Ground Squirrels and Gardens

[jacko9]

I was wondering how many FOG'ers out there have had their summer gardens destroyed by ground squirrels?  I have three raised beds for my tomatoes, summer squash, beans and herbs that have been invaded by ground squirrels.  They have dug tunnels and have eaten the fruit and roots of the plants.  I have tried gas bombs, flooding with water and now, I'm into full war mode with an Air Rifle.  I have found the German equivalent to Festool Products in the Weihrauch Air Rifle the HW 95  22 caliber that is a piece of art in quality and precision.  First day out, I deposed of three these garden killers.  Anybody have similar issues or experiences?

Jack

 

[Stephen B]

My neighbour had similar problems with bush rats. Get a dog, Terrier breed.

 

[peter halle]

Jack,

I have no love for rodents.  I suspect the critters are going after water.  Put a bowl in the vicinity and see if the attacks cease.  That has worked for me.

Peter

 

[tiralie]

Get a dog, Terrier breed.

Agreed! Terriers are extremely good at killing squirrels...much to the chagrin of the ladies at the leash free my dog has killed his fair share. Usually in the fall when they are fat from all the nuts they have eaten.

His favorite is rabbit which he will go through a wall to catch. He has only caught one, an old jack rabbit. This year rabbits are everywhere and eating vegetable gardens. Last year the fox population was decimated by mange and so the rabbits and mice are everywhere.

Hopefully the snowy owls will come down from the north and clean up these critters.
Tim

 

[GregBradley]

I am someone that doesn't like to kill things. If I find a spider in the house and it isn't poisonous, I'm likely to trap it and let it go outside.

I'm a bit different now, after the squirrels and rats invaded. It all started with a big wildfire that went through the national forest a mile north of me.

When the red tree squirrel first appeared, I though he was cute and even took pictures of him. I didn't even object when he ate about 100 avocados each year since I had several hundred more. Then he chewed through the Verizon FIOS cable and took out my phone and internet that I use for business. Then he did it AGAIN. I trapped him in a Have-a Heart trap and let him go in the forest.

Then the rats started showing up. I got rid of a 1/4 acre of ivy that was damaging the old citrus orchard at the back of my property while my neighbors started trimming back palm trees and getting rid of some of their ivy. Rats started running around in my attic at night. They chewed wiring in the engine compartment of my car. They chewed up a $13 wiring harness that took a day to replace. I set out a Have-a-Heart trap on each side of my back yard and finally got to the point where I didn't even have to use bait. Just set the trap next to a wall and catch a rat - EVERY night for more than a month. One night I caught two in one trap - that means they were running through the trap CLOSER than nose to tail. I finally got around to the pellet gun and shooting them out of the citrus trees.

Then the coyotes showed up. They became so bold that I dispatched two with a baseball bat. One asleep on a neighbors wall at 10:00AM and one so intent on stalking my cat that it didn't see me creeping up on it behind the bush.

I still let a family of skunks nest under my shed each spring. The mother digs under the back shed in my 3/4 acre suburban lot each winter and the family leaves about April. By the time they leave, there is not a snail to be found in the yard.

I feed the birds, humming birds, etc. but the next rat or squirrel that shows up is history.

 

[tiralie]

Then the coyotes showed up. They became so bold that I dispatched two with a baseball bat. One asleep on a neighbors wall at 10:00AM and one so intent on stalking my cat that it didn't see me creeping up on it behind the bush.

LOL that's pretty ballsy! Jesh, Coyotes around here are attacking medium sized dogs.
Tim

 

[jacko9]

Jack,

I have no love for rodents.  I suspect the critters are going after water.  Put a bowl in the vicinity and see if the attacks cease.  That has worked for me.

Peter

Peter,

I have water bowels out for the birds and tree squirrels but, these ground squirrels are just destructive killing plants, trees and shrubs.  They bred twice a year and are overrunning the area.  I'm not a mean killing person but mice, rats, and destructive ground squirrels are too much for me.

