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Topic: I may kill a squirrel...
| Author | Message |
| wineaux | Posted – 5/8/2008 4:25:20 PM | show profile Or two. When I first moved to the NE, I thought they were cute. I didn't see them too often in my CA hood. Now, they are freaking rats with bushy tails and I want to exterminate them. First, they ate our Halloween pumpkins. It annoyed me, but hey, I'm the one that left them out on the front porch, and wild animals have to eat, too. Then, at Christmas, I put greenery above my front door with apples and pears woven through it. They somehow managed to scratch their way up the house, OVER and above the door, snatching every last one of the fruit pieces by the end of the first week. Again, I was pissed, but let it go. Fresh fruit outside on snowy winter day? What was I thinking, right? Well, now I am livid. I bought a bird feeder and strung it on a thin copper wire, which I hung about 12 feet in the air from the branch of the tree. Within days, I saw them out there, hanging onto the feeder, filling their cheeks. I don't know how the hell they managed to shimmy down such a long, thin string of wire w/ out breaking their necks. How the hell do I keep the frigging squirrel from eating my songbird seed????? Freaking mooches. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 5/8/2008 4:31:00 PM | show profile Feel free to go ahead and eat them too. A number of interesting sounding recipes can be found here: http://www.backwoodsbound.com/zsquir.html. The simple roast squirrel might be a good place to start. These include: BBQ Squirrel Cajun Squirrel Camp Stew Chicken Fried Squirrel Crockpot Fried Squirrel Daddy's Squirrel Stew Easy Squirrel BBQ Fried Squirrel With Mushroom Gravy Mesquite Squirrel Redneck Squirrel Fry Simple Roast Squirrel Smother - Fried Squirrel Spicy Squirrel Squirrel Bog Squirrel Cacciatore Squirrel Casserole Squirrels in Cream Sauce Squirrel Creole Squirrel Croquettes Squirrel & Dressing Squirrel Dumplings Squirrel Kabobs Squirrel Jambalaya Squirrel and Noodles Squirrel Nuggets Squirrel and Onion Gravy Squirrel Spit Squirrel Stew |
| HisGirlFriday | Posted – 5/8/2008 4:39:04 PM | show profile It is SO funny you posted this - on my porch today I discovered that the little rat bastards had dug up an entire pot of annuals and ripped the heads off a pot of lovely hot pink gerber daisies. They are always digging thru my container gardens and burying crap in them. And they will barely even run when you shoo them away and they taunt my cat who is too lazy to chase them. I can actually forgive the bird feeder - we have one of those supposedly squirrel proof ones hung from the garage. (It's got a cone-like top.) They slide off and take a massive 12-foot drop to the pavement, which is pretty funny to watch. My husband has a constant Carl Spackler/Caddyshack-like war with them over the tomatoes. He swears this year he's getting a .22. I mean, I'm an animal-rights vegetarian but stay away from my freakin' flowers! |
| Unemployed-gal | Posted – 5/8/2008 4:58:32 PM | show profile Carrie Bradshaw was right when she said that squirrels are rats with cuter outfits. One never knows what's going on in their pea-sized brains (if they have brains at all). I don't see squirrels much any more (I live in the city), but in college in Virginia they used to come into the dining room ("why, help yourself!") and run around. Or, in warm weather if you were sitting outside, they'd come up on the tables and try and attack your food/books/etc. Squirrels ran rampant there. |
| Unemployed-gal | Posted – 5/8/2008 5:03:20 PM | show profile PS--when I was in middle school, I had a fight with my mom in the car going home from school, so about a half a mile from home she made me get out and walk. It was the middle of the winter, and as I was walking, I saw a dead squirrel frozen on the electric box of a telephone pole. Completely preserved, like a stuffed one. Ugh. Another story: summer 2002. I was living in Chicago, and walking home from the bus one day I saw a squirrel who had become roadkill. If worse comes to worse, you could go either of those routes with yours... |
