Squirrel murder?

[Madasafish]

Bait with peanuts.

I take a pair of thick gloves, take one coarse weave plastic sack with small, holes, open trap whilst placing sack over entrance (not that difficult but 2 may be needed if you are squeamish or scared of being bitten), invert trap so squirrel goes into sack. Close sack and place in barrel of water/bucket/sink etc and push underwater.
Squirrel drowns in 3-4 minutes...

Mess free. No blood.

[FB.]

I'm sure some on the Vine won't approve, but my mum is a crack shot with the air rifle and has dispatched countless grey squirrels. They keep coming so there's no worries about killing off the local population.

Those "cute fluffy little animals" are deceiving.
Squirrels and rabbits are very damaging and their numbers need controlling.

Shoot them is what I would (and do) do, to deal with a troublesome pest.
I also deal with pests for a few farmers/smallholders, so I have a few high-end air rifles that would make a quick job of a squirrel, rabbit or other small vermin.
A clean shot straight through the brain leaves very little mess.
They can also make a useful meal, which, if shot through the brain, leaves the meat free from lead shot.

If bramblekiller was nearer to me, I'd gladly drop in for a couple of hours and deal with the problem.

[di]

Supposedly make good eating as well Ollie!

Daisy(DD)is still desperate to try them...a friend has promised when(and IF)he ever manages to get one he'll let us have it....no worries about not being much meat on just the one,I think Daisy's the only one that'll be eating it
(she's even found me a recipe!)

[Bramble_killer]

If bramblekiller was nearer to me, I'd gladly drop in for a couple of hours and deal with the problem.

I'd pay for you to kill some squirrels?

The more I think about it, the more squeamish I get (which is even less understandable if people knew what I do for a job!!!)

[chris]

I feel the same way about the cats around here grr!!!

[frogga]

I shoot rabbits and squirrels in our garden, there were a few baby rabbits around last week, but traps and a rifle soon sorts them out, just got to get the pidgeons now as the brassicas are planted!

[janeyo]

It's a good idea Sarz, but in our garden, they ate some, then took the rest of the nuts/food etc. and used our pots and soil to bury it all in! I was forever finding little squirrel larders where our seedlings used to be.

As your plants get bigger and stronger, the damage won't be be so bad. We found that once things got bigger and greener, it put them off a bit.

They used to drive me mad!

Don't you mean it used to drive you NUTS
lol

[di]

Daisy(DD)is still desperate to try them...a friend has promised when(and IF)he ever manages to get one he'll let us have it....no worries about not being much meat on just the one,I think Daisy's the only one that'll be eating it
(she's even found me a recipe!)

Tonight.....

[lindyloo]

oh-- please dont shoot the squirells, as someone suggested- they are just living thier lives. i think, either feed them so they leave the plants alone, or humanely trap them and move them on ( even if they are grey- no need to be racist to little grey squirrels- they didnt choose to live here- they got brought in)

[murphy99]

I believe, but could be wrong, but if they are grey squirrels and you catch them you have to kill them! you are not allowed to release them elsewhere and you would be breaking the law by doing so. Brown ones are protected though! Sorry !

We have a few in our garden , they take a few strawberries which I haven't covered and try to get under the nets of covered things but they haven't destroyed anything ... touch wood. I think it maybe because there is plenty of other food so what they do take is not their whole source of food.

putting a grid over the pots does stop them burying stuff... old hanging baskets, baskets from old fridges work too, anything that has enough space for the plants to come through and not enough for them to get into.

I watched a blackbird chase a squirrel from my garden this afternoon. the squirrel was sitting on the wall and the bird dive bombed him Then again he was probably after my strawberries too

[TEB]

I've had squirrels scrabbling around my pots and they've been disturbing pots where I've started some early spinach, some beetroot, and they've chomped some of the tulips they've I've planted late.

They've also been messing with the new blueberries. Before I go out and snap some necks, can anyone tell me how to get tell the squirrels politely not to dig things up that are planted?

Move to cornwall - they are going to poison all of theirs and reintroduce the red

[PAULW]

The forestry commission used to use a warfarin bait to control squirrels

[Scarlet]

My OH shot one yesterday – I love to see them in the garden but they have started using our house as a hotel and their number are increasing at an alarming rate. We have filled in all holes so that they can’t get into the roof space several times but by the following morning they have manged to dig it out again. We tried the trap but they haven't gone near it - any tips?

I think poison might be the way to go...

[di]

Tips...?
I can now recomend cut into slithers,coat with flour,dip in egg and coat again with flour...then fry in hot oil for about five mins (the recipe I found suggested adding various spices but as DD is a little fussy I just used flour and a little salt)

Personally,I think shooting is far more humane than poison.
Also if you do poison you obviously wouldn't be able to eat the meat.

[WrexTheDragon]

I love to see them in the garden but they have started using our house as a hotel and their number are increasing at an alarming rate. We have filled in all holes so that they can’t get into the roof space several times but by the following morning they have manged to dig it out again. We tried the trap but they haven't gone near it - any tips?

I think poison might be the way to go...

This is why they are called "Roof Rats" in these parts.

Poisons are not nice, despatch with an air rifle.