Ravenous Squirrels, Birds and Other hungry PestsPart -#4.

Morphing the previous Thread on garden pests into this one....

Thought we may want a place to moan about the squirrels and other pests at our Bird Feeders...
Whether ON them--or below them. Everyone wants some food in the winter...

Have any Coons or other critters visiting your yards? Tell us about it! How are you dealing with them?
Pictures are best....

We came from here.... http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/977562/#new



This message was edited Oct 21, 2011 8:18 PM

Well--I have nothing to about yet....
I have not yet put up my bird feeders. Have to fix the big, 3-tube one with the baffle on top.
It has fallen down a couple of times.....Good old Gorilla Glue. held it together for 2 years.
Have to get to it again....

Haven't seen too many birds in my area--but then I do not have the feed out yet.
There was a Blue jay screeching at me today--as if to say: "NEED FOOD!---what are you waiting for"?

Have sees Chipmunks scurrying about. Don't know what they are finding for food....One of them (or more) live
right under my concrete front steps. Lots of good, safe places under these big steps--as the ground has settled, but the concrete has not.
SO! "Mrs. Chipmunk. Which apartment would suit you best? The one with the high loft--or the one with the finished basement?
We also have a Multi-Family suite....with 4 bedrooms and easy access to the food stores.....They are just around the corner---
in the back yard....with plenty of water to drink too....and NO pets to worry about. Good neighborhood! "

Having some fun here----You do the same--OK?

Gita

Your transitional phrase cracked me up (new tings to b about) LOL
Despite lknocing a swuirrel nest out of the magnolia (By accident!) and probably killing four babies, we have enough squirrels to go around. Dog keeps them in good running shape, or vice versa.

Hey! we found two dead young RATS last week! One right under the landry room in a sort pf crawsplace, and the other actually just half of one out in the yard. I guess the cats killed them...? I am guessing that they were roaming up from the swampy corner a few (large) yards away, after all that rain trhey mayhave been flooded out of their usual place. No mistaking they were rats. The tail doesn't lie, they were just too big to be mice.

I took a good look at the thistle feeder thats been hanging, ignored, all summer. Full of tiny worms EWWW.

Would someone please STOP putting out peanuts for the squirrels here? Every single time I dig in a potted plant, theres a peanut. EVery SIngle TIme.

Lol Sally, that's what the squirrels here do with white oak acorns. Hope some of our swap attendees will want a few seedling trees to set out before the tap root is pot challenged. Let me know and I'll set some aside for you.

White oak acorns are a preferred food for many critters and they produce acorns almost every year where as many other oaks are every other year Have never seen 'willow' oaks produce acorns, have you?

I've definitely noticed a change in critter populations of all sorts around here....mostly fewer of everything. birds and squirrels in particular. Drought?

Resident ground hog has only bred once in his 5/6 year tenure and may be approaching old age. Red fox vixen did not den down the end of road and I haven't seen or heard her.

Miss getting to see and hear the circle of life close at hand.

I did find a HUGE 12 inch nightcrawler (relaxed length) when I moved a long in place plank!

Judy

Sally--

I have found that if you put out whole (in shell) peanuts, the squirrels may eat one--and then
their instinct to bury kicks in and they will bury the rest. In your flower pots--the soil is easier to dig there...

Solution--if you still want to feed the squirrels-- shell the peanuts and don't put out too many at one time.
I don't think they would bury a shelled peanut....????

I have a container of in-shell peanuts. Too old for me to eat....Rancid! YUK! Now and then I shell a few while watching TV and toss them out.

Getting time to put out my big bird-feeder. The one with the 3 tubes and a baffle on top ($40).
Man! it has seen better days! I used to have 2 of these. They have fallen down and come apart.
I have to get out the ole Gorilla glue and mend the one that can still be rescued. have done this once already-
but it broke apart again. Haven't seen too many birds--no wonder..NO food around here!
Better get busy!

Gita

My thistle feeder is likewise cracking up. Once I used a sock and it got a hole and spilled its" guts"

coleup, I'd miss a fox family too.
Be happy to give you my groundhog tho.

Gita, thank you so much for reviving this thread!

I found a dead baby snake in an old tree stump, and now I'm wishing I had some *live* snakes in my garden to keep the critters away.