Jack

 

[SittingElf]

No need for a dog. I have the world's greatest killer cat! Gimley (Named after the dwarf in Lord of the Rings) came to us as a kitten while stationed in Okinawa. He is the best hunter killer I've ever seen!

Only frogs get a pass (first one he killed made him sick). He's killed lizards, birds, moles, rabbits, mice, rats, and lots of squirrels...especially young ones. Unfortunately, he tends to show off his trophies by bringing them through the cat door into the house. Yuck!

I have squirrel feeders on trees away from the house and my garden. Seems to keep them looking there, and when they DO come into Gimley's territory, they are subject to Florida's "Stand your Ground" laws. Gimley generally wins  ;D

 

[tbellemare]

I have had a lot of problems with squirrels, rats, and raccoons digging in my gardens and potted plants. They also steal fruit, (tomatoes, lemon drops, key limes, satsumas), but rarely eat much of each one stolen. They were also digging through my lousy siding to get into the attic. I recently replaced it with fiber cement, which stopped that, I think.

When I lived in Houston several years ago, the squirrels would snatch every pear, while still green, off two trees, (100's of pears), take one bite and throw them on the ground. They also ate the flowers out of three pecan trees and eliminated any chance of me getting pecans.

I put out a borrowed Havahart trap baited with stink cheese on crackers. I caught a possum. I baited it with baby back bones and caught a raccoon. The raccoon(s) loved to dig through my trash trolley, pull out the rib bones, and make a mess. That made my bait decision easy...

Tom

 

[Sparktrician]

Then the coyotes showed up. They became so bold that I dispatched two with a baseball bat. One asleep on a neighbors wall at 10:00AM and one so intent on stalking my cat that it didn't see me creeping up on it behind the bush.

LOL that's pretty ballsy! Jesh, Coyotes around here are attacking medium sized dogs.
Tim

Came home from work about six years ago and found my neighbor standing in my driveway staring at my garage roof.  Asked him what he was doing, and he said, "There's a dog on your garage roof."  I took a look and said, "Bob, that's not a dog; it's a coyote."  He about wet his undies.  This in a densely-populated Washington, D.C. suburb.  By the time I got back with a .22, the little beggar had skedaddled. 

 

[jacko9]

I have had a lot of problems with squirrels, rats, and raccoons digging in my gardens and potted plants. They also steal fruit, (tomatoes, lemon drops, key limes, satsumas), but rarely eat much of each one stolen. They were also digging through my lousy siding to get into the attic. I recently replaced it with fiber cement, which stopped that, I think.

When I lived in Houston several years ago, the squirrels would snatch every pear, while still green, off two trees, (100's of pears), take one bite and throw them on the ground. They also ate the flowers out of three pecan trees and eliminated any chance of me getting pecans.

I put out a borrowed Havahart trap baited with stink cheese on crackers. I caught a possum. I baited it with baby back bones and caught a raccoon. The raccoon(s) loved to dig through my trash trolley, pull out the rib bones, and make a mess. That made my bait decision easy...

Tom

Nature is sure grand!

Jack

 

[rdesigns]

I have had the same problem with ground squirrels and with tree squirrels as well. Like you, I started shooting them, and have had only the rare intruder since. Just this morning, I shot the first tree squirrel we've had for about 4 months.

I use a Henry lever action .22, but shoot powderless loads (primer only). They are actually quieter and slower (750 fps) than an air gun, and you can shoot multiple times without pumping. The magazine holds 16 shots.

The powderless loads are made by Aguila, a Mexican maker, and I buy them online since no retailer in town stocks them.

 

[Dan C]

Our beds were destroyed by those fury rats after our dog passed.  We brought home a puppy who quickly developed a dislike for them.  You would be amazed at how quickly a German Shepherd learns to stalk its prey when there is a squirrel or even a rabbit to be had.  Her tip-toeing across the deck is a site to be seen!

