[Michael Cantor]

My understanding is that the reason English red squirrels often thrive is that a man named David Anthony feeds them foie gras.

[Terese Coe]

Some backyard plant, flower, and tree lovers would rather poison squirrels than feed them. And they do.

It's the city version of the farmers vs. the ranchers, and for a long time I favored the squirrels as the higher life form (but there are other interpretations of "higher" and "lower" life forms, y'know?).

However, some squirrels began exhibiting sick behaviors [wanton destruction of window sashes and frames as well as plants--for the last 34 years!]. One of the flower lovers got fed up and served them Jonestown Kool-Aid (I presume). When you see a squirrel taking down large tree branches every chance it gets, something must be wrong. Could have been rabies. Everyone with windows on these adjoining back yards looked the other way when the Kool-Aid was served.

Thing is, who's going to test squirrels for rabies? They will enter your rooms if a window is left open, and for those with children that's more than unhealthy.

Now transient squirrels stop by to chew on my window frame (it is chewed clear through to the brick at the bottom), but they don't homestead. It's just as well. They know the back yards around here are perilous for rodents. I still spray what's left of my window frames with copper spray paint--they're too canny to eat that.

One of the previous neighbors tried to trap the squirrels so he could release them in Central Park. Grey squirrels too squirrely for that--only a baby got caught, and I released it myself--very gingerly. [It was screeching like a human baby around 6 a.m.]

Even a few transient squirrels do an ace job of preventing any form of plant life from surviving, though. At least they're no longer taking down tree branches. That was unacceptable. I'll bet the UK reds don't do that.



[This message has been edited by Terese Coe (edited December 01, 2008).]

[David Anthony]

Originally posted by Michael Cantor:
Whenever I fly into London, David, I always carry at least one pair of lively grey squirrels in my jacket pockets, and let them loose as soon as I hit Hyde Park. They love the well tended trees, and are particularly fond of your sausages, since they consist entirely of cereal and suet.

--I'll have you know, Michael, that English sausages are every bit as big as American sausages.
(Damn, what a giveaway.)

[Diane Dees]

Backyard plant, flower, and tree lovers would rather poison squirrels than feed them. And they do.

That's news to me, Therese. Every serious gardener I know, including myself, enjoys the squirrels. The aforementioned canna issue is the only problem we've ever had with them, and that was fairly easily solved. And even if they did other damage, I don't know anyone who would kill them quickly, let alone poison them.

We had a bit more of a problem with the rabbits for a while, but that, too, was easily solved.

The biggest squirrel problem most gardeners have is bulb-digging and -eating. That is resolved by planting bulbs squirrels do not like, and/or planting the bulbs in baskets or under wire mesh, as we do with our glads.

[Laura Heidy-Halberstein]

Originally posted by Diane Dees:
Every serious gardener I know, including myself, enjoys the squirrels.

Ummm, if you do a google search using the words "squirrels" and "gardening" you get over 2,200,000 hits - and the greater majority of them are not favorable. (In fact, a quick read of the first 3 pages of links are unanimously unfavorable.)

I mean, I LIKE squirrels (especially here in Va. where we have black squirrels, something I've never seen before) but even I, as a squirrel-lover, know that they're hell on gardens - and bird feeders - and sometimes electrical wires if you have any exposed outside. They'll dig and chew anything - and they'll take over a bird feeder like no one's business.

I had two of them climb down my chimney once - ending up in my family room drop ceiling somehow - and I can't even begin to tell you how much damage they did before I managed to entice them up the stairs and out the door more than 24 hours after their arrival. (I actually called a "Pest Control" advertisement in the local telephone directory and two guys with shotguns showed up at my door - but I didn't take advantage of their offer....I chose to make deposits of peanut butter crackers down the hall and up the stairs and through the kitchen and out the back door instead....sort of a Hansel and Gretel solution....I'm sure the dudes with the shot guns could have dispatched them much quicker but I'm also pretty sure that shotgun damage would have occured, as well.)

Anyhow....they aren't too beloved among the gardeners I know - serious ones or not. Nor the bird-lovers, either, for that matter.

But...since I don't garden and I live in a condo without bird feeder access, I'll do my part and buy some peanuts and feed the little black squirrels and the grey squirrels and the brown squirrels and (most especially) the little squirrel with no tail who hangs out around my car at work all day coz no one will play with him.

He's my favorite one of all.

[Terese Coe]

Diane,

City squirrels will chew on anything, it seems. Many varieties of flora have been killed off by the ones who used to inhabit the back yards here. Even potted Christmas trees.

I would never have poisoned them. In fact it's conjecture; they disappeared rather quickly, and that's what I thought must have happened. They've been (mostly) gone for years now, and I'm not at all displeased that they're gone. We probably can't compare squirrels in Louisiana, with so many varieties of flora/nuts/whatever to consume, with those here. I'm sorry if this has upset you, but it's possible the most destructive squirrels were rabid. That was suggested to me by someone at the Dept of Agriculture, which I called for advice oh so many years ago.

Yes, some plants were put under wire mesh. Squirrels pull the mesh out of the ground.

[Diane Dees]

Well, Terese, naturally, it upsets me to think that people are poisoning anyone. But my main reaction was just one of surprise. Wow, those are some squirrels. My canna-loving ones pale in comparison.

[Kevin Andrew Murphy]

We have squirrels and we have rats. They all have their own unique virtues and faults.

The squirrels are worst with the fruit trees. They bounce around and take a bite of everything so all the fruit goes bad. The rats, by comparison, are quite sensible and polite: They find one ripe piece of fruit and nibble it beginning to end, sometimes over the course of a couple days. Sometimes even while watching you.

Of course the squirrels don't try to sneak in the house when it gets cold like the rats do.

We also have ants. If its very cold, very hot, or very wet, they come in the house. As it's currently cold and wet, we have to deal with the ants. Fortunately, they're not the stinging kind, just very prolific.

An exterminator told us that the only way to get rid of all of them was to get rid of all our fruit trees and most of our plants and basically live in a concrete mausoleum. This does not appeal.

Instead, we view the wildlife as entertainment. The dogs love chasing the squirrels and the rats, and even sometimes catch the rats if they come inside. And the ants do useful work in the garden, so we just make sure to put all the food in tightly sealing containers and take the garbage out more often.

[Diane Dees]

Kevin, ants hate peppermint. I keep a spray bottle of water with peppermint essential oil in it. We get a lot of ants, and when they make their appearance, I spray the peppermint solution along the entrances. They are repelled by it and do not enter.

[Janet Kenny]

Water birds in particular were in real trouble in my area during the last few years of drought. My grumpy old neighbour who keeps a budgie (Australian native bird) in a cage, says I interfere with the "natural order". He wouldn't know the natural order if it bit him in the ass. Every morning I feed Australian magpies with their young, butcher birds with their young, kookaburras, white faced herons, ibises, crested pigeons and we have planted a great many food bearing plants for honey eaters of diverse persuasions. As a reward our garden is a miracle of birdlife.

A termite inspector told us that ants are our friends because they eat termites.

Recently crocodile tracks have been sighted along our coast. I hope I won't end up feeding one of those.

I don't keep a pet because I have wildlife all around me.

FEED THE SQUIRRELS!

[This message has been edited by Janet Kenny (edited December 01, 2008).]