The semi-feral cats are still driving me crazy. I took everyone's advice from the meetup at Critter's and began sheet mulching portions of my clay soil. But the cats are now using it as their litter box!

The squirrels are driving me crazy, digging little holes every 6 inches in my raised beds. It doesn't help having a mature white oak tree in front of the house. Coleup, you're right about the massive acorn production.

This week, I found a family of a dozen slugs in the shade by the hostas/coral bells. I guess the crushed egg shells didn't work in keeping them away. Is there anything more disgusting than slugs in the garden?

There's a mysterious nest (?) by the miscanthus, in soil that's heavily amended with sand. It's a round mound, about the size of a grapefruit. It has 5-6 holes, maybe quarter-sized, which makes the mound look like a planetarium or the Epcot center. One of the holes looks like it's got a round window covering made of slime. Is it an ant house? Wasps? Slugs? Are these beneficial? If I need to get rid of it, how do I do that without damaging the miscanthus?

And some mysterious creature is digging up the hosta, astilbe, and daylily roots and chewing them up! Squirrels? Voles? Raccoon? No idea.

I have tried citrus rinds (to deter the cats in particular), coffee grounds, commercial repellants, and chili powder to keep the critters away, but nothing has worked. It took me ONE HOUR to plant only 15 teeny muscari bulbs. I ended up planting them 5-6 inches deep, because I just couldn't chance the squirrels getting to them after all that work. I hope the flowers find their way up in the spring!

Btw, it took so long to dig, because I ended up coming across oak tree roots and the roots of my neighbor's highly invasive shallow-rooted tree. After struggling with the roots, I moved to another area, only to find a solid rock that I tried to chip away at, hoping to dig the whole thing out, until I just didn't have the strength to lift up the mattock anymore.

Sally, I guess I should be thankful that at least I haven't found dead rats in my yard. Yikes!

SS--

Can't advise you on your mystery mound with the holes...Only thought that came to me was Burrowing Wasps....
Triazacide (this replaced Diazanon at HD--which they stopped carrying) sprinkled over it at night would kill whatever was in there.
IF these are wasps--they meander all day--but go back to their nests in the evening....

As for keeping the cats at bay--have you tried scattering around some old rags soaked in Clear Ammonia?
Cats pee where they have left the scent. So they go back--over and over. I believe the Ammonia will keep them away.
I got rid of my one and only Groundhog doing this.

For slugs--IF you suddenly find them under rocks and wood pieces--carry a salt shaker with you.
A couple of shakes and they "melt" before your eyes. Otherwise--I just cut them in half with a whack of my shovel...ooooozze....

As for who, or what, is digging/destroying the roots of your Hosta and the rest--make your way to part #1 of this Thread,
They are all linked--as "We came from here"......This topic was very heavily discussed on that Thread.
Voles seemed to be the main suspects. Please go and read part #1.

Tree roots!!!! AHA! Now you know what I am dealing with in EVERY inch of my back yard. Except I have Maples.
They are even worst! Their roots go all over the surface....

Hang around here--we will dissect (ahem) every pest issue as best we can. Gita

Hi SS- you've had some real challenges this year, haven't you?

Gita, I can not believe you are now talking about another issue that is so annoying to me. I do not have alot of squirrels because the big trees they lived in went down in the last Hurricane. But, now pay attention because Gita, I need some serious help here. I have two of the fattest, cutest, groundhogs you could ever want to eat if you eat them, under my feed barn. They came here before we put property fence up and now they have holes dug under the new fence to go back and forth to and from the field. They were babies from last year I think. I am not sure if they are related (hmmmm) but I think they are about to become parents when the time comes. They love me. I am about to name them.
When I am working in the GH they are outside eating bird seed. Once they got in the greenhouse and ate all my baby hibiscus cuttings. That was when I decided they had to go. I am still trying to find a way to get them out and keep them out. trapping and moving just does not work....they have relatives taking over when they leave. There is very little about those little critters and how to remove them without shooting them. We have done that but we are much too close to other homes to use a rifle other than a 410 to shoot them. I have my 38 but that would blow them to pieces and I can not tell how far those shells will travel before them come down. Too dangerous yet I know I could hit them. I am just afraid of the bullets doing more damage to people and others to use that method.
Now that you know my problem. I am listening. LOL JB

Gita, I just spent over an hour reading the previous threads and other websites regarding vole control. Well, that was depressing! It seems there is no proven way to get rid of them.

