Hello everybody,

I have this problem. There are three of them now, they are called squirrels but are really just rats with bushy tails.

I have grown some seedlings in pots but the little buggers keep digging in the pots and sometimes even kill the seedling by jumping on them.

I have tried chille powder, chillies chopped up, peppers, but they still keep digging.

Any suggestions?

Thanks very much in advance.

I have this problem. There are three of them now, they are called
squirrels but are really just rats with bushy tails.

Get yourself a cat ;-)

- h

"dommy" wrote in message
news:0a84f4cd5cd18858f3641552696ba1ad@TeraNews...
Hello everybody,

I have this problem. There are three of them now, they are called
squirrels but are really just rats with bushy tails.

I have grown some seedlings in pots but the little buggers keep digging
in the pots and sometimes even kill the seedling by jumping on them.

I have tried chille powder, chillies chopped up, peppers, but they
still keep digging.

Any suggestions?

Thanks very much in advance.

Perhaps lots of short sticks pushed into the pots or wire netting over

Ophelia

On Fri, 02 May 2003 10:23:42 GMT, dommy
wrote:

Hello everybody,

I have this problem. There are three of them now, they are called
squirrels but are really just rats with bushy tails.

I have grown some seedlings in pots but the little buggers keep digging
in the pots and sometimes even kill the seedling by jumping on them.

I have tried chille powder, chillies chopped up, peppers, but they
still keep digging.

Any suggestions?

Thanks very much in advance.

We put some gravel on top of the soil and that stopped our squirrels
(for the moment).

Of course little anti-squirrel landmines would be the ideal answer but
would probably have the undesired side affect of vapourising the very
plant you were trying to protect... still, might be worth the
sacrifice to see the little grey buggers shot into outer space

Adrian.

dommy wrote in message news:0a84f4cd5cd18858f3641552696ba1ad@TeraNews.. .

Any suggestions?

Try burying wire mesh (the type with 20cm squares) just below the soil surface.

"bigboard" wrote in message
...
dommy wrote:
Hello everybody,

I have this problem. There are three of them now, they are called
squirrels but are really just rats with bushy tails.

I have grown some seedlings in pots but the little buggers keep digging
in the pots and sometimes even kill the seedling by jumping on them.

I have tried chille powder, chillies chopped up, peppers, but they
still keep digging.

Any suggestions?

Thanks very much in advance.
--
dommy
------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk


It may not suit everybody, but I would shoot them with my air rifle.
It's fairly permanent!

... and you can eat them.

Ophelia wrote:
"bigboard" wrote in message
...

dommy wrote:

Hello everybody,

I have this problem. There are three of them now, they are called
squirrels but are really just rats with bushy tails.

I have grown some seedlings in pots but the little buggers keep digging
in the pots and sometimes even kill the seedling by jumping on them.

I have tried chille powder, chillies chopped up, peppers, but they
still keep digging.

Any suggestions?

Thanks very much in advance.
--
dommy
------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk


It may not suit everybody, but I would shoot them with my air rifle.
It's fairly permanent!


... and you can eat them.



Absolutely! Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall (who my vegetarian ex-girlfriend
referred to as Hugh Murdering-******* ) has a great recipe for
Squirrel Satay.

hello again everybody thank you very much for all your replies. Much appreciated. I have some gravel so i will try that. Wire meshing seems good as well. Unforntunatly i dont have a riffle, so cant shoot the buggers

PS, i like the sticks idea, may also try that one as well

"Ophelia" wrote in message
...

"bigboard" wrote in message
...
dommy wrote:
Hello everybody,

I have this problem. There are three of them now, they are called
squirrels but are really just rats with bushy tails.

I have grown some seedlings in pots but the little buggers keep
digging
in the pots and sometimes even kill the seedling by jumping on them.

I have tried chille powder, chillies chopped up, peppers, but they
still keep digging.

Any suggestions?

Thanks very much in advance.
--
dommy

------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk


It may not suit everybody, but I would shoot them with my air rifle.
It's fairly permanent!

.. and you can eat them.

What do you do with them?

The year before last I must have killed about twenty, at first I used to
put them in a plastic carrier and stick them in the dustbin, then I
thought it was rather wasteful on carrier bags so I started to collect
two or hree before depositing them in the bin. One day, having
bagged several, I went down the garden and couldn't find the damned
bag anywhere, my first thought was that I hadn't been all that successful
in killing them, then I saw the bag some way away, it had been
carefully opened and the contents were missing, I came to the
conclusion that foxes had taken them. So after that I used to just leave
them outside where the foxes could get at them.

But, as I drown them, can they be eaten after that?

How does one prepare them?