 

[Tinker]

A few years ago, we had a bumper crop of acorns and hickory nuts.  the mice, rats and squirrels got fat and happy.  must have been lots of sex as the following year, there was a shortage of nuts, but an abundance of mice, rats and sqirrels.  our attic sounded like a race track with the mice and squirrels running around.

I also have a couple of houses i take care of wile owners are away.  their house had mice and rats.  I did a google for electronic pest controls.  i found  Pest Repeller Ultimate AT - 5 in 1 Electronic Pest Control and bought six, three for our house and three for my customer's house.  Within days, the mice and squirrels were gone.  We usually hear a few mice in the house all winter, but since i installed those Electronic Pest Controls, we hardly ever hear any action at nite.  If we do hear any activity, it is only for a nite, or sometimes two nite and then silence.  It has been two years since i installed those devices.

In my customer's house, there were always signs of mice all ver the main floor and in their cellar every winter.  Now, nothing.  The same company made a battery operated unit for outside.  I haven't looked into getting any of them, even tho we have plenty of chipmonks.  as long as THE BOSS is chasing chipmonks, she stays off of my back  [big grin] :

 

[Tinker]

Back in the early 90's, I kept my woodpile close to the house.  Rats decided it was a great place to get into to sta out of the weather whn they were not after my wife's bird feeders.  Eventually, they found a way t get into our cellar and into the kitchen walls.  at about the same time, i was getting a permit to add onto the house.  Part of the addition was to move the outside kitchen wall out about 8's.  the insulation was only about 1" in thickness (The old rock wool type) and i felt we needed thicker wall with better insulation. The first step in that part of the addition was to rip out the wall and then go into the cellar and shore up the floor joists so I could extend the joists the extra 8" needed. 

As we tore out the kitchen wall, we discovered a dead rat.  I guessed he was the one who had been the problem since we had not heard any activity in the wall for a couple of weeks.  I thought nothing more about rats as I continued with the project. 

The next day, I sent my helper, a big high school friend of our son, into the cellar to start removing sheetrock from the ceiling so we could get at the joists.  I  was busy opening up more of the kitchen wall and continuing to the bathroom wall which was to receive the same extension.  All of a sudden, i heard a scream from the cellar followed by some somewhat angry cursing.  i ran down to see what had happened.  There was my helper with the reains of a pile of rat s--- on his head and shoulders, a club in his hand and a rat running for its life as my friend chased it around the cellar. 

As he had pulled the sheetrock from over head, the first section had come down on his head, followed instantly by a pile of nesting debris, rat poop and on top of all that, a rat landed on the lads head.  The rat took another leap to the floor, i think in mortal fear as my helper let out his blood curdling scream.  I had all i could do to keep a straight face and not laugh.  it was a good thing i could keep  at least some self control, as Joe was bent on mayhem at about that point.  Had I laughed, you would not be reading this now. Joe beat heck out of a couple of my other helpers when the thought it was fun to throw a snake into his path on an earlier occasion.  He did not appreciate that rat any more than he cared about snakes.  [scared]
Tinker

 

[jacko9]

I have had the same problem with ground squirrels and with tree squirrels as well. Like you, I started shooting them, and have had only the rare intruder since. Just this morning, I shot the first tree squirrel we've had for about 4 months.

I use a Henry lever action .22, but shoot powderless loads (primer only). They are actually quieter and slower (750 fps) than an air gun, and you can shoot multiple times without pumping. The magazine holds 16 shots.

The powderless loads are made by Aguila, a Mexican maker, and I buy them online since no retailer in town stocks them.

The Air Gun I use (the HW 95 Weihrauch)  is a .22 caliber and shoot that pellet at 675fps and it is very quite.  We have road construction going on about 150 yards behind our house and the entire neighborhood is being overrun with ground squirrels being pushed in our direction.  I think that without the County bringing in a professional exterminator we are fighting a losing battle (or at least a long stalemate).

Jack