We had a squirrel like that at our old house. It would taunt the dog all day long. I hated that little bugger!
He never ate my rosebuds but he would bury the pecans he picked in every pot I had. They would even thrown the flowers out of the pots sometimes but I don't remember them ever bothering the roses.

I've had squirrels eat a rose bud before, nothing regular, but the occasional bud they can reach.

...if only we could understand (translate) what the squirrels are saying when they are teasing and scolding our dogs.

I had whole rose buds disappear year on young roses and I finally determined it was a fat leopard slug. Sometimes he eats half a bud. he is swimming in the county pipes now.

I've never seen a squirrel bother a rose bush-- other than to escape the neighbors cat by blazing a path through the rose bed-- and, in hot pursuit, the cat ends up getting hooked on the roses and tearing off branches. Leaving behind tufts of hair. I can't really blame that on the squirrel tho....:-)
Same with the hummingbirds- when the neighbors cat tears my clematis off the trellis trying to blaze up the vine to get the hummer. Or the cat destroys the monarda by making a bed in the middle of the clump so he can make a sneek attack from within! (I really do love cats- but sometimes when I garden I hear Ralph from the honeymooners in my head saying "one of these days... to the moon, alice!)

Your squirrel feeder sounds like lots of entertainment for the people watching the clever squirrels.

They are dastardly creatures in my garden. They chew off new growth and basal breaks when they get about 10" tall - every single one. Recently I've stacked twigs around the the new cane, but today I just noticed that it only delayed the chewing. SDLM's new cane was chewed off at 12". Fortunately, I'm finding that at least in Vanity's case, the rose responds by sprouting twice at the tip. The squirrels ravage my climbers, getting every single new cane. I put bird netting in the climbers in an effort to block access. I don't know if they eat the new growth. Once my DIL watched a squirrel run along the top of the fence with a Louis Philippe flower in its mouth. I found it several feet away. I have a dozen oaks in my small backyard and 3 in the front. They don't mess with anything in the front. Although when I had a climber next to a tree there, they chewed off every bit of new growth. I finally moved it. I've tried to figure a way to electrify the fence and the trees, but DH says the squirrel would have to have one foot on the ground while it touched the wire. Not too likely. I've put out peanut butter bonbons laced with plaster of paris (recipe found on internet). I guess they enjoyed the treat. I haven't tried the bobcat/coyote urine. It's expensive and has to be reapplied after rain - not too cool with our summer rains. We've had a thousand dollars worth of damage to DH's truck A/C and ignition systems. So yes, they will damage your roses. I got my neighbor to take down her bird feeders. All they did was attract squirrels. Neighbors have cut down 3 trees because the squirrels were chewing on their skylights.

I have 2 Hav-A-Heart traps that I got for armadillos. Didn't catch any dillos but got 2 squirrels. I think I'll bait them and put them out. I just don't know what to do with them after they're caught. I get squeemish about killing them so I let them starve to death as a warning to the rest of their evil friends. DH bought a pellet gun. Can't hit the broad side of a barn, but maybe I can hit one in the trap. Ewww.

I hate them!!!!!!!!!!!

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

Several people on the antique board have serious issues with squirrels eating buds, flowers, and even basals. I have a friend who has a motorized bird feeder. When something as heavy as a squirrel gets on it, it activates the motor and it starts whirling around and around. I have never laughed so hard watcing those squirrels trying to hang on by their toenails before getting flipped off the feeder with their tails flying in the breeze.

There is actually a bird feeder made where part is metal and the squirrel completes the electric circuit, but birds aren't large enough to do touch both the metal and stand on the feeder bar.
I've heard people douse the birdseeds with hot pepper, I heard that the birds don't react to the capsaicin but the squirrels do.
I am hoping they don't eat the roses, but if they do, it's war. I can spray the roses with cayenne tea. But there are lots of oaks in the area and zillions of squirrels.
If they would just leave the garden alone, they are actually sort of appealling sometimes, especially when the dogs get all stirred up and the squirrels appear to know that they are the cause.

Squirrels are destructive and will chew and/or eat anything they think might be a meal. They snip off buds and then leave them laying on the ground...ARRGH! They steal rose hips from carefully made crosses and generally dig around everywhere making a mess. They are a nuisance!