Alan
--
Reply to alan(at)windsor-berks(dot)freeserve(dot)co(dot)uk

"redclay" wrote in message
...

dommy wrote in message
news:0a84f4cd5cd18858f3641552696ba1ad@TeraNews...
I have this problem. There are three of them now, they are called
squirrels but are really just rats with bushy tails.
I have grown some seedlings in pots but the little buggers keep digging
in the pots and sometimes even kill the seedling by jumping on them.
I have tried chille powder, chillies chopped up, peppers, but they
still keep digging.
Any suggestions?
First off a cat will try a squirrel once and then realize that the little
tree-rat is too tough and then just sit and watch them.

One of the cats which inhabit my garden obviously doesn't know that, I
was ammazed one day when one squirrel started running like mad,
it was being chased by a cat, the trouble was the squirrel was too
damned fast fiort he cat to catch it.

Alan
--
Reply to alan(at)windsor-berks(dot)freeserve(dot)co(dot)uk

I put up a squirrel feeder and filled it with sun flower seeds, kernals of
corn, and some grain. Some times in season, I added black walnuts and old
pecans. As long as I kept it full, they left everything else alone. If I
let it run out they were back.

Dwayne


"dommy" wrote in message
news:0a84f4cd5cd18858f3641552696ba1ad@TeraNews...
Hello everybody,

I have this problem. There are three of them now, they are called
squirrels but are really just rats with bushy tails.

I have grown some seedlings in pots but the little buggers keep digging
in the pots and sometimes even kill the seedling by jumping on them.

I have tried chille powder, chillies chopped up, peppers, but they
still keep digging.

Any suggestions?

Thanks very much in advance.
--
dommy
------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk

dommy wrote in message
news:0a84f4cd5cd18858f3641552696ba1ad@TeraNews...
I have this problem. There are three of them now, they are called
squirrels but are really just rats with bushy tails.
I have grown some seedlings in pots but the little buggers keep digging
in the pots and sometimes even kill the seedling by jumping on them.
I have tried chille powder, chillies chopped up, peppers, but they
still keep digging.
First off a cat will try a squirrel once and then realize that the little
tree-rat is too tough after that they just sit and watch them. I call it
rat-wire
and others call it hardware cloth but go to the hardware outlet and get a
wire mesh with 3/8" to 1/2 " openings. Make a tent over your pots. Next
buy
a live trap and a pellet gun. Trap the tree-rats and shoot them. Use pecans
for bait. As an aside pecans ground up with boric acid is an excellant ant
poison. Bury them
around your irises and your roses. So far that is the only thing I have
found these things to be good for, I am not crazy about fried squirrel and
milk gravy.

"Alan Holmes" wrote in message
...

What do you do with them?

If you cook them the same way as you do rabbit you won't taste much
difference.. If you cook them over an open fire they taste a bit like boiled
bacon.

If you are not used to cooking rabbit give me a shout and I will give you a
recipe or two)


But, as I drown them, can they be eaten after that?

No difference


How does one prepare them?

See above

O

The message
from "Ophelia" contains these words:

"Alan Holmes" wrote in message
...

What do you do with them?

If you cook them the same way as you do rabbit you won't taste much
difference.. If you cook them over an open fire they taste a bit like boiled
bacon.

If you are not used to cooking rabbit give me a shout and I will give you a
recipe or two)


But, as I drown them, can they be eaten after that?

No difference


How does one prepare them?

See above

Or:
¯¯
Squirrel pie.
Ingredients:

Five squirrels, skinned, cleaned and jointed.
about ten rashers of streaky bacon
a sprinkling of plain flour
½oz olive oil or butter
2 English onions
3 good carrots
a small parsnip
4 sticks celery
glass of red wine
teaspoon of marjoram
½ teaspoon of ground nutmeg
black pepper to taste
salt if desired
pinch of sage and thyme

Enough short pastry to make a piecrust cover over your favourite pie dish

Method.
Chop vegetables.
Cut bacon into small pieces
Heat butter or olive oil in a flat open pan.
Roll squirrel pieces in flour.
Add floured pieces, bacon and chopped onions to hot fat
Fry until juices stop coming from pieces, stirring from time to time.
Dave is good at that.

When the meat is cooked (see above) remove it and the onions and place
in pie dish
Add the rest of the vegetables
Now add the surplus flour to the fat in the pan and make a roux using
the red wine and any stock or vegetable stock you have to thin it to the
consistency of white sauce. Add herbs and spices and stir in.

Add the gravy to the contents of your pie dish and cover with pastry.
(You may wish to use a piecrust raiser thingamejig-wotsit)

Cook in oven until piecrust is done.

HTH

--
Tony
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