Tree Squirrel Problems

Adam_MA

David,
I did find out that when trapped in a cage, you can get a skunk to STOP spraying if you simply cover the cage with a sheet! Now letting him out of the cage...... Another story

Adam

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plainsbonsai

I wanted to thank you all for your suggestions. It has now been 3 whole days without signs of squirrel damage. However, I'm not at all becoming confident.

Matt, They never chomp on the leaves. Typically, they just dig massive holes in the soil exposing the roots. That is more or less just a hassle and I do not foresee that aspect being very harmful to the tree. Of course, it could if it was done repeatedly.

My major concern is with the squirrels eating bark. For example, just earlier this week, they took bites out of one of the Rough Bark Japanese Maple's (Arakawa) that had just begun to cork up. Thankfully, it was one of my younger ones, but it easily could have happened to a larger, more valuable tree. As you can imagine, this damage is tremendous because it takes years to heal. It does not just pick on the rough bark trees, but it has also taken bites out of one of my larger hornbeams.

If the cayenne pepper does not harm the roots of the tree once absorbed, that is definetely something I could try.

Psynapse, that motion sprayer is an awesome device. Great suggestion!

BadByte, I certainly got a laugh out of the archery suggestion. If you think about it, the city would likely thank me for it since they are overpopulated anyway It would definetely be a great way of mastering your archery skills.

I know many of you suggested a cat or dog. I do have a cat, but I just don't want to lock her in the cage while I'm at work. Although, that's not a bad idea I suppose I could give it a shot if the problems persist.

I do have a digi, so I'll get some pics of the damage and post them.

susieq

We have lived in the remains of an old pecan grove for over 30 years.....boy do we have squirrels. When I became involved with bonsai, I was at first horrified, then enraged when I found my little trees jerked out of their pots so the critter could bury a nut in the dirt in the pot. I tried cayenne pepper, I tried scaring them, nothing worked. Finally, I urged my husband to pick one off with his 22 rifle now and then.. He got tired of that after a while and took me down to the local K-Mart and bought me an air rifle. He said "do your own dirty work" It was a Daisey pellet gun that shot the 22 caliber sized pellet and I got pretty good with it. Our neighbor cat caught on in a hurry too. When ever he saw me out in the yard with the pellet gun he came running and sat down beside me, waiting for the squirrel to drop. Probably the only gun trained cat on the planet. I didn't really enjoy doing it, I was just so darn angry at them for ruining something I had put years of my life into growing. Eventually, I re arranged the bonsai area away from the pecan trees and for the most part, the squirrels are not a problem anymore. But once in a while, usually every 2 or three years, I wind up having to pop one or two. Then it stops for a while. Another bonsai grower and friend, lived in an up scale neighborhood and knew his neighbors would never allow him to shoot a squirrel. He told me how he got around that and they never caught on. He baited rat traps with peanut butter. They went for it everytime. He would just go out after dark to check the traps remove the dead squirrels, and reset the trap. You just have to do what you have to do. Trapping them and moving them someplace else might work for some, but the sheer numbers of squirrels we have around here make that plan impossible.
Good luck with your problem.
Susieq

PS. We have always had a big dog, it didn't stop the squirrels.

robinpla

I have set a large rat trap a few times with peanuts and only found the trap unloaded or retracted or whatever you call it, so I assume they managed to get out of the trap or get the bait without getting caught. But if you've been successful with it maybe I should try it again but with peanut butter.

I have a large Havahart cage trap but they don't go in it. And even if I caught one, I don't know how to get rid of it. My dad would just put the whole cage in water and let rats drown, but I am not sure I inherited his cruelty. Rat traps seems to be the best way to get rid of them.

I have a neighbor across the alley that sings to the squirrels every day, and I assume he feeds them. "Squirrily squirrly, where are you?" What idiot would ever feed squirrels? And his peanuts are then buried in my bonsai pots.