I will get some ammonia and see if it helps with the cats. I'm thankful that I don't have groundhogs or moles.

How are you dealing with all the surface roots? My neighbor planted her trees right by the property line, so the roots are exactly where I want my flower beds.

Sally, it's been a fun learning experience, but when the voles started attacking, it really took the joy out of it.

We have had good luck using Bonide's Moletox II against voles. We had wondered what was getting at hostas and heucheras such that the top of the plant was barely in the ground. We find if the plants are mulched, we can normally see a hole nearby and put the pellets into it. Since we have a cat, poisoned rodents would not be good, but apparently this is ingested and the toxic gases created are what kill the vole. Hopefully it would work with the groundhogs, too. We get it at Southern States.

Can relate with the comment above about the voles taking the joy out of it. Deer, too. We use slightly different tactics on the deer.

BUMP!!!!

Please read "Palbob's" article published today--12-26-2011.

It is all on Rodents in your yard, a lot of helpful links and education as well.

Here is the link. Let's keep this going--OK?

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3476/

Gita

Gita, something is still digging at my azaleas! I thought it was voles, but now I'm thinking it's squirrels. I haven't seen any tunnels, and the dig holes are rather large. The delicate azalea roots are all exposed and I'm constantly covering them up with more soil. What the heck are they digging at! I've tried chili pepper and coffee, but they don't seem to care at all about that. I'm actually not doing anything to scare away the local feral cats anymore, because I want them to catch the squirrels. What's funny is that the cats are TERRIBLE hunters! It's hilarious watching them try to hunt. I think the cats would all starve to death without the cat lady in my neighborhood.

ssgardener---

PLEASE understand--that i am NOT an expert on ravenous Critters.....I have a few around--but as I live in a development--
the worst are squirrels and Chipmunks (cute!...) and the rare mouse that gets in my house....Trap--and GONE!

OK! Gonna try and guess what your issues are. Mind you--this will only be an educated guess.....
If the holes are large (how large???) maybe--3" or so---you may have Groundhogs.

Squirrels do not dig at shrub roots. They DO dig--but only in the insane habit of thinking that they
can find a buried nut or acorn somewhere....or they are burying one.
By instinct--squirrels bury everything (for future food), but can they ever find it again????
SO! They go digging all over your yard looking. Squirrels will dig in any fresh soil and bury anything they have.

I have had oak trees sprouting in planters...(acorns buried) and a lot of rotten peanuts-in-the-shell.
I have learned, at least here where I live--and in my yard---that IF I throw out peanuts in the shell, the squirrels
will eat the first one, but run around an bury the others. Because of that--IF I choose to throw out some peanuts--
I will un-shell them. Then they will eat them all.

NOW--the Chipmunks--don't seem to eat anything. They just stuff their cheeks and run off to their den and
save them all for posterity. Then they come back--stuff their cheeks again--and run off...etc..etc....etc...
You could sit outside and watch them for entertainment....

Seems you may have a bigger critter at work. I am thinking it may be Groundhogs. They can eat up all the roots
of any plant and kill it. They also dig holes under sheds and decks and landings to make their "homes"....

I had one--only once--under my front, concrete steps.
If you want to follow backwards, through all the "We came from here" links to part #1--you can read your heart out about all the
problems with Voles and Chipmunks. Just go to each previous Thread via the "we came from here" links.

Because of all the good advice on DG--I got rid of my ONLY Groundhog by stuffing Ammonia soaked rags into
the opening of the hole. Need to re-soak them about every 3 days though.....Used some Moth Balls as well...

IF you live in an open type of a garden--they can have MANY holes. One for entrance--and a couple to escape from.
Try to locate all the holes and treat them all. CO2 bombs work also. HD sells them. Just make sure you have all the holes "covered".....
One where you put in the bombs--and the other two to capture/trap them as they try to escape. Up to you!
You can also choose to kill them--or poison them. it is all up to you--how you feel about these kind of things.