| Righter | Posted – 5/8/2008 7:24:03 PM | show profile Oh my god, if only I could unleash my Boston Terrier on your squirrels. She Loooooooooooves chasing them around and will run them up a tree and then jump a good five and a half feet straight into the air to try and get them. I live in Florida and for some reason they're not quite as annoying down here so I don't let her actually catch them. But if I was in your situation? Oh, she'd be so very happy... |
| wineaux | Posted – 5/8/2008 7:41:27 PM | show profile My dog doesn't appear to be very effective, even though he tries his damndest. He actually caught one of the furry marauders a couple of months back, and I ran out, yelling, "Drop It!!!". I should have just let him have the snack. I saved that bushy-tailed leech's life and he pays me back by stuffing himself with $30 worth of birdseed in two days. Even with my 90 pound beast on the clock, they still slink around the yard, unphased and let him get within a few feet when he chases them. I actually yelled at him, b/c he was laying on the porch, snoring away just moments before I noticed the feeder on the ground. He would have to have perfect vision and hearing, and move at lightning speed to catch them all the time. I was at a friend's house last week, waiting for her on her patio. She has this lovely, many acred yard, full of huge trees. I turned a corner, and there, sitting in the grass is a huge yellow and brown hawk, just a couple of feet away from me. I'd never seen one that close, and stood there, stock-still, just staring at him. He turned and spread his wings, and as he touched off of the ground, clutched in his huge talons was a big, FAT grey squirrel. I wish I could bribe that hawk to come over to my yard. He'd probably eat much better. Fruit, pumpkin and sunflower seed fed squirrels must be delicious. Maybe I will use those recipes........................................ BBQ squirrel on a stick...............YUM |
| sue ellen mischke | Posted – 5/8/2008 8:37:05 PM | show profile NPR just did a story on squirrel cuisine...and how it is becoming more popular in England. |
| westsidestory | Posted – 5/8/2008 10:41:52 PM | show profile Hot pepper treatment A proven method to get squirrels off a feeder: lace the seeds with cayenne pepper (wear gloves so you don't get it on your hands, it burns). Birds can't taste capsicin (sp?) but mammals do - squirrels will learn quickly that what's in your feeder is, to them, nasty stuff. Garden centers also sell a hot pepper liquid spray you can put on plants (or, come to think of it, wreaths) There are "squirrel proof" feeders sold with trap doors on them but the hot red pepper powder usually works pretty well. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 5/8/2008 11:49:56 PM | show profile | email poster One day I heard chattering outside my front room window. Poised on the back of the willow rocker on my porch, probably staring at his reflection just two feet away, a fat squirrel. I stared him down, and he fell off clumsily -- ha! My dog chased a squirrel into our drained swimming pool that had about a foot of water and a bucket we'd used to finish draining it. He sat on the bucket, dripping, miserable, cursing in squirrel at the top of his tiny lungs, black eyes huge and accusing. We tried to extend every kindness, a ladder, a pool skimmer. Finally, we dangled a stretchy hose and after about a dozen exhausing (but amusing to watch) attempts, he finally scrambled out and ran off screaming about the poor service he'd received at our resort and how he wasn't going to come back. |
| wineaux | Posted – 5/8/2008 11:53:07 PM | show profile I like the idea of burning the little bastards' tongues! And I have a nice, full bottle of cayenne in the cupboard that hasn't even been broken into. I am doing that first thing in the morning. Now, how will I get any work done tommorow am? I'll be too busy, peering out of my kitchen window, hoping to catch a glimpse of that fat pig of a rodent streaking around the yard in a panic, in search of water. I'm guessing I won't meet my deadline tommorow, if those squirrels aren't hungry in the am. Thanks for the tip! |
| df | Posted – 5/9/2008 12:20:07 AM | show profile i can't believe I am saying it - but get a (bebe) gun. |
