we have plenty of rabbits and squirrels, but they aren't eating any gourds. The rabbits ate my entire crop of green beans and lettuce. Now that they are accustomed to dining in my garden they'll be easy targets for rabbit stew this winter.... :-)

Jan

I had 4 gourds "soaking" in the side yard. Saturday I was missing one of them but thought I had taken it inside and absentmindedly misplaced it. Well, just now I went outside and found another one missing. We have deer, squirrel and rabbit that roam thru our yard so I'd be interested in the answer to this question also.

Squirrels are the culprit. They love to gnaw everything but are really after the seeds inside. Mice and rats will also go after gourds in storage. You can spray w/a repellent but moving them to a secure location would be your best bet. A light bleach solution might help temporarily as would a commercial preparation. Deer have never shown any interest in my gourds--nor my melons or winter squashes. However, rabbits can ruin a lot of melons in a short time, but they have never bothered my gourds.

Brook