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+--- Thread: I love Squirrels! (/showthread.php?tid=420)
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I love Squirrels! - Clare - 28-07-2020
Suggestions please!! I am an animal lover but hate grey squirrels...so far they have taken all bar 10 apples left on my 60 year old apple tree, eaten my cherries and figs (which i might add were netted) Dug up my little rhubarb plants and used the pots to dust bath in and destroyed 6 squirrel proof bird feeders that we have put extra wire on to stop them breaking in.
To top it off last year I waited and waited for my spring bulbs to bob up and nothing... I waited another month or two thinking maybe they were late coming through, soooo wrong....little grey bleepers had eaten my bulbs and replaced them with 3 well dug in conkers!! not impressed. The nice weather earlier in the year has meant they have been more successful than ever this year, the other day I counted 8 of them frolicking in the garden, I swear they were laughing and flicking the v's at me. They are driving me nuts and I have now resorted to thoughts of an unsavory kind.... https://www.wildmeat.co.uk/blogs/news/squirrel-why-everyone-should-try-it
Unfortunately my other half is a real bunny huger and will not even squish the odd fly!! so going down the eating road is not an option,
unless i do a chicken surprise dish for him!! Muah ha ha!!
RE: I love Squirrels! - Admin - 28-07-2020
I have heard that chilli flakes helps deter them, true or not, I dont know
RE: I love Squirrels! - Veggie - 28-07-2020
I feel your pain, Clare. They've been greedy monsters this year.
They've squeezed through the chicken run wire and pinched Mrs Brown's food, eaten the apples, gnawed the branches........if only they weren't so much fun to watch.! One minute they're one side of the garden and the next they're next door, all without touching the ground. Wish I could do that.
Next door aren't too keen either as one went in their conservatory and ate the parrot's food!
RE: I love Squirrels! - Clare - 28-07-2020
(28-07-2020, 08:25 AM)Admin Wrote: I have heard that chilli flakes helps deter them, true or not, I dont knowThanks, defo worth a go
RE: I love Squirrels! - JJB - 28-07-2020
Get a gun? I haven't found any effective deterrent. Did humanely trap one once but then you have to 'deal' with it as i believe, as they are classed as vermin, you are not permitted to release them elsewhere. Although who would find out is beyond me.
RE: I love Squirrels! - Small chilli - 28-07-2020
I might be able to supply you with some chilli flakes or powder
I’m with you 100% on the eating them idea. It’s one thing I would actually like to try. Eating them is still definitely an option. Just tell the other half, he’s getting his own bl@@dy tea that night
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RE: I love Squirrels! - Veggie - 28-07-2020
(28-07-2020, 10:29 AM)JJB Wrote: Get a gun? I haven't found any effective deterrent. Did humanely trap one once but then you have to 'deal' with it as i believe, as they are classed as vermin, you are not permitted to release them elsewhere. Although who would find out is beyond me.We were overrun with them one year so bought a humane trap. Didn't know about the "vermin" issue so, each time we caught one, we'd take it for a car ride to an isolated part of the woods and release it. We went 5 times one day! Still they kept appearing.
My OH was convinced that the little blighters were running back home before we us so he started spraying a blob of paint on their backs before release! We never saw any Blobbed ones again but we had to stop our trap and release when we were spotted letting one go and told we'd be reported if we came back!
So the pesky things are still here, planting acorns in all the wrong places.
Apropos eating them - BBQd squirrel was on offer at a Garden event i went to years ago. Not for me but a lot of people were tucking in!!
RE: I love Squirrels! - PyreneesPlot - 28-07-2020
I would go for the gun and eating option, but then we eat roe deer and wild boar, too. Their numbers are ever increasing because there are no natural predators (wolves are on the way back and we have a few bears), and they are about as far from intensive farming as you can get.
But at least they 'belong' here, unlike grey squirrels in the UK.
A difficult situation.
RE: I love Squirrels! - Curly - 28-07-2020
The number of gray squirrels in this area has reduced this year, don't know the reason for this, possibly du to all the trees that were planted several years ago being more mature now or there may be some pine martens moving into the area
RE: I love Squirrels! - Clare - 28-07-2020
(28-07-2020, 10:29 AM)JJB Wrote: Get a gun? I haven't found any effective deterrent. Did humanely trap one once but then you have to 'deal' with it as i believe, as they are classed as vermin, you are not permitted to release them elsewhere. Although who would find out is beyond me.A gun would be top of my list too but i think my neighbours would have something to say about that.