| foto | Posted – 5/9/2008 12:36:33 AM | show profile One time in Union Square NYC, I saw a squirrel drag an entire copy of the NY Times up into his nest for nesting material. He lost a few sections on the way up but got most of it in there. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 5/9/2008 1:17:27 AM | show profile Maybe he was a literate squirrel, Foto. Maybe he was in it for the crossword! |
| lbdinterest | Posted – 5/9/2008 1:53:05 AM | show profile | email poster This is what you need . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRR4bOquEKQ&feature=related |
| foto | Posted – 5/9/2008 7:18:44 AM | show profile Its 6:20am and already Mr. Nibbles is burying his acorns in our vegetable garden. |
| voracious reader | Posted – 5/9/2008 9:22:54 AM | show profile SQUIRREL-BE-GONE bird feeder... Purchased mine at Kmart. They also have them at Walmart. There's a spring on it, so when the bugger tries to sit on the feeder, the spring hoists down the plastic cage and the squirrels can't get to the food. What a great invention! Now we get to enjoy watching the birds. Only drawback is that the big fat birds can't get to the food, so they wait patiently below the feeder, so when the little birds drop the food, they're there playing clean up! Squirrels line up too from time to time, but the birds are more numerous and chase them away. |
| HisGirlFriday | Posted – 5/9/2008 9:27:09 AM | show profile lbd: Thanks for my laugh du jour - holy crap that was so funny! The song, for some odd reason, totally makes that video work. I needed that .... I actually totally forgot we have some of that hot sauce spray called critter ridder!! Husband uses it to keep dogs from pooping on our front lawn. Thanks for reminding me!!! |
| wineaux | Posted – 5/9/2008 9:30:38 AM | show profile lbd....Oh My God, that has made my morning. I wonder if that is the same squirrel, coming back over and over to get launched? Whoever made that contraption is brilliant. foto, was it the Sunday edition? If so, then I'm truly impressed. The cayenne will be added later this morning, when I take a coffee break. |
| Jill of all trades | Posted – 5/9/2008 11:03:18 AM | show profile My father gets a big kick out of filling up a water gun with vinegar and shooting squirrels with it, especially when there's snow on the ground. The vinegar freaks them out and then the snow freaks them out even more when they try to wipe it off. He's kinda like that dad in that cell phone commercial who tells his daughter's date that he'll be watching him. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 5/9/2008 1:14:16 PM | show profile Read "Miss Suzy" (a classic children's book) . Not all squirrels are bad... |
| onmyown | Posted – 5/9/2008 2:37:52 PM | show profile Trust me, I've had squirrels go through my bird seed in days and such, but that YouTube video is vicious! I seriously could not laugh at it. Do you think they were OK? Did they die? Break a leg? |
| wineaux | Posted – 5/9/2008 3:31:23 PM | show profile onmy...you're right, of course. I didn't even think about whether they were hurt in the video. I don't want hurt squirrels. Just squirrels who leave my birdseed alone so that the songbirds come back. |
| DQ102 | Posted – 5/9/2008 5:59:24 PM | show profile I can't believe all the squirrel haters here. I thought pigeons had it hard, but wow, people sure do hate squirrels. I love squirrels and want all of the squirrels reading Mediabistro.com to know that I am firmly in their corner. I don't know if this will help, but when we were kids, we fed the birds birdseed, and we actually gave the squirrels peanuts and little peanut butter sandwiches. Some of them would come right up to the kitchen window in the morning to ask us to come out and feed them. It was pretty cute, and my sister and I actually bonded with them. So maybe providing them a treat of their own would help. |
| foto | Posted – 5/9/2008 8:10:42 PM | show profile Union Square is home to the most obnoxious, misbehaved squirrels in New York. This is probably because of the farmers market there almost every day. They are pushy, arrogant and insistant. And you can't scare them away. They'll come right up to you and stare at you with their beedy little eyes and demand your peanut butter sandwich. I once had one tug on my pant leg to get attention. I saw one rip open some womans shopping bag to see what was inside. As you can imagine, they are very large. |
