Desperate to Keep Squirrels out of my garden

bordercars

surfsister wrote: »

How do you explain to the squirels which is their food and which is for the birds? As my huge squirrels steal all my fat balls and run off with them and sit in the trees laughing at me!!

put the nuts at the bottom of the bird feeder. even though they will discover how to climb up / round or over any barrier they are lazy so and so's by placing at the base they wont bother climbing for the birds food.

one word of warning .... dont let the family give them names. :rotfl:

olly300

Lucyxx wrote: »

I love our squirrels, we've got a cheeky little fella who'll sit on the doorledge looking in to see if I'm about they have a water bowl and I feed them walnuts and peanuts. Keep me and the kids amused anyway seeing as our bunny died and I realistically can't afford a pet now incase of vets bills etc.

I found out by accident how to stop them coming over, put food out for them ie bird food, walnuts etc, and then just stop. I ran out of food and money to buy more and they didn't come back for weeks. They came back once I topped up the food though. They might start to see your garden as a food source for nuts/seed rather than the plants, and when that's gone they might leave well alone altogether.

Please don't kill them though, every creature has it's place and all that

This is a thread for people who dislike squirrels and regard them as a pest.

BTW I haven't advocated killing or trapping squirrels in any of my posts as it's not worth the hassle.

loobyloo2

I thought this thread was about how to deal with the visiting squirrels, I love them, so do plenty of other people I'm sure.
BUT.... Killing them is not easy,try trapping them first. You finally get one in a cage after a few days of baiting it(its friends wont be so easy to catch now), then you take your air rifle out of its bag, you look down at this petrified animal, madly gnawing at the cage, trying to make a bid for freedom, it is showing its teeth, growling, terrified, and you then have to find it in you to shoot it, maybe 2 or 3 times because they dont stay still for you.
How many people are guilty of calling out a pest control company, then when they find out that they will be shooting (foxes,pigeons,squirrels) them, decide they don't want to carry on?
Answer... Loads of you
If they are in the garden.... just use chilli
If they are in the house.... then that is when trapping them is acceptable

markandkate

Encourage Buzzards to nest nearby , works a treat!

Lucyxx

olly300 wrote: »

This is a thread for people who dislike squirrels and regard them as a pest.

BTW I haven't advocated killing or trapping squirrels in any of my posts as it's not worth the hassle.

Well I'm very sorry, I did not notice the OP stating only people who disliked squirrels need to reply to the request of ways to keep them out of the garden

I did leave what I thought was an alternative suggestion, for the OP to try and have experience of it working in my garden (even though I found out by accident as I am happy for mine to stay).

For what it's worth I don't think non professionals should be going out trapping and killing. I'm glad you said it's not worth the bother. As looby said, I think it's only exceptable to do this once they get in the house and are causing problems. Not when they are outside just looking to survive like the rest of the animal kingdom!

olly300

Lucyxx wrote: »

Well I'm very sorry, I did not notice the OP stating only people who disliked squirrels need to reply to the request of ways to keep them out of the garden

The OP, usignuolo, clearly stated that s/he was not interested in people who think they were wonderful.

usignuolo wrote: »

(And please don't post that they are lovable creatures, if your garden is being destroyed by them such comments are not appreciated chez moi)).

Oh and one of my neighbours feeds the squirrels and the birds. This has resulted in squirrels entering his kitchen via the kitchen window to get food if there is none left out for them or in the bird feeder. So your advice may work or it may cause more problems.

Lucyxx

olly300 wrote: »

The OP, usignuolo, clearly stated that s/he was not interested in people who think they were wonderful.



Oh and one of my neighbours feeds the squirrels and the birds. This has resulted in squirrels entering his kitchen via the kitchen window to get food if there is none left out for them or in the bird feeder. So your advice may work or it may cause more problems.

But my post wasn't just a pro squirrel post! I didn't write an essay about how lovable they are (as the OP requested) I just wrote a tiny bit about mine, and the background to how mine disappeared. I did leave a suggestion for the OP to try! I didn't say, "let them ravage through your garden they are doing what's natural to them" or anything along those lines. Bad luck for your neighbour that they went through the window, I've never heard of that before. Certainly no one round here has reported them doing that.

Jeez, what a lovely welcome to this part of the forum there's me thinking I'd pop over here for a change and get some advice, and spotted something I could contribute to, to end up getting a telling off. Thanks.

Sorry OP, it wasn't my intention to turn your request into an arguement! hope you find a useful solution.

radiohelen

olly300 wrote: »

If you see the rubbish that squirrels eat you won't want to eat one.

Ever seen what prawns eat???????? They still taste goooooood

Money_Grabber13579

MrsA1939 wrote: »

We had the same problem for a couple of years, the grandchildren loved them, until they started to dig up the garden and beheading my roses etc., so I let the dog out, and we have not seem then since:rotfl:

Yeah, what do they find so nutritious in rose flowers?! They eat ours as well. Only problem is that mum likes them and feeds them trough the bird feeders. Only they've eaten through the wire now so all the nuts just fall on the ground!:rotfl:

Money_Grabber13579

Toots wrote: »

I've come onto MSE this morning because I want to find a way of stopping the squirrels eating my bird food and what do I find?....... you need to feed them to stop them eating your flowers!

I have four squirrels visiting my garden together and most of my bird feeders are on those poles with hooks in the ground. I've tried hanging some in trees on the smallest branches so that they aren't strong enough to hold the sqirrels' weight and they still manage to get the food. They are very enterprising. They are also cute but I can't afford to put nuts out for the birds that get eaten by squirrels.

What about if I grease the poles and tree branches - would this stop them? If so what kind of product should I use?

I don't suppose anyone has a great idea for stopping herons from visiting my fish pond as well?

You've got all the same problems that we have! Herons, squirrels...

Squirrels - have you tried using poles in the middle of the garden away from anything they can use as a launch pad and then fitting an inverted cone-shaped object half way up the pole, so they can't climb it?

Herons - we've got a net on our pond now and haven't really had much bother since. Only lost about 5 baby fish in the last year.