Tree Rats

[ceres]

Earlier this week I saw a squirrel on the plot to my left inside their strawberry net.  It was getting in under the net between two pegs. Yesterday I saw a squirrel on the plot to my right inside their strawberry net.  It can only have got in by moving a complicated draped net on a cane frame which was hanging off its hooks, crooked and out of position.  Yesterday evening I did a big pick of my strawbs and smugly put my nets back so that they were bombproof.  This morning I arrived to find a neat little squirrel-sized hole chewed through my net and half-eaten strawbs strewn around inside.  Landmines perhaps????

To add insult to injury overnight a fox has dug up my newly sown parsley and coriander seed rows and a dozen newly planted leeks.

[ceres]

[saddad]

I hate them.... and the sky rats too... our foxes (there are at least 6 on the site) seem to leave things alone.  :-\

[STEVEB]

Sorry for your loss but you have to admire the little rascals thier so clever at foraging !!

[PurpleHeather]

I actually love them and I love rats too. (squirrels are rats with furry tails)

They are cleaver and despite the fact they are a blooming nuisance and I have no qualms about using humane controls.

I do respect their ingenuity.

So I should say, I love them when they are not a problem to me.

[OllieC]

You sure it's not the squirrels digging up your parsley & coriander? They're absolute sods - and they'll eat everything as the season progresses. They also eat the eggs of any birds they can find. They don't belong in this country, and although cute to look at, are horrible little vermin. I'm afraid I've invested in a trap. It's a "humane" one, and they die quickly when I get them. I wish I didn't have to but I don't see that there's a choice.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Rat poison under the nets where the birds won't get at it.

[theothermarg]

had to rescue one out of some nets the other day, it was huge I just lifted a corner up and it shot out and up a tree. with that and the pidgin today
(another thread)I feel like a right St francis ;D
I have been warned not to try to grab one as they have a terrible bite
marg

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'd have trampled it or bashed it, same as a rat.

[ceres]

Ollie, you're probably right about the squirrel doing all the damage.  It's usually foxes that scratch around in the soil on our site and you can see their tracks.  But there weren't any tracks and 2 of my bottle cloches on cucumber seedlings had been pulled out - doubt if that would be foxes.

It will have to be rat poison under the nets.  I'm confident I couldn't kill one by bashing!  My immediate neighbours have a huge mouldering rubbish heap at the back of their plot and I've seen rats in it, so two for the price of one. 

[OllieC]

I've seen them taking green strawberries, they've snapped off the tops of my pea plants and the branches of my red currants and raspberries... I'm blaming them for everything now!

[Baccy Man]

Squirrels have their uses.
http://www.backwoodsbound.com/zsquir.html

[ceres]

I'm sure they taste very nice Baccy Man, but I think I'll pass!  :)

However if anyone with a taste for fresh squirrel would like a supply, I'll get the traps - but you do your own slaughtering!

[Sinbad7]

Squirrels had the nerve to sit looking at me whilst eating my sweetcorn last year, so not growing any this year.  I wasn't too upset, and got some good pics of them, just as well as I don't eat the stuff but did like to grow it.

Sinbad

[tishop]

Grey squirrels are a big nuisance I wholeheartedly agree (Please let's always give them their full name - our native reds really don't need the bad press). I personally gave up putting out seed for the birds this year as one repeatedly chewed through my feeder. As to a solution to the problem.. Rat poison? No!!! (A big thumbs down from me to the ??? who suggested it! (I've rightly chosen to 'Ignore' him/her (Whatever that means?)). The bio-chemical industry in this country has already an unspeakable amount to account for. Those who consciously choose to ignore the instructions (Let alone the ignorant majority who ignore them outright - How many times have I seen slug pellets applied ten times or more the recommended amount - I've given up trying to count!) can only have only my full disdain. Rat poison put out for squirrels (Even if put out under nets is a huge: No, No! (How well could hedgehogs find a way through!) The solution to grey squirrels? Humane trapping only (And always outside the breeding season) and a swift and painless end (This or repatriation to whence they came - the cursed shores of the most damned of all nation states!).

[ceres]

Thanks for your opinions tishop.  Guess I'll just have to live with your disdain.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Does anyone seriously think that hedgehogs, which are insectivores, are likely to eat grain?

[theothermarg]

I'm sure they taste very nice Baccy Man, but I think I'll pass!  :)

However if anyone with a taste for fresh squirrel would like a supply, I'll get the traps - but you do your own slaughtering!

if you sell squirrel meat would it need a goverment health warning
      MAY CONTAIN NUTSmarg ;D

[honeybee]

The hedgehog in my garden will happily spend a period of time each evening eating up the sunflower seed spillage.

[OllieC]

Does anyone seriously think that hedgehogs, which are insectivores, are likely to eat grain?

I'm not convinced people should worry about hedgehogs eating rat poison either. I would eat sunflower seeds, but not the uncooked grain used for rat poison...

[ceres]

It'a a moot point anyway.  Any hedgehog trying to get into the raised bed would get hopelessly tangled before it got anywhere near the strawbs or the poison.  I suppose I should stop using nets too.  ;)