Dyeing grey squirrel fur insitu

[Dave Liquorice]

But make sure no one sees you, release of "vermin" is illegal. Trap and kill is the only legal option.

[Mike]

A friends daughter is still having nightmares a few months after finding a rotting dead squirrel inside the squirrel proof bird feeder she was about to refill. It had been there a couple of weeks or so and was a bit 'ripe'

The only real solution to bushy tailed rats is a few hours with a gun, or live traps and then a gun. Quite nice eating apparently but I've not tried one yet. The day I accidentally trap a red is the day I look forward to, not because I fancy some posh fur gloves but because we've probably eliminated the foreign invader locally.

[dennis]

Pay fine for releasing vermin (greys are vermin), then solved. Its easier to dispatch them while they are in the cage.

[PeterC]

If you do try to handle a squirrel, wear v. thick gloves. I picked up a sick/injured one that was on the floor just inside a friend's conservatory and, of course, it bit me. My gloves were OK for handling bramble and hawthorn, but the bite still bruised my hand - and hurt! The squirrel died within the hour - I still wonder how hard a healthy squirrel could bite (but I'm not volunteering my nuts!).

[dennis]

They chew on trees, you are lucky it didn't take a finger. There aren't any gloves that will stop them AFAIK.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

How things change. Many years ago my mother had a grey squirrel coat she was very proud of - long before they arrived here. Doubt she'd have been so proud of a rat skin one. ;-)

[PeterC]

That's what wories me. The gloves were far better than most work gloves and that squirrel wasn't even on its last legs!

[Simon C.]

We too are over-run with the sods, and we've just about had enough of them. Even the kids don't think they're cute any more.

Thought of air-rifle, and a friend traps them and then drops trap+squirrel in a bucket of water - but I'm a bit squeamish tbh. Pathetic I know.

Anyone recommend a 'humane' poison? About 6 months ago I saw an advert for one that only killed rodents - something to do with their unique digestive system. Totally harmless to other species, based on cereal husks or something similar iirc. They claimed humans could eat as much as they could with no ill effects, and that it made rodents simply lose their appetite and die painlessly after eating it for a few days.

Can't find the ad again. Anyone any ideas what it was exactly?

[Bob Martin]

Who decides what is "vermin" and what isn't? Who are we to decide that a red one has to be protected and cossetted while a grey one has to be killed? It's selfish humans playing God again.

[dennis]

You did by being a part of the electoral system.

[Dave Liquorice]

Trap

Good question, you obviously haven't tried to find a legal definition. Which is why I used quotes around the word.

So what is new? Live with it.

[Mike]

Despite the cage I'm sure the Royal Mail would object to such a plan.

[Andy Champ]

Over here, the grey (Sciurus carolinensis) which is a native of the eastern parts of the USA is vermin. it is an introduced pest species which causes significant damage to forestry, and spreads disease which is endangering the native red (sciurus vulgaris).

If humans hadn't played God and introduced the little blighters to this country (and to Ireland and Italy, if Wikipedia is to be believed) we wouldn't have this problem.

Andy

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Andy Champ saying something like:

Still a fair number of reds in Ireland, but the greys are encroaching as was expected. The first ones I saw here were all reds, but now all I see are greys.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Simon C. saying something like:

Special K ? :)

[Onetap]

you responsible for that?

[geoff]

In message , Onetap writes

At least it's not ginger ...

[Bob Martin]

My brother-in-law has an albino squirrel (pure white with pink eyes) in his garden'

and what's wrong with ginger?

[geoff]

[Andy Champ]

Isn't the whole point of this to get rid of the greys and bring back the red ones?

Andy