What's with the squirrels?

20 years ago

Just what are the squirrels so desperate for, right now? They're wrecking anything small I have in pots in my nursery section, not just pulling the plants out as they try to bury something, but actually eating the plants! They've also scalped a Streptocarpella and a Viola hederacea that I had in baskets hanging from the oak branches. (The violet has come back, the strep is still in intensive care.)

FWIW, they do have water available in my yard - I keep a big plant saucer filled partway with water for birds and such, and just flush it every time I water, to keep the mosquitos in check.

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Comments (8)

meldy_nva
20 years ago
I think they are starving. The local squirrel population is large and food supplies are apparently nil, so they are eating everything they can find. We have squirrels eating green tomatoes - not nibbling, but chomping everything down to the stem, a first for our garden. I don't know about the strep, but violas are edible, so it sounds like your squirrels are also desperately looking for food.
pulldownclaw
20 years ago
They are eating all of my tomatoes! It seems like they everytime I decide to wait one more day before harvesting, they get them that night. I guess it's time to go get some netting...
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leslies
20 years ago
Well, that's interesting. I wonder if that's why I am seeing so many as roadkill? I was sort of expecting them to eat the blueberries, but they didn't seem to take any interest.
babywatson
20 years ago
Squirrels? Where? We usually have tons, but recently I haven't seen any. A racoon has taken residence behind our fence. Racoons don't eat squirrels, do they?
poncho17
18 years ago
I buy bags and bags of peanuts and sit out on the patio and the squirrels and chipmunks come and eat out of my hand. Sorry if they bother people, but I love them.
donnas_gw
18 years ago
I love them too!! They are so much fun to just sit and watch. Every morning one passes my house up on the utility lines. Another morning, there were 3 of them, one right behind the other on the same line! Every so far the one in front would stop, and the other 2 behind it would have to stop. They continued going up the line that way until I could no longer see them.
twila_2008
18 years ago
It's difficult to get mad at them, they are so cute! They like to take one bite out of every other ripe tomato in our garden... Neighbor has a pecan tree and until it has ripe nuts, they will eat anything. I don't have any tulip bulb left. Feed them raw peanuts, it's fairly inexpensive if you ration them. Of course, the birds will see them before the squirrels so you will have to be creative. I'm thinking about tossing mine around the tree the squirrel lives in, or maybe 'hide' the nuts in a can (safely) wired to the fence. They also appreciate scraps of cloth for their nests.
collectordi
18 years ago
They've eaten all my tomatoes. They don't wait for them to ripen they eat them green. I finally got some cherry tomatoes but not one big tomato.