut trees or whatever so that they stop producing food, or developers clear-cut a previously wooded area -- the squirrels will be forced into gardens they would otherwise rarely have visited -- & in this case none of the squirrels will be sure who's territory it is for some while. There's got to be SOME reason for their rigid territories becoming smaller & less rigid, because it's extremely rare that squirrels get crowded except in parks or university campuses where the excess of free hand-outs of tator chips & Subway sandwich whitebread overcomes their territoriality & they all get fat & lazy instead of violently patrolling their personal acreage. In normal conditions squirrels patrol a few acres & will seriouslky injure or even KILL other squirrels if they don't leave fast enough from a patrolled territory. In overcrowded conditions one often sees squirrels with skinned tails or other startling injuries, caused by territorially; the established squirrel always wins unless elderly, & invading adolescents live horrible lives until they can establish a territory for themselves. When this mean-sounding but essential behavior weakens, squirrels can cause more damage than would otherwise be the case. The overpopulation is generally very short-lived because weaker squirrels will have to leave town or be so perpetually harrassed they die from the sheer inability to rest anywhere & feed calmly. Possibly feeding them cheap peanuts or corn will make them lose interest in tree buds, until broader food resources are available & they stop harvesting buds. But feeding them too much weakens their will to chase other squirrels out of their territory. Tree buds aren't a favorite but a back-up food, with some exceptions since squirrels are so intelligent & complicated that they have very individualistic behaviors, & the occasional squirrel will become seriously convinced buds are best. If they can't be stopped from eating buds even when peanuts or corn are set out for them, or when their better food resources return, they may inescapably need to be trapped or killed, but first talk to animal control or the game department about legalities and options. -paghat the ratgirl -- "Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher. "Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature. -from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers" See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/ |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
"Michelle" wrote in message ... Seemes to me you need to get a falconers license and take up hawk raising and flying as a hobbie very fun way to hunt pest rodents :-) That does sound like fun, but also more time-consuming than I can handle right now. I've seen a couple of hawks cruising above the neighborhood, but I've never seen them nab a squirrel. Maybe lounging cats are an easier kill. Speaking of cats, there used to be a lot more cats around. Our next door neighbor had a pride of feral cats living on the roof of their house, and we had cats with free reign of the back yard. We took in a couple of 'rescued' dogs in '94 who didn't get along with cats. Then the neighbors sold out and left. I think that's when the problems began. The dogs are quite worthless as squirrel intimidators. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
"Roy A. Fletcher" wrote in message ... nutso fasst ) wrote: English elm has invaded our natural landscapes and is rapidly replacing snowberry, rose and oregon grape. It is even replacing Scotch broom and gorse. We would love to have some of those little critters to strip the bark and slow down the spread of the elm. These are Chinese elm; we call them 'weed trees' because they pop up all over and grow so fast. It wasn't until last year that I noticed major bark stripping; this year a couple of young (40' or so) trees have the top 50% of their branches stripped bare. That didn't bother me. But this week I discovered an old chinese silk tree had the top of a major low branch stripped bare! |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
"Roy A. Fletcher" wrote in message ... nutso fasst ) wrote: English elm has invaded our natural landscapes and is rapidly replacing snowberry, rose and oregon grape. It is even replacing Scotch broom and gorse. We would love to have some of those little critters to strip the bark and slow down the spread of the elm. These are Chinese elm; we call them 'weed trees' because they pop up all over and grow so fast. It wasn't until last year that I noticed major bark stripping; this year a couple of young (40' or so) trees have the top 50% of their branches stripped bare. That didn't bother me. But this week I discovered an old chinese silk tree had the top of a major low branch stripped bare! |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
"paghat" wrote in message news Possibly feeding them cheap peanuts or corn will make them lose interest in tree buds, until broader food resources are available & they stop harvesting buds. Whaaa?! These guys are eating my food, and you want me to feed them more? NUTS to that! In case the variety of fruits don't give a clue, we're in Southern California, where we may get a few nights of below-freezing temps a year. This is not hard times for rodents. Ten years ago we had so many persimmons I gave away bagsful to a local church, and sent excess pomegranates to relatives in the midwest. In 2001 we had none, then managed to salvage a few unripe ones in '02 and '03. The same is true of all the other fruits, and of planted bulbs as well. While the squirrels were chewing bark, they were also stripping our orange trees. Just about any time I went out back there'd be a squirrel chewing out the inside of an orange. Sometimes a squirrel would be doing this while the orange was on the tree, other times I would find one with an orange it had nipped off, slurping away on the ground a few yards away. I used to see squirrels fighting and chasing each other, but not lately. They all look pretty chubby to me. I don't know how many there actually are. I know there have been at least three romping around in our yard (80 x 300') at one time, but have no idea whether all the nests are occupied. As noted in another reply, we used to have many cats around, and the feral ones were very comfortable in trees. The neighborhood has been changing--our yard now has many more trees than before and no cats, neighboring properties are being bought and developed with large homes and landscaped yards. Everywhere are dogs; cat territories are restricted. My dogs have killed rats and baby muskrats, but never a squirrel. Given the amount of bark being stripped, and the fact that the practice has now gone to an old tree, I definitely think these rodents are either neurotic or have some unusual excess dietary need (worms?). I think I'll follow your advice and contact the local animal control before having one for dinner. I am much edified about squirrel behavior and thank everyone who responded to my request for insight. nf |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
