Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Rampant_Weasel on November 21, 2007, 14:10
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i seem to have a resident grey squirrel which has demolished 2 of my birdfeeders and made off with the contents :x :x
can u get effective poison or traps? or is shooting the best way?
any advice plz
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What the squirrels eat, a lot of birds will eat so I'd be reluctant to use poison. However, a bit of flying lead should do the trick. It's how I keep them under control because the little beggars can be terribly destructive. Or, you could use anti-squirrel apparati on the feeders - overhead clear globes, metal wrapped posts, etc. One fellow I know wrapped a whole large tree trunk with sheet metal to a height of 10 ft against a racoon problem, which also solved his squirrel problem. :D
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Can't you just glue one end of the feeder so they won't "demolish" it?
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Shooting will work well but please be very, very careful since they will tend to be above ground. A shotgun fired into the air is relatively safe but a rifle should never be fired unless you can see what the bullet will hit should you miss (or go through) your target, i.e. a back-stop. A rim-fire 0.22 calibre is lethal at up to a MILE. Even an air rifle should not be fired without a back-stop.
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Well said WG good advice.
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You can buy squirrel proof feeders with metal parts from CJ Wildlife or Jacobi Jane. I had the same problem some months back with a squirrel completely ruining my plastic feeders. The metal ones have done the trick but I decided to leave a few peanuts out for the squirrel so it wouldn't even try to get at the feeders. For a few weeks it took the nuts (leave too many and it buried them in the garden)! but now it has disappeared and hasn't visited the garden for a couple of months.
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prevention is better than cure! take away it's feed sorce with squirel proof feeders you can't kill all the population! :wink:
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Be careful of other wildlife please, aswell as cats, dogs and people. So - as I'm ignorant to the use of firearms - can you fire at squirrels generally then - or is it just allowed in rural areas?
What are the laws governing licenced firearms - don't know much about them?
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Be careful of other wildlife please, aswell as cats, dogs and people. So - as I'm ignorant to the use of firearms - can you fire at squirrels generally then - or is it just allowed in rural areas?
What are the laws governing licenced firearms - don't know much about them?
Normal rules apply, e.g. with landowner's permission, distant from paved road and, most importantly, WITH FIREARMS CERTIFICATE.
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Don't think your supposed to shoot in yer back garden are you ?
Some one who know's please clarify thanks.
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Don't think your supposed to shoot in yer back garden are you ?
Some one who know's please clarify thanks.
"distant from paved road " usually gets that but, yes please, who can clarify?
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This reminds me of my pal Sally (no not Aunty) who decided to blast off at a rat that went under her Land Rover.
Her OH retured home to find 3 tyres on his almost new car ripped to shreads.
Unless you are an expert shot my advice would be Trap live and take away to another area. :lol: :wink:
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Squirrel meat is apparently quite tasty, not unlike chicken. So shoot the b******s and have a feed at the same time. :wink:
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Squirrel meat is apparently quite tasty, not unlike chicken. So shoot the b******s and have a feed at the same time. :wink:
You are a good cook most people will just end up with a tasteless stringy burnt offering.
But your right of course if you can get over the ooh ahh facter and cook them properly they are tasty. :lol: :wink:
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Unless you are an expert shot my advice would be Trap live and take away to another area. :lol: :wink:
I don't think it's legal to release grey squirrels - alien species :wink:
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Unless you are an expert shot my advice would be Trap live and take away to another area. :lol: :wink:
I don't think it's legal to release grey squirrels - alien species :wink:
You are no doubt right I just didnot want people potting away at targets in their back gardens and maybe hurting themselves or anything or anybody else.
Its not that easy to hit a running squirrel and I could just see somebody getting themselves injured.
I know that they are a real pest and have driven the nicer reds away but I just dont like killing anything anymore. :lol: :wink:
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I would hope ( Yes... I know I'm naive) that if someone has a gun they would know how to use it safely. Land Rover lady excepted :roll:
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I would hope ( Yes... I know I'm naive) that if someone has a gun they would know how to use it safely. Land Rover lady excepted :roll:
If only that was true Aunty.There are loads of "Gun Accidents" every month.
Almost all with "Legally held Guns" Some people are just irresponsible and behave badly even when they should know better. Giving good gun owners a bad name.
For instance how many times have you seen road signs with fist size dent in.This is some fool with a gun checking his choke or just popping away for the fun of it.
Luckily they are in the minority.
Airguns are a different matter. Anybody can get hold of one of them. Only this week a boy got hit in the eye with a pellet and another person his taking potshots at passing cars.
All this is without what can and does happen when drink or drugs are involved. :roll:
No I say leave the shooting in the hands of the responsible experts. :lol: :wink:
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OUCH I just fell of my soapbox........................ :lol:
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OUCH I just fell of my soapbox........................ :lol:
Don't worry - you can have mine :)
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OUCH I just fell of my soapbox........................ :lol:
Don't worry - you can have mine :)
Its a bit high for me John :lol: :lol: :lol:
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OUCH I just fell of my soapbox........................ :lol:
Don't worry - you can have mine :)
Its a bit high for me John :lol: :lol: :lol:
Now that was cutting - I withdraw my offer in a huff and go off to get my gun. It's a Mk3 phaser as well.
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OUCH I just fell of my soapbox........................ :lol:
Don't worry - you can have mine :)
Its a bit high for me John :lol: :lol: :lol:
Now that was cutting - I withdraw my offer in a huff and go off to get my gun. It's a Mk3 phaser as well.
I meant that with my dodgy legs I could never make it ( he says hoping to get away with it ,but then John is not stupid ,whats the worse he can do oh no step here I come again........)
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thanks for the advice, i dont have a gun i was thinking of getting one for the problem....
i think ill make do with some new feeders as my garden backs on to a park.
apparently its illegal to release a live grey squirrel.
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Just a word on squirrels - their claws are like needles and will go right through a nut.. so gloves aren't much help. They have a nasty bite as well.
I suspect moving them elsewhere, law aside, would be cruel. Bit like the misguide people who drop urban foxes into the countryside.
They don't know the territory, have to compete with the locals etc.
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Yes and yes.
Release traps can be a dangerous and painful business with most wild animals. :wink:
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OUCH I just fell of my soapbox........................ :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol:
I suppose as I've aleays belonged to a shooting family (competition small bore - the guns not the shooters :wink: ) I tend to expect gun owners to be responsible people. :roll:
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I love them and they love me :)
(http://www.sad-land.co.uk/photos/Squirrel%2010.jpg)
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Piccie reminds me ... please don't shoot or otherwise molest red squirrels - only greys. :)
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Piccie reminds me ... please don't shoot or otherwise molest red squirrels - only greys. :)
Wish I had reds in the garden, but I bet we would have a 100 years ago :)