I don't have a squirrel problem, but I do have a deer problem at times (as do many others), and what works pretty well for me, and might work on rose chewing squirrels, is to use what I call cat pee balls. If you own a cat and use the clumping litter, gather the clumped pee balls (gloves recommended--ha), placing them in light weight, cheap plastic bowls. Use male clumps, if possible. Place the bowls in the rose bushes. They will stay quite well unless there is high wind. Of course, we have little rain here, so I rarely have to worry about that. It shouldn't take long to learn if squirrels are sensitive to cat urine odors, which should be similar to cougar and bobcat.
I have problems with quail making their dust "bowls" around the crowns and roots of certain roses they seem to fixate on. I make crisscrosses on the ground with bamboo stakes, and this seems to deter the quail. I wonder if this would work better than your twigs, Sherry. I hope some of these suggestions are effective against the depredations of dastardly squirrels! Diane

Hmmm. Maybe the fact the neighbor's cats use my garden as a toilet has an upside?
I know I never lose any cherries or fruit to birds- so they have been helpful that way- perhaps they are saving my roses from the squirrels?

This post was edited by lola-lemon on Thu, Feb 28, 13 at 19:38

I think I kind of have the same situation as you, Lola. I NEVER see squirrels in my yard and I know they're all over the place here! I really think its because I have quite a few dogs and the squirrels "catch the scent" of the dogs.

On the other hand, I wish the rabbits would take the hint! Last year one of my labs killed an entire family of them which was upsetting. Plus, they do so much damage to my younger/smaller roses. Just the other day, I noticed that my Jeanne LaJoie (which I'm trying to get to climb up an iron pillar was chewed to the ground! It was new last year, but had put out some pretty long canes :(

oh, and don't get me started on the moles!!!

Birds I'm good with...I like birds :o)
Tammy

We had a squirrel problem here years ago. They dug in pots, managed to get the lids off horse feed containers even when they were bungee corded and gorged themselves on sweet feed. They once chewed a hole in a huge $60 container of Weedmaster which all leaked out. Chewed holes in screens and on and on. Then we got Sadie. She stalked them, killed them and ate their heads (disgusting, I know). We never saw squirrels except in the oaks along the creek after that. We lost Sadie to cancer two years ago, but the squirrels haven't figured it out yet, thank the gods that be.

We had a squirrel problem here years ago. They dug in pots, managed to get the lids off horse feed containers even when they were bungee corded and gorged themselves on sweet feed. They once chewed a hole in a huge $60 container of Weedmaster which all leaked out. Chewed holes in screens and on and on. Then we got Sadie. She stalked them, killed them and ate their heads (disgusting, I know). We never saw squirrels except in the oaks along the creek after that. We lost Sadie to cancer two years ago, but the squirrels haven't figured it out yet, thank the gods that be.

HAD a squirrel problem a couple of yrs ago. Started feeding the feral cats in my neighborhood and the squirrels now stay a long ways away from my property. Works like a charm :)

I quit growing strawberries because of those damn tree rats. Almost every strawberry had a bite in it. I know which squirrel it was too, he had no fear of me and we often got into stand-offs. Well I finally won the war because we just cut down his home tree to make way for a pool and I haven't seen him since.

I've never had the squirrels eat any rose buds, thank heavens! I put bird seed and peanuts out, so they get plenty to eat. But we also have an oak tree, black walnut trees and Ponderosa pines, and they make huge messes with the nuts. They sit up in the pine trees and eat the pine nuts and chuck the pine cone pieces down at me when I'm out working in the yard. They've actually dropped big pieces and whole pine cones down and hit me in the head from 40-70ft up! Doesn't feel so good. They dig in my potted roses and bury the walnuts and acorns. They're so dumb tho, they keep going back and digging them up and replanting them over and over. In the fall, they dug up the same little rose seedling in a one gallon pot every day for about three weeks straight. I'd replant it and next day it'd be laying outside the pot again. I was about ready to kill them. But I don't like doing that. I actually have a worse problem with the deer. Them I'd love to kill!! I'd hang their heads in the trees as a deterrent if I had my way!! LOL Diane, I like your idea about using the cat litter pee clumps. Might have to try that! I know my sister used to dump it down the gopher holes.

Funny ...

I can put up a single post about spraying roses/insecticide/fungicide and the environmentalists will come out in droves on this forum.

Yet here, we get descriptions of shooting squirrels, trapping and starving them, cutting down their trees, dogs and cats beheading them and eating them ... no one complains.

LOL, Tom, PETA would probably get excited but not a gardener if it's a varmint destroying their garden. But then, a dead squirrel isn't doing terrible ecological damage to the earth, destroying our lungs or causing cancer.

Hmmmmm....

I've been accused of having Stalinistic tendencies, but so far have managed to refrain from mass murder of squirrels. After they dug up all our newly-planted Caladiums at our old house - each bulb TWICE - I researched ways to kill. Initially, I very briefly put tasty boxes of rat poison in the crotches of trees where I could see squirrel nests, and at the entrance to a place on our old home's loggia roof where they were nesting. Neighbors were finding dead squirrels all over the place, and knowing my reputation as a dragon lady politely (voices in-tremolo) inquired whether I had 'done anything', "....you know... about the squirrels?" Well, I realized I could be poisoning my beloved Bluebirds and Woodpeckers, and so quickly gathered-up the rat poison. No dead birds were found, but many big dead squirrels... And anyway, Mockingbirds started nesting in the Cherokee Roses I planted, and so the Bluebirds disappeared anyway, since the Mockingbirds were eating their babies.

