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lcadena

Squirrel Solution

lcadena
10 years ago

About a month ago, I posted regarding a possible squirrel solution. They were digging in my succulent plants. I tried chili powder and black pepper which worked for about a week. Not in character for us here in sunny CA, it has rained about four times. Anyways, to make a long story longer, I finally figured out about a week ago, the squirrels leave the cactus plants alone. So, I have started putting thorny cacti in all my pots. Luckily, here, I think both succulents and cacti need about the same amount of water so I hope all ends well. I am not going to cater to them by leaving out water or nuts. We are over-run as it is now. Any other suggestions?

Comments (11)

  • 0nametaken0
    10 years ago

    I hate squeeks. Sorry no solution but I wanted to share a tl;dr version. I live in an apartment on the 9th floor. The squeeks used to climb the entire building and during spring and fall they use to bite through our balcony netting and come indoors for nuts and stuff. They also dug out my plants. I once found an entire nut bar, in its packaging, at the bottom of my plant vase. We tried chilli powder mix and it worked. Later on I believe our building management installed a barrier on the lower part of the building. Good riddance.

    I wish you best of luck, must be really annoying. Unless you get an owl as a pet :)

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    Plastic forks stuck in pots, handle-first with tines sticking up slightly. The clear ones 'look' better but don't tend to be as sharp as the cheaper white ones.

  • dirt_farmer
    10 years ago

    Hi,

    I know this sounds a little off the wall.
    Squirrels love cucumbers. They bring them back to there nest to get the water out of them for the baby squirrels.
    If you grow a patch of cucumbers close by they will get interested in them instead. Or if you have a supply of cheap cucumbers you can get , that will work too. They are looking for things that have water in them to bring back to their nest.
    Succulents have water in them , sooooo,,,you will need to share the blame with them, maybe. hope this helps :)

  • lcadena
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks for all the input. Didn't know about cucumbers, but I will try them. I don't have a place I can plant them but I'll buy some from the store. I live in an old established area in the city. In the past month, at night while sitting on my stoop, I have seen: 2 coyotes, a large family of raccoons, a skunk, a million squirrels, a hawk and I hear the owls. I guess it's because we have so many trees and the climate is mild. However, the coyotes running down the middle of the street, were the most surprising of all.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    That's true, a lot of squirrel damage is attributed to thirst, like taking one bite out of a not-yet-ripe tomato. A small dish of water could help too. I keep several dishes around the yard for squirrels or anoles, frogs, birds, whoever might be thirsty. Just change them more than once per week to prevent breeding mosquitoes.

  • hanzrobo
    10 years ago

    I found an even better solution...

    Here is a link that might be useful:

  • wantonamara Z8 CenTex
    10 years ago

    Hahahahaha , backwards flying squirrel. good one. It warms the cockles of my hateful heart.

  • hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
    10 years ago

    BWHAA HAA HAA! Oh lordy hanzrobo, that's a good one. Now, how do I make one of those?

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    Look closely, you have to be ready to cut the cord (or apply more engineering for an automated launch system.)

    I admit, that made me laugh, but I don't have that much trouble with them. I absolutely love watching them play, at least until the explosion of stray cats chased most of them away this summer. Gotta ask DH if he'll make a cat launcher on the front porch furniture. Can't sit on it anyway, all covered with fur - gross!

  • camellia1_gw
    10 years ago

    Yeah, I had seen that and wondered if the squirrel was trained to come that close to a human even though there was glass between them before he/she used the scissors to cut the chord.

  • hanzrobo
    10 years ago

    Hahaha, I'm glad you guys liked it, came across that randomly yesterday and remembered this thread. I don't actually have much of a squirrel problem since I got the plastic owl. They've been known to stash walnuts in my pots, walnuts which then begin to sprout. It was confusing at first, a very sturdy little volunteer that was not a succulent and not a weed. There were 2 of them in separate pots. I finally dumped the whole thing out and found the walnut. I knew that the squirrels had been messing around in my shelves, knocking leaves off, disturbing top dressing, spilling a pot here and there but it wasn't until that moment that I figured out exactly what they'd been doing!... Planting walnut trees! Silly squirrel, that pot is way too small.

    I meant to grow one but never got around to potting them up.

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