:On Oct 22, 11:43 pm, Dan Musicant ( snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net) wrote: :> On Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:32:00 -0500, Bert Byfield :>
:> wrote: :>
:> :>:The trouble is finding the right cat--most can't figure out how to :> :>:catch squirrels and the ones who can usually get beat up enough :> :>:the first time that they decide that squirrels aren't worth the :> :>:effort. :> : :> :> Training a cat would be darn near impossible, I guess. :> :> Dan :> : :> : Yes, but I had a cat once who learned about rabbits up close and :> :personal, when a daughter kept pet rabbits in the house and yard. The :> :cat learned that rabbits are 1) awful (one was in love with her and :> :kept jumping her with passion), and 2) easy to beat up (though she :> :never harmed a pet rabbit). :> : After a while the cat started showing up with battered dead wild :> :rabbits she had caught, and it was easier to keep a garden after that. :>
:> Well, I could get a cat and deliver it dead squirrels, which are easy to :> find on the local streets. Maybe it would get the idea? I suppose a tom :> cat would be better, because they're bigger. :>
:> Dan : :Use a pump up pellet rifle to shoot one in your yard. :That way it is warm, and maybe even still wiggling when the cat gets :it. :Tie a string to it if it is not moving on it's own power.
Good idea! : :A moma cat with kittens will tend to be less picky about what it eats, :and the kittens will chase anything that moves when they are hungry. :A tom cat is going to be bigger, and a good one will hunt the :neighborhood dogs as well.
Not too many unleashed dogs around here. I think it might be a law. I haven't seen one in a while. : :Try going out into the country during kitten season and ask a farmer :for a kitten that it up and running on it's own.
That may be the only way I can get an unfixed male. If I get it at the local animal shelter, they may insist on fixing it before they give it to me! : :BTW :Squirrel tastes like chicken if cooked like chicken. :;-)
Mmm, squirrel fricasee, sweet & sour squirrel,... yum!! :) : :BTW again :If you put small block of wood on the mouse trap so it will not close :all the way it will just snap and swat but not get packed off by :something to big for it, and a rat trap will take a squirrel.
I have a couple mouse traps, and 6-8 rat traps.
:You can tie it to a stake if you want so that nothing can drag it off.
Great idea! : :You can also tape a wire or something like that to the swatter of the :trap and it will swing around better, making it freak them out more. : :Wire cones sounds like a pretty good idea if you are in a town that :loves squirrels but hates cats.
Cones! Yeah, that's better than cubes, way easier. : :What does an electric fence charger cost around there? :That would be fun watching a squirrel hit that. :;-)
That might be a real good idea. If squirrels get shocked in my yard they might stay out. I could even set up blind shocking fences and move them around until they just stay out. I have no idea where to get one or how much it would cost. I imagine I could maybe make them myself. House current would be too intense, and probably not safe. I guess the idea is a transformer to step down the voltage to shock but not kill or have danger of fire.
Dan