Online, I found instructions for making SQUIRREL POLES... poles with fishing line nooses tied along their length. Lean against tree... bait with peanut butter... Squirrels will apparently hang themselves. I imagined finding a flailing squirrel on the pole, and going next door to visit Fluffy the Yappy Poodle, whose greatest dream (judging from his incessant yapping at them) was to catch a squirrel. I'd hang the squirrel pole over the fence... finally within reach of Fluffy, and say "Here, honey! Knock yourself out! When you're finished with this one, I'll bring ya some more."

Okay.... But this was after the Gena Six Grievance Industry Circus, and so leaving nooses tied under trees was not cool, even if I'm only borderline-white at best. I'd have been on the news as that mean white lady with a hundred nooses under her oak tree, who traumatized the Meter Reader, whose memories of being a slave in Antebellum Times were triggered by those hundred tiny fishing line nooses. Protestations on my part that I only had the pole with the nooses because I wanted to strangulate squirrels would probably not have helped matters. I could envision news crew vans messing up my Zoysia lawn, selling an office park to pay legal teams, and fleeing to some sweltering heckhole of a country from which I could not be extradited.

Soooo.... I opted for something I'd seen used on Canadian Geese: MOCK PREDATION. I'd rush out of the house, clapping my hands, or growling and snarling like a Bobcat, and look up into the trees, in the same way that troops of Chimpanzees do, when they're stalking monkeys. The squirrel would move the far side of the tree: I'd move to that side. He'd peek at me, and I'd snarl. Started saving those free newspapers that land in the driveway, got them good and wet, and would throw them up into the trees. And I'd beat on the trees, to make the Squirrel feel the tiny shocks... and think something was climbing the tree after him. If you can keep that up until the squirrel flees in terror (the Alpha squirrel will be barking as he does this), then they will definitely remember.

Got to the point where the first flash of my white Lexus SUV coming down the street would send the squirrels fleeing. Then any Lexus (they have a distinctive non-sound), and finally any white car would panic them. Finally, they gave up on my yard. The surgeons who bought the house said the property stayed squirrel-free for a year or two after we left.

.

Gee, Plan9, you have some rough solutions for those pests! I have a .410 solution but can't use it here in the city, but some braised squirrel stew would be yummy.

I've never had a problem with them eating plants or roses in my yard, but if that's something they're known to do, I don't know why. My neighbors have 2 large pecan trees, and they're always burying pecans in my garden. And getting into my bird feeders. They're very clever when it comes to getting into bird feeders.

I have 3 dogs who spend a bit of time in my yard, and there's a feral cat that sleeps under my shed, maybe that's why they don't spend a lot of time in the yard?

fat squirrels = dinner

Many years ago, I had this friend who had a boyfriend that shot and ate squirrels and pigeons. I only opened the refrigerator at their house one time, finding a line of dead squirrels just sitting on the shelf (no seran wrap, no plate, not cleaned, nothing). I politely rejected many dinner invitations after that. Ewwwww....

Has anyone here actually eaten squirrel? How is it?
Shrimp are strange looking creatures but they are (to me) tasty. People eat some strange stuff, but not all of it is bad.

My first husband was a hunter, and we had squirrel. I refused to cook it though, so he did the cooking. It was tasty.

Um, yep, you hit the nail on the head there, Harmony - they are a bit on the small side so you need at least a couple of squirrels and even more pigeon (yum, pigeon breast is delicious although I would balk at a nasty feral urban pigeon).
Years ago, we kept running dogs (lurchers) who regularly caught rabbits and hare (which we ate). Then there were the chickens........In truth, I find it hard to square the idea of eating meat without at least some consideration of what it is and where it comes from - I suspect there would be a serious increase in vegetarianism if people had to kill and butcher their own meat. I would certainly struggle to do the deed with an animal I had nurtured (whereas a squirrel, or rabbit, if it wasn't MY squirrel or rabbit.......) And, unlike english beefburgers, you would at least be clear about provenance!

They would be SO cute but for the DAMAGE they do - Can't stay away from the house, so, I started shooting them - Now, they stay away from the house.

Here is a site that describes squirrels as one of mankinds 'greatest gifts'
You can find anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant......

Here is a link that might be useful: Squirrel Pie

If I had to kill everything I ate, for sure I would be vegetarian. We raise cattle, but I sell them to my neighbor to add to his herd rather than eating them. I had hundreds of chickens but couldn't eat them either. The eggs were lovely, though. Huge, rich, rich yokes that made the most amazing quiche. Nothing like grocery store eggs.

