they're just hellions, and i can't stand them. any time i plant anything new and/or lay down mulch, the squirrels go to town. they even do it in my garden beds when i put down manure in the spring and till (they don't mind the poo, apparently).

i am so agitated right now i want to kill every squirrel for a 5-mile radius of my place. i had three japanese maples come up in the yard this last year, and i transplanted two of them to pots weekend before last and put them on our deck out back.

well, this past week, the squirrels raided our deck again, dug up 1/4 of our himrod grape plants' roots (hunting for nuts, i guess) and completely chewed the larger japanese maple down like a beaver, leaving nary but a 1/2" of trunk behind. i'm just sitting there thinking to myself, "WTF?! why would it chew the japanese maple off at the stem? is this payback for sprinkling cayenne on the plants?"

i left a bunch of oleander leaves on top of the soil of the remaining one. if those little buggers get into that one also, i hope they die from the toxins.

i really need to find a way to keep those little buggers off our deck, rather than shoot them. i've tried about every powder and spray imaginable.

Satellitehead...I feel the same way about squirrels! Can't stand the little tree rats. Last year, however, they weren't as bad and there didn't seem to be as many in our yard and we even live at the edge of woods. Maybe the drought hurt them last year? If so, that's the only good thing that came out of it. Squirrels and chipmonks...I've found both on my back deck, one climbing between my window and screen and the thing couldn't figure how to get out of its predicament. I did lay out these huge blow-up snakes the year before last around my newly planted beds and oddly, it seemed to keep them for the most part, at bay.

Oh well...I guess with the rain comes more pests!

Good luck!
Beverly

Ummmmmm - so we all feel very strongly about the squirrels -- but do you think they ate the caladiums? ROTFL at all the squirrel hate out there!

My husband used to have an Isuzu Amigo with the covered spare tire on back. One day we noticed that there were all these weird bumps and bulges in the tire cover. A squirrel was hiding his nut stash under there. They are goofy!

The ubiquitous rats have almost abandoned these woods and I would like to show my appreciation to Mother Nature for making that possible!
No Acorns on my Oaks last year, Zilch! A very few samara's on the Maples and a skimpy Dogwood fruiting season.
The furry ones sat up in the Pines all fall, hulling the female cones to harvest the tiny pinenuts, making an unholy mess below, in all of the flower beds, walkways and drives.
In places, I didn't have to add mulch, the hulls were so thick!
In the past few years, thanks to my Hav-a-harts, I extirpated more than 60 of the nuisance ones and the neighborhood cats have taken care of the Chipmunk population, as well as containing the Voles.
I occasionally see "A" (singular!) Squirrel crossing the road nearby and see where it scratched the soil under the Oaks, looking for the elusive acorns, but haven't caught it yet, so must not hang around here.

I'm not sure they would savor any part of a Caladium plant, as they contain toxins, Calcium oxalate crystals & unidentified compounds. The effects of ingestion: severe irritation to mouth, lips, tongue, throat, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Possible contact dermatitis from cell sap.
Squirrels are well known for digging in disturbed earth, searching for food that may be buried there. If your recently planted bulbs, plants are there, it could be buffet time! Unless they happen to be toxic.
If you ever become successful in permanently excluding them from your property, apply for a Process Patent and retire, superrich, to your own tropical isle, that they haven't yet found!
Rb

I got so tired of those varmits that I started trapping and transporting them to a nicer part of town. They would dig 2 inch deep holes all around the garden and try anyway posible to get at the bird feeders so now 11 of them have been moved up town behind a Krogers. Sure is alot more peacefull without them...bobby