Squirrels again...

[spamlet]

This year, not content with stripping our hazel tree before the nuts have even began to form, the squirrels are now eating all our proto pears and apples when they are no bigger than marbles!

Last time I broached this subject a device called the 'Rat Zapper' was suggested, but I never got around to buying one, as last year, the squirrels seemed less troublesome (except they only left us one apple...).

Looking again, I see mixed reviews of the ratzapper, with a lot of would-be users describing it as useless, and often arriving badly wired. Also, I did, last time I looked, find a site where someone was offering models adapted for mains use rather than battery, but I can't find this now.

Has anyone here actually tried one of the ratzappers, or perhaps even come up with their own successful design?

(I'm not in the market for cage traps, as I have modified the one I have so many times already, I don't think there is any design I would trust to catch these particular beasties!)

Cheers,

S

[Mark]

All you need is a good trap

are 100% effective and unlikely to catch/harm any other wildlife.

-

[spamlet]

Hmm,

Not a design I've seen before, but the squirrels round here have been able to get bait out of traps, even when I have made the nut itself the trigger, so I am not convinced enough to spend so much money on what may end up yet another rusting failure. They can get bait out of traps that I can hardly breathe on without setting them off. (I did buy another spring trap - without the box - which was 'forestry commission recommended'. I did catch one squirrel, but the rest just used it as a snack bar.

Cheers for the extra tip though.

S

[Gib Bogle]

In the past I've had my mind boggled at the ability of rats to avoid getting caught. In our last house rats would periodically take up residence in the basement and attic (impossible to keep them out, they'd get onto our roof from the neighbour's, then go in under the edge of the tiles). I had quite good success with the old standard spring trap, but at one point for several nights the rat or rats won - taking the bait and leaving the trap either sprung or not. Eventually I got the culprit, a big one. He/she wasn't in the trap, but the trail of blood led me to the corpse, with its head smashed. That time the little bugger wasn't quite fast enough. It was horrible, and I felt like a real bastard, but my wife is ratophobic and it had to be done.

[Clot]

Sorry, but it reminded me of this:

'll get my hat..

[Peter Crosland]

Even if you do trap them you still have the problem of killing them humanely because it is illegal to release them.

Peter Crosland

[Huge]

AFAICS, it's not an issue with the Kania traps, since they seem to be a breakneck trap. Just put the corpses in the dustbin.

[spamlet]

It made me feel pretty awful, but seeing the damage they do, helps: I just fill a dustbin with water and dump the whole trap and contents in - if I catch any that is.

S

[spamlet]

I had them in the loft once. Local council couldn't work out how they got in, and even did underground camera surveys and smoke bombs in the bog. The rats really enjoyed the bags of poison bait and even stacked up the empties neatly. I did catch one or two, and like you, heard a trap go and went up to see injured rat just disappearing over the eaves. I raced down and outside with a piece of fence post, just in time to clobber it after it landed. A couple more clouts, before I dumped it in the wheelie bin thinking it dead. Then the whole bin started shaking as it still struggled and refused to die!

And, incidentally, what you don't want is for a poisoned rat to die in the wall space: you never smelt anything so awful! I tracked a terrible rotting cabbage smell, to air that was coming up from under a kitchen windowframe. Managed so squirt a bottle of bleach through into the cavity, but it still took ages for the smell to decline!

Anyway: squirrels are much cleverer...

S

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

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

.22 air rifle.

[spamlet]

Neighbourhood too crowded or I would have done so before now, sadly.

S

[Mark]

it's imposable with the Kania trap, you ideally fit it upright on a tree the squirrel has to trip the trap before it has chance to get to the bait.

have 4 of these traps in my woodland, they are the only trap that is 100% effective, and they are also the weapon of choice by professional exterminators.

-

[TMC]

open upstairs window

stand far enough back so whole of gun is within the room

a decent silencer helps

I think we used logun penetrator ar similar style pellet

Regards

[spamlet]

Well it is good to hear that you have been so successful, but I have heard similar accounts from woodland managers about the cage trap I have been using. They all think squirrels easy to trap, but the same trap in my garden is just a squirrel feeder. However, I have to say you are tempting me and - as 'the other half' just spent £70 on the ironing (more than I paid for two hard drives!) - perhaps it is worth a try.

Still like to hear from anyone with experience of electrical techniques though. I think neighbourhood squirrels are a heap more canny than their pals in the wood. (Squirrels from the hood!).

Cheers,

S

[Owain]

electric fence.

Even if it doesn't work it'll be fun to watch.

Owain

[Bob Martin]

Yes, must be great fun watching the suffering of others. Why don't you spend the afternoon in the cancer ward?

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

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

I wonder if those who desire an air rifle might be as well to get one now before the hysteria starts after Cumbria. I did hear one particularly ill-informed reporter describe air rifles as licenced firearms, but the thought might occur to the nanny-staters still out there to tighten gun controls up even further, in spite of an air rifle not being used in the recent carnage.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Different government.

He could equally ell have driven hi scar into a bus stop full of people.

Its easy enough for anyone in a really outre state of mind to kill lots of people one way or another.

Look at Tony Blair...

[spamlet]

I did actually look into getting an air pistol for this purpose once, but the rules and regs to me looked as if I would not be able to use it legally at all: certainly not in my garden (which is small).

S