Oh, my word.

I clicked on the gallery tab of the "squirrel pie" link.
I wish I would not have done that.
Not what I expected in the least.

Urp.

Mericat,
I did not check out the gallery prior to linking, I should have, my apologies.

All I saw was a recipe. What did I miss??? I'm dying of curiosity now. Diane

Lucille, I grew up hunting and shot my first squirrel when I was 9. Mama would braise them and make a sort of stew out of them, cut into pieces, of course. They were really good. I can't shoot any of them in my yard, of course, and don't have anywhere to hunt any more, or I'd still be eating them.

A friend asked me recently what a group of squirrels is called, like, you know, a herd of cattle, flock of geese.... I thought about it a minute, and said, "close grouped target".

Elizabeth

Hmmmm, speedily distancing myself from yahoos dressing in camouflage and yomping round the woods on a squirrel hunt - for sure, I am not above killing and eating my own tucker but not in some quasi-military stylee manly testosterone fuelled ego-drive (think I have made that pretty clear).

Dead squirrels, Diane. I remember one time when my niece was about four, we were walking in my mother's garden. My mother said, oh, look, Summer, there's a poor little dead squirrel. Summer replies, so what, Grammy, there's lots of squirrels in the world. At the time, I thought it rather cold hearted and was shocked hearing that from a toddler, but since I've become a gardener, I'm afraid I have to agree with her. I think they are as cute as they can be, and I once bottle raised two whose mother had been killed. I just don't want them in my yard tearing up my garden and eating my horse feed. As much as I detest squirrels, though, armadillos are the bane of my existence. They do ten times the damage the squirrels do in my yard.

I avoid armadillos too, I have heard that they can transmit leprosy.

Lucille, they do carry the virus or whatever it is, and back when people used to trap them, hunt them and eat them there were supposed to have been a few transmissions to humans. I understand there's been no transmission to humans in recent times.

Wait. Can we rewind this discussion?

A Leopard slug? Really?

I thought they only ate rotting debris, as well as other slugs. In other words, they are good slugs. They love the compost areas and work damn hard over there, and I have never seen them eating any living tissue off my plants. I have seen them eating other slugs, the kind I do see eating green leaves on my plants. I have some self sowing seed plants in my garden as well as tender lettuces we grew last year. I have seen none of these disturbed by the Leopard slugs. And actually, I think our bad slug population may be down.

Are you sure a Leopard slug was the culprit?

I've spent tons of time watching and photographing them during the night. I think they are so cool looking. I love the leopard slugs and they are welcome in my garden. I encourage them by keeping pockets of dried leaves packed down in corners against the stone walls they like to hide in. I had them in my last garden several blocks over and at my studio space pot garden, but not here until about four years ago. I was glad when they finally showed up.

Right, I know… I get the grossed out looking at rows of dead squirrels but go out of my way to photograph the Leopard slugs in the garden in the middle of the night. At least the leopard slugs are alive for their photo shoots. :)

And no worries about the link Lucille! I'm a big girl and the web is full of all kinds of weird, wonderful and creepy things. We are all responsible for our own clicking! :)

For the record, I've been a serious vegetarian since around 1984 or so, so I spend very little time looking at dead things, either in the back of a truck like the pictures or at the grocery store. I'm not sure where I thought the "gallery" tab would lead me. Not there, though! Poor little squirrels. I can't even kill the white slugs I pick of my plants. I gather them in a tupperware and put them next door in the wooded yard of the neighbor or in the hellstrip by the road. A bit nutty, maybe, but I like to feel I still fit in on this board, none the less.

Well, I didn't get up in the night to see. ;-)
They are fascinating creatures and I used to leave them alone... I thought it was pretty cool how they would forage at night and then find their way back to their one personal hidey hole each morning.
I also hoped they would cannibalize on the little slugs....

I think I ended up with quite a population of them and then I started noticing buds missing. Some buds were scooped in half in a very smooth way(toothless). A couple of bands seemed to be growing in reverse. I could not figure out what was doing it, until reading that these slugs like young plants and do eat flowers. They can eat crops faster than they grow.
I could be wrong, but what else could eat a bud like that?
I keep the garden mulched with bark and so there are no leaves about.

Anyway- I wish it wasn't the slugs because I heard they eat mold and other slugs and would have kept them. They are cool looking too. but, Nothing was eaten after I rounded up a bunch of them ( 6 or 8) and flushed them.
I dropped their numbers in the rose beds. I am sure I still have plenty of them in other parts of my garden as the slime trails exist on the walkways. Im fine with them there.

This post was edited by lola-lemon on Wed, Mar 6, 13 at 12:30