"paghat" wrote in message news Possibly feeding them cheap peanuts or corn will make them lose interest in tree buds, until broader food resources are available & they stop harvesting buds. Whaaa?! These guys are eating my food, and you want me to feed them more? NUTS to that! In case the variety of fruits don't give a clue, we're in Southern California, where we may get a few nights of below-freezing temps a year. This is not hard times for rodents. Ten years ago we had so many persimmons I gave away bagsful to a local church, and sent excess pomegranates to relatives in the midwest. In 2001 we had none, then managed to salvage a few unripe ones in '02 and '03. The same is true of all the other fruits, and of planted bulbs as well. While the squirrels were chewing bark, they were also stripping our orange trees. Just about any time I went out back there'd be a squirrel chewing out the inside of an orange. Sometimes a squirrel would be doing this while the orange was on the tree, other times I would find one with an orange it had nipped off, slurping away on the ground a few yards away. I used to see squirrels fighting and chasing each other, but not lately. They all look pretty chubby to me. I don't know how many there actually are. I know there have been at least three romping around in our yard (80 x 300') at one time, but have no idea whether all the nests are occupied. As noted in another reply, we used to have many cats around, and the feral ones were very comfortable in trees. The neighborhood has been changing--our yard now has many more trees than before and no cats, neighboring properties are being bought and developed with large homes and landscaped yards. Everywhere are dogs; cat territories are restricted. My dogs have killed rats and baby muskrats, but never a squirrel. Given the amount of bark being stripped, and the fact that the practice has now gone to an old tree, I definitely think these rodents are either neurotic or have some unusual excess dietary need (worms?). I think I'll follow your advice and contact the local animal control before having one for dinner. I am much edified about squirrel behavior and thank everyone who responded to my request for insight. nf |
#14
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
"paghat" wrote in message news Possibly feeding them cheap peanuts or corn will make them lose interest in tree buds, until broader food resources are available & they stop harvesting buds. Whaaa?! These guys are eating my food, and you want me to feed them more? NUTS to that! In case the variety of fruits don't give a clue, we're in Southern California, where we may get a few nights of below-freezing temps a year. This is not hard times for rodents. Ten years ago we had so many persimmons I gave away bagsful to a local church, and sent excess pomegranates to relatives in the midwest. In 2001 we had none, then managed to salvage a few unripe ones in '02 and '03. The same is true of all the other fruits, and of planted bulbs as well. While the squirrels were chewing bark, they were also stripping our orange trees. Just about any time I went out back there'd be a squirrel chewing out the inside of an orange. Sometimes a squirrel would be doing this while the orange was on the tree, other times I would find one with an orange it had nipped off, slurping away on the ground a few yards away. I used to see squirrels fighting and chasing each other, but not lately. They all look pretty chubby to me. I don't know how many there actually are. I know there have been at least three romping around in our yard (80 x 300') at one time, but have no idea whether all the nests are occupied. As noted in another reply, we used to have many cats around, and the feral ones were very comfortable in trees. The neighborhood has been changing--our yard now has many more trees than before and no cats, neighboring properties are being bought and developed with large homes and landscaped yards. Everywhere are dogs; cat territories are restricted. My dogs have killed rats and baby muskrats, but never a squirrel. Given the amount of bark being stripped, and the fact that the practice has now gone to an old tree, I definitely think these rodents are either neurotic or have some unusual excess dietary need (worms?). I think I'll follow your advice and contact the local animal control before having one for dinner. I am much edified about squirrel behavior and thank everyone who responded to my request for insight. nf |
#15
|
|||
|
|||
squirrels eating trees?
I wrote:
Everywhere are dogs; cat territories are restricted. My dogs have killed rats and baby muskrats... meant baby possums, not muskrats, sorry. We've also got skunks and racoons roaming at night, but (fortunately in the case of skunks) the dogs have never killed those, either. |
Reply |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
What to do with grey squirrels - M Ogilvie pro hunt nut and extremist, adviser for SNH suggests we should eat squirrels! | United Kingdom | |||
Squirrels Eating My Tomatoes! | North Carolina | |||
squirrels eating hibiscus | North Carolina | |||
How do I keep those *#$!@#ing ground squirrels from eating my sunflowers? | Gardening | |||
How do I keep those *#$!@#ing ground squirrels from eating my | Gardening |