You can always Google Groundhogs and see what you get. Google is priceless!

Anyone else want to chime in on this???? Seems we have all, already, covered this in past Threads....

Good luck--Gita

Gita, thank you for your suggestions! I didn't even consider about groundhogs! I'd assumed the holes were "acorn burial grounds" that the squirrels had made. I didn't realize squirrels wouldn't be digging at the roots.

What I need to do is take some good pictures to show you all, but I don't have access to a digital camera, and my phone camera takes terrible pictures. I've actually thought about taking my laptop out there, tilting it towards the garden beds and taking pictures! I'll borrow a camera and post the pics here.

A groundhog hole is a serious whopper hole/ burrow, with excavated dirt flung around it. That's the only digging I've seen from groundhogs.
Blood meal supposed to keep squirrels from digging too. And mothballs.
Voles don't expose roots, in my experience. They make neat round holes about the size of a quarter that go right into a tunnel underneath. They eat roots from underneath.

Gita ""Palbob's" article published today--12-26-2011" was the thing that made me decide to jump in and subscribe today. I am just grateful we don't have ground squirrels here!

Chipmunks are so cute but they are going to make my porch and sidewalk cave in if I don't do something about them. Groundhogs dug under a native persimmon until it fell over. Bunnies trim my asters every year until they get too tough...at least they are never tall enough to need stakes. Deers (I know not really a rodent, just playing one on TV), arggg, are just hungry, hungry hippos in disguise.

My new fence has chicken wire 18 inches underground and 18 inches above and inside that is 8 or 9 feet of deer fence. It is wonderful!

Hi Carla- you will not regret the subscription. Lots of info here . Palmbob is a wealth of information.

YEs fences make good neighbors... out of critters.

Carla--Welcome! Welcome!

I have to go to work--but I know i had this site saved.....Check it out and plan your strategy
for dealing with all kinds of pests later.

Talk to you more when i have time. Gita


http://www.ghorganics.com/page9.html

ssgardener, your holes could also be from rabbits. They DO dig holes for nests. Sometimes the holes are quite big. I have seen them around my azaleas. I am quite sure they belong to the rabbit as I frequently see rabbits in the area. They eat my young coleus, the pansy's and several other things. grrrr

coleuslover----

Rabbits usually just dig an indentation only a few inches deep for their nests. At least the ones i have seen.

Then they deposit their babies in there, cover them up with fur plucked from their body and leave them be.
They just stay huddled till mama comes to nurse them.

Last summer I went to water my roses and about 4-5 young-uns went scattering towards my neighbor's yard.
They were still small-like, maybe. 4" in size....
Gita

Two weeks ago I had a squirrel that fell into the furnace chimney , we have a trap at the bottom and it fell of course in the basement. It too us a week to trap it . We released it at the end of the street and I think that he was back in my yard before I was , since then the chimney has been capped. Here is a picture of one of the squirrels in my neck of the woods.

WOW never seen an albino!!

Here is one of my "regulars'--sitting and pondering HOW it could get up to my hanging feeder
(high up under my patio roof--they cannot!).
There are 3 squirrels running around here.
--One is a bit smaller--and fairly tame. It does not freak out if I am around
-One is very aggressive--and always chases the other ones away from food.
--The third one--I have no particular observation on...

This is the little guy....Not a good pic. Took it through my LR window on full zoom...
so a bit fuzzy.

The two buckets is where I store my bird-seed. He/she was sniffing around....
Gita

This from Craig's List, which I saw this morning. While it was too far away for a trip to be practical, I was curious about the (to me, at least) new technology, particularly since we continue to see vole holes in the garden.

First, the title:

Free craftsman edger and rodent mashing (Silver Spring Maryland)

Then the actual text:

I have a free craftsman edger/trimmer, 1 hp electrical for free. As well as some rodent fence mesh, I have two rolls that are great for putting on your Fenceline.

Saw my first rabbit this morning.....Kind of fat...maybe pregnant....

Will now have to start with the fencing and spraying...
they like to nibble on small bulb foliage and blooms.

No Chipmunks awake yet....I need a good, black snake around here....

Gita

LOL ecnalg!!!!! Maybe some slow rodents do get accidentally mashed during the edging!

