Projo Garden Blog

Squirrels really are characters, aren't they? They are always watching for new opportunities. For the past 20+ years, I've had a dog outside during the day and most nights. Squirrels don't come around when a dog has a strong presence. When we were renovating 15 years ago and moldings were removed from the exterior of the house, we'd see them making a mad dash from the woods to the house and up the outside walls they'd go and then disappear. We heard them in the attic and in the walls of the upstairs rooms. Eventually we buttoned up all those little entrances on the exterior of the house and completed the renovation and never had them again. We don't even see any ever.

But I think that as long as you have trees within jumping distance, a squirrel will throw itself toward a hanging bird feeder at the risk of even killing itself! I've seen them do some pretty crazy things at my father-in-law's house in Seekonk. He has a feeder on a pole, far from any trees and he greases the pole so they can't climb it, but they take flying leaps from his deck, almost 20 feet away and sometimes succeed. It's like the squirrel Olympics!

Just don't let them get into your house, no matter what!

Sorry, Beth. I do not have a canine friend.

Once a squirrel got into my finished basement through the chimney and stayed in there for a few days, making some noise and strange sound. I thought there was a ghost in my house while the squirrel was just trying to leave, climbing up the staircase and chewed its way through woods,etc. before I realized what it was and safely escorted it out.

Pat, do you still plant tulips?

My husband planted tulips and covered the spot with open wire mesh ("hardware cloth") so they couldn't dig them up. He only removed it in spring when the plants got too big for the squirrels to dig them up.

But then, when they bloomed, the squirrels took the flowers.

At least they don't like daffodils.

Yes, I still plant lots of Tulips every year.
Yes - I do not like to see the squirrels destroy the ones that just bloomed, grabbing at the 'neck'.
I have some daffodils, but I love Tulips more. We'll have to be more vigilant and remember to leave more peanuts for the squirrels.

I believe they sell "bulb cages" made of wire that you can plant bulbs in. Yes, I just found them at Gardeners Supply:
http://www.gardeners.com/Bulb%20Cages,%20Set%20of%202/33-590,default,pd.html

It says these don't have to be messed with every year, you can just leave them in the ground.

For some reason, the squirrels don't seem to bother my tulips. Maybe because I have open flat feeders on my deck so they can eat out of those easily and I also put peanuts out.

I have some photos of my squirrel friends over at the Your Photos section in
http://www.projo.com/northkingstown/
Somehow I got one photo in there twice.

I love this blog.

It tells me so much about you, how playful you are, resilient, brave, and sweet... even to the squirrels!!

I have a squirrel question, are squirrels known to be scavengers, as in would a squirrel tear open garbage, knock over 30 gallon full trash barrels and scatter garbage all over the place. My neighbor is convinced that a single squirrel is knocking over the barrels and ripping up the garbage. I'm wondering what this squirrel is eating that its so strong......please advise as we are now on the look out for the Arnold Schwarzenegger of all squirrels!!

Hi - Melissa,

I'm not a squirrel expert, although I have never seen or heard of any squirrels going through garbage or knocking over trash can. They are not usually around at night. Are you sure it's not another animal i.e. raccoons? The squirrels tried to get into my garage and storage bin where I kept the birds' seeds. I don't think they would go for 'garbage'. I believe they're smarter than that.

Melissa,

I also would vote for raccoons.

I don't see how a squirrel could knock over a full trash barrel, they don't remotely weigh enough to do that. It would be like you or me trying to turn over a bus. Plus, as Pat said, they are only out in the daytime.

Your neighbor can get a kind of bungee cord thing from the hardware store to strap down the top of his garbage cans. That worked for me where I lived before. Here, I don't put out the garbage can until the morning of pickup day. The rest of the time it lives in the closed garage. By recycling like a fiend, I only need one small garbage can.

Great story about the squirrels. They are such devious stinkers. When I lived in Barrington we had bird feeders in the backyard. They always managed to find a way to leap from the fence or the huge old trees and feed themselves dropping the seeds all over. We also tried several kinds of 'squirrel proof ' feeders and then greasing the pole. But, alas nothing worked. They always managed to eat.

They never got into the house fortunately. One year we did have a family of baby racoons who found their way into the living room fireplace. That was a scary time.... Finally they left and we covered everything up. Fortunately we never did use the fireplace. All these little animals look so cute but are impossible to control.

In Florida we have rabbits all over and geikos in the yard.

I never thought it was a squirrel, its a running joke in my house that the squirrels in my area must take steroids to push over a trash barrel! This is based on the word of my neighbor, was just looking to confirm was I already thought was true, I got such a kick out of everyone's comments on squirrels that I figured I would share the humor with fellow squirrel enthusiasts!

This was very interesting about the squirrels and your endeavor to rid your yard of them. This is just about the same avenue my husband took to get rid of them. The squirrels also ate and ran with our bulbs and proceeded to build nests in our tree. They and their families became quite the nuisance and he was very happy when he caught one in the trap. The trip to either Roger Wms Park or other parts of Cranston and Warwick became overburdening as the catch increased every year.

We even cut part of the tree that they inhabited and at some point if one was in the tree he would turn the hose on it to douse it with water thinking that it would run.....NO WAY!!!!

So now as we grow older and have less energy to do these things to get rid of the squirrels, we just sit back and watch them but still get a bit aggravated when they are in sight

Thank you for sharing your garden critter experience. As you have discovered there really can be a peaceful co-existence with even our most pesky foes. With time, has come a realization that perhaps there’s a lesson in this journey. That through all the frustration and brainstorming we grapple with - these incredible creatures continue to go about their day, garden to garden plucking our tenderly nurtured plants for their dining pleasure undeterred by our most ingenious inventions. I have to say it brings a smile to my face recognizing their adaptability and clever intelligence. They do manage to pick the finest plants, usually the ones we favor most.

As you mentioned you have evolved into setting up treats for them and now find pleasure in watching them.

If we could just encourage them to weed!

The more I think about squirrels being relocated, the more I worry that this happens when they are taking care of babies...

I looked up the breeding season and found this for the Eastern grey squirrel. I don't know how accurate it is:

"She gives birth after a six week gestation period, in February/April and perhaps again in June/September. The mother suckles the young every three or four hours for several weeks. They gradually grow fur, their eyes open and at about seven weeks old they follow their mother out on to the branches. Gradually they start to eat solid food and when their teeth are fully grown, at 10 weeks, they give up suckling. A month or so later they move away from the nest to build dreys of their own."