My garden is rapidly getting over-run with grey squirrels. They also try increasingly ingenious ways to get into my loft, but I seem to be keeping them out of there for the moment.
I can see this thread attracting some whimsical replies, but is there anything practical that can be done to keep the local squirrel population under control ?
Whimsical reply as suspected - I remember finding a website once where the guy had rigged up a stun gun to some tinfoil conductors glued to a board containing food...
Nuke from orbit.
No, I bought one. But I was charged a hefty import tax before it could be cleared.
It works very well, I recommend it for rats - but I'm not sure if squirrels would be tempted to go inside.
Mary
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I see that the web site recommends it for 'ground squirrels'. These are US creatures, smaller and different in habit from ours. The Zapper might well be effective for them, I'm still not sure about using it for ours..
Mary
Open a squirrel pie shop ?
Ait rifle.
They taste quite good, too.
Any you can make furry caps and mittens out of the skins, and hang the tails on your car radio aerials, and mount a head on the bonnet.
Squirrel meat is delicious but getting the skin off hardly makes it worthwhile.
I'm not being whimsical but after a few months of getting two chickens our squirrels stopped coming, except for very odd occasions.
Mary
Mary,
I note your comments about ground squirrels and the culinary aspects of squirrels.
What's the best way to grind a squirrel - or would putting them in a food processor suffice ?
Look in a supermarket... it will be close to the ground nutmeg! ;=)
They're not fond of cats or sparrowhawks :-)
Whatever you do ... don't use dogs .... not after the Hunting Act 2004!
Although squirrels don't seem to be mentioned per se (at least F9 didn't find any occurrences) they would seem to belong to the class of 'wild mammals' and can't be hunted with dogs ... although eating them would seem to be a defence to prosecution according to the Annexes the Act. - I imagine hordes of lawyers will grow fat trying to argue that allowing a dog to eat a squirrel is fundamentally different to a allowing a hound to 'tear' a fox.
Get an air rifle and scope... it works well and if you can open a window on the inside of your house you can shoot them from the comfort there! (Just make sure no one can walk past the window as you squeeze the trigger!) As someone else said, they make a tasty meal too!
Do what Elvis used to do (before he made it big of course)...shoot them and eat them.
I wonder if you cover them with chocolate if they taste like Snickers?
Do what Elvis used to do (before he made it big of course)...shoot them and eat them.
I wonder if you cover them with chocolate if they taste like Snickers?
You need to keep them out of your loft otherwise you may find any glass fibe insulation re-arranged.
I left some chestnuts in our detached garage. Some days later I was asked why I had put them in SWMBO's gum boots.
Exactly what one of my prof's did at work, £450 pre-charged air-rifle with a £150 scope, kept missing the buggers, chatting about it at work he asked what was going wrong, the rifle was spot on target when ever he shot a paper target. What he was forgetting was shooting from an upstairs window, for safety into the ground if he missed, the pellets trajectory is rather different from level shooting, same for up into a tree from the ground....He checked the sights from window and now using kentucky windage/elevation gets them 9/10! BTW head shots are best for meat and clean kills, muscular little buggers gray tree rats.
we've got a fast cat and a visiting grey squirrel. looking out of the window one morning I saw squiggy scritting over the lawn and our cat also spotted it, gave chase and batted it a right hook , rolling it over a couple of times.
squiggy got away, unharmed.
judging by the number of cats out the back (15 - 20 I know of) squirrels must be quite deft at avoiding the attentions of lazy, well fed city moggies.
RT
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