Ground squirrel problem

[Jefffooz]

I live in California. I am experiencing a problem with ground squirrels in my garden. Early in the spring, I had a terrible problem with the rabbits; they ate all my asters and other flowering perennials. To control them, I simply built a three-foot fence around my garden and this solved the problem. Then, I had the gophers to contend with, who started eating all the agapanthus, liatris, etc. I bought a sound-emitting device that I bury in the ground; this has miraculously repelled the gophers from my garden. The ground squirrels are another story; they simply climbed over the fence and ignored the sound device. They come out while I am at work to eat my gladiolas, dahlias, petunias, zinnias, asters and of all things, echinacea. I have tried spraying deer repellent, to no avail. They just keep coming, and their number seems to be increasing. Does anybody know of an effective way to repel them from the garden, besides trapping and poisoning? I am thinking perhaps next year I will only plant cactus.

Thanks

Jeffery

[Janet Baraclough..]

The message from [e-mail] (Jefffooz) contains these words:

Why not make a horror film, like The Birds? The next wave of attack should be herds of deadly snakes or cougars hunting the small stuff.

Janet.

[Zemedelec]

Squirrel patties. No problem then. Test for rabies etc. first. zemedelec

[Betsy]

There is a watering device that is made by the same people who make Scat Mats, which senses motion and comes on, flinging a jet of water around and scaring away critters. This may work for you! Look up Scat Mat and you'll probably find the name of it. Many of the gardening catalogues carry it now.

[Ol' Duffer]

A female cat with a litter of hungry kittens to feed? But then you have cats. It's always something...

[Jim Carlock]

:-)

Walmart sells bags of squirrel food. Maybe you can throw the food into a friendly neighbor's yard a block or so away, but leaving a path of the food from your house to the destination ?

[Chris]

If you can deal with the landmines, get a dog. Our squirrel problems got worse after the neighbors dog passed away. I've been told rat terriers are the way to go.

[normantci]

I got an Ultrasonic Repellant from

and it works well. It has a motion detector so that it can run on it's 9v battery for months. I am very pleased with it. I hope this helps, Norman

[paghat]

You may be pleased, but it has no effect on whether squirrels (or anything else) stays or leaves an area. See this article, "A Sucker Born Every Minute":

[how]

normantci @? always recommends stuff (often unneeded) that is sold at

***.b*cky*rd-lifestyle.com or their companion site ***.b*stpondst*ff.com - coincidence? He/she suggests 'wondering' through these sites - I did wonder, with the recommendation of the ultrasonic device, wondering ceases. L8R -_- how no NEWS is good