Garden Crabs Wage War On Squirrels!

judsoncarroll4
judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin
edited November 2020 in Pest & Weed Problems/Solutions

Garden Crabs Wage War On Squirrels!

Meet my Garden Crabs, Corona and Covid - they work 24/7 in the battle against squirrels and other critters... and they work for free!

The next day, after planting the back garden bed, it was invaded by squirrels. Fortunately, a passing train awoke me around 5:30 AM and I got on up to get an early start on the next garden bed. As I sipped my coffee and looked out side, two squirrels were in the garden area, digging up seeds!!!!!!!!! So, I did what any man would do... run outside shirtless and barefoot, cussing the squirrels and waving my arms like a lunatic.... then hopping around and cussing all the more vehemently because I stepped on a pinecone.

The squirrels retreated to a safe distance to watch for me to go away, so they could return to feasting on fresh garden seeds. I ate breakfast on the back porch, searching the internet for squirrel deterrents while I guarded the garden. Obviously, I wanted to shoot or trap them... and utilize their delicious meat in my vast repertoire of game recipes. But, the situation with the virus has not yet worsened to the point that my temporary neighbors would turn a blind eye to my hillbilly ways.

Among the answers I found online, several were doable. Squirrels are said to dislike the scent of coffee, hot chili peppers and urine. Deer are also said to be deterred by hot peppers and male, human urine. So, obviously, my first step was to pee.... in a container since I'm in a densely populated neighborhood with no privacy. For the life of me, I cannot understand why anyone would want to live where they can't pee in their own backyard without someone calling the police! Then, I began sprinkling used coffee grounds over the garden. As a bonus, both coffee grounds and urine are nitrogen rich natural fertilizers. Finally, I sprinkled crushed, red pepper flakes all over the garden.

An element, though, was still missing. I needed a "wildlife predator decoy" to scare them off when the scents may not be stronger than their appetites. I looked all around the house and spotted two horseshoe crab shells I had brought back from my disastrous beach trip last fall (see previous post "Sometimes They Are Out To Get You"), and thought, "If I saw one of those glaring at me, and didn't know what it was, I'd sure run!" Hence, my "kung-flu crabs" were thus christened Corona and Clovid (to make them extra scary) - God provides in mysterious ways!

The crabs went into the garden and the squirrels ran off.. so did the crows. The squirrels are still in the yard, but they stay several yards from the garden beds and eye the crabs suspiciously. I move the crab shells around every day or so to keep the squirrels on their toes... squirrels are nearly as aware of changes and obsessive as guinea fowl... they know when something has been moved!

Well, so far, so good!

https://permaculturecooking.blogspot.com/

Comments

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @judsoncarroll4

    LOL ROF

    they sure are cute little things...and pests

    Thanks for posting.... an enhanced mental health day experience...ie, a great pick me up mood!

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin

    I thought it was a good time to be a little light hearted!

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @judsoncarroll4

    Try to give up an update in pix if poss on your bucket garden.

    'Air pruning' is an interesting concept I'm working on in my garden with $1, about 3 gallons ?? each, laundry baskets. I will try to figure out how to post pix to the group, when gardening tasks allow so any interested can watch my progress.

    Watch for info and vid's coming in a few min on the how and why to air prune.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2020

    @judsoncarroll4

    Yes. The laundry baskets I am using have many rectangles, I'm guessing maybe 2" by 4" holes, more holes than solid parts for many oportunities for air pruning. I lined them with the cheaper, black garden fabric from the dollar store. Have never tried it before but since I learned about this method about 3 years ago I have seen and read many results that demonstrate excellent improvement in plant health and vitality. That's why I would like to post my results as I take pix over the season.

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Squirrels have been my biggest problem since I moved to Idaho. The first day after moving in, I heard what I thought was someone banging on the badk door to get in. Kind of scared me, but no one was there, and the gate was closed. A few hours later, I heard a great commotion again, and decided to run out the front door to confront the rude person. As I cleared the corner (fully dressed LOL) I saw a big squirrel jump over the railing and go up a tree. The stupid squirrel had chewed a big chunk of wood from the bottom of the screen door! It took several days of chasing him (obviously a male - squirrels have large testicles for their size), but he finally gave up trying to come in the back door.

    That winter, we got lots of snow. Lots of snow. One day I heard furious scratching from inside the old and unused flue. It continued for hours. The stupid rodent could not get out of the chimney! Finally, it started to make a hole inside the house! I did not want a squirrel loose in the living room. The landlord had to climb on the roof with 5 feet of snow on the ground and drop a long rope to let the animal climb out. Then they covered the top of the old chimney with hardware cloth to keep critters out.

    And last summer, when a strong storm dropped a power line on the shed, Idaho Power said the squirrels had been chewing on the lines, causing extra problems for them when they repaired the storm damage.

    But, like @judsoncarroll4 I can't shoot them inside city limits. I ate a lot of squirrels when I was a kid. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin

    One thing you can probably do is trap them. You can either get like real professional traps or snares, depending on your state regs… (check squirrel boxes that use body grip traps) or do what I do... Big Victor rate traps baited with peanut butter and sunflower seeds. Because the base is wood, you can drill a hole in it and screw it u wherever they are likely to be... on limbs, fences, in the attic (in my case). Be sure to put the bait mostly on the underside of the trigger. The traps cost about $1 each, so I set a lot, anywhere I think they might be (when I am home), at night, then check the traps while it is still chilly in the morning to harvest fresh meat.

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @judsoncarroll4 Awesome info. I think the situation is made way worse because the woman across the street feeds them. She even called the police when one got hit by a car in the street. She was mad because the driver didn't stop to take it to the vet!

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin
    edited March 2020

    You can't fix stupid. Speaking of which, did you hear the clip of the call in news show when the woman called to complain that the deer crossing signs were all in the wrong places... she believed that it was very unfair to tell the deer that they should cross the road there, where they might get hit.... seriously!

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @judsoncarroll4 Yes! The funniest thing is that she seems absolutely serious. Every time I see a deer crossing sign now I start to laugh.

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin

    uh oh... the US just hit 83,500+ cases of the virus... putting us in "1st place"... if you could trust China... which, you can't. Things are about to get weird.

  • cre8tiv369
    cre8tiv369 Posts: 67 ✭✭✭

    If you live in an urban area, I do not recommend trying to eat squirrels nor any game animals. Rat poison doesn’t kill them, and they can and do eat it as often as they find it. And there is no telling what they might be eating out of trash or what kind of toxic junk they are chewing to keep their teeth sharp. Kill them or live trap them and relocate them far far away (near someone obnoxious if possible)... Those squirrels are just lulling you into a false sense of security and your horseshoe crabs are not going to stand in the way of them feasting on your garden once it hits its peak.

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin
  • tomandcara
    tomandcara Posts: 712 ✭✭✭✭

    We have a cat that has been very helpful in controlling a bit of our squirrel problem. He is a great hunter, eats what he kills and is very loving to us and other people.

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin

    I would like to have a cat. But, we have a ton of foxes around here and some coyotes. Folks who have cats here only let them out during the day. My allergies won't let me have a cat inside.

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin

    If the squirrels become a problem again, I'll trap them.

  • tomandcara
    tomandcara Posts: 712 ✭✭✭✭

    @judsoncarroll4 We also have foxes and coyotes, but we can have our cat inside at night so the hunter doesn't become the prey. I am glad you aren't feeding the coyotes and foxes kitties for dinner.