Ever seen 'rot iron' on craigslist? THat very black heavy iron stuff like railings can be made of ?

Blackbirds, Robins and grackles are eating me out of house and home. Not the robins as much as the blue jays, sparrows, crows, cardinals....they love the bird seed. Then the yellow wing blackbirds were there this a.m. with the grackles.

Oh yes, my old barn cat that went missing a month ago came home yesterday....I saw him watching the birds this morning like he always did. I wish he could talk.
Have a good day and feed those birds.....hugs. JB

So glad your wayward cat came home. How good it must have made you feel to see him sitting out there.

Yes, Sally, rot iron and rod iron as well as dressers with draws and mirrows. I just wasn't thinking fast enough this morning to figure out the rodent mystery without clicking on it.

Too bad, JB, that your cat doesn't have a little black box with last month's history on it, but cool that he is back home again.

Our birds are really going at the suet now. Three blue birds at once earlier this week.

I would love to have bluebirds.....they are so beautiful and I have never seen one here in my area. Same with hummingbirds, I have maybe one that comes in the summer and that is all. We just do not have the blooms they like I guess. What do bluebirds eat? I wish you could order birds like you can lady bugs etc. LOL I am such an old nut. Good nite. JB

JB--

I have NEVER seen a Blue Bird either. Also--I have, extremely seldom, seen a Hummer in my yard.
Same problem--I just don't have the flowers that attract them--ot if i do--they are too far from my house to see the Hummers!!
Must work on that!

Gita

Bluebirds like open meadows where they can swoop. See if you have a local park that does a bluebird house trail- thats your best bet. Suburban trash birds like house wrens are terrible predators to bluebrds, hog the nesting sites and even remove bluebirds eggs!

The bluebirds were a rare treat for us, just within the past 2 weeks. They were on the suet feeder and on the same days, we were also visited by some type of wren, which was also unusual. We are in the woods, so bluebirds usually are not in the yard.

I have no house wrens either. I have some little birds that might be considered wrens but I have not identified them as such. Anyhow, they live in the pussy willows and are here all year. I thought they were some sort of sparrow. Whatever???

I have lilacs and that is about it when it comes to what hummers like. I keep my red mandevillea on the deck in the summer and that is when I see the one hummer I have.
She or he comes and hangs out on the red flowers and then goes away and I never see them again.

Barn Swallows are due here anytime the middle of this month. I hate them. They crap all over my vehicles and you must wash the seats before you can use any of them. My gold cart and tractor mower are in my end of the barn and they love it there, even with the cats. They attack the cats when they have babies...they swoop down and hit those cats right on the heads. It is funny to watch.

Hope you all are safe from the winds and rain we may get. Here we are not expected to get much of anything thank God. Not up to chasing furniture, etc. The wind has been so bad this past few weeks I was beginning to think we would have a summer of just wind and rain.........no sun. Wouldn't you know when I put the shade cloth on the Greenhosue, the sun went in.

The butterflies are another thing I would love to attract but they are like hummers I guess.

Last night something ate the cat food but in place of the cat food they left me a chunk of sterofoam. What would that be? Also a few stones were in the cat dish. Do coons trade like that?

Last night something ate the cat food but in place of the cat food they left me a chunk of sterofoam. What would that be? Also a few stones were in the cat dish
How odd!!

Today I looked out the window and there was a big tom turkey walking up and down the fence....too stupid to fly over it. Wild bird but bigger than all get out. He must have lost his mate because he was really trying to figure out how to get over that fence. LOL.

I planted some new peonies last fall. Dug a great hole for each, amended the soil, put them in, covered them with dirt and on top went the black landscape fabric. Then a VERY thick layer of lunch. Well, some doggone THING started pulling up the black paper! It was in little, 3" pieces all over the yard. Not acceptable. Nope. Got some chicken wire, covered each peony site with it, and used those neat wire "staples" that you use with the landscape fabric.

I have gorgeous peonies rising right up and through that chicken wire, and they have buds! Oh! Glorious day! I think I am just going to keep that chicken wire in place and check regularly for strangulation problems. But I really don't anticipate any.

Well, I am happy to report this to you! And I am so proud to finally have MY OWN peonies!

YAY!