Is there any way to deter squirrels? I bought an owl with a moving head and that worked for a few days but they figured it out pretty quick. I'm losing tomatoes and eggplants to these guys faster than the plants are producing. I'm about to buy a pellet gun but I would rather not kill them. They are tempting me, as I have spent about $500 fixing soffit and lead boot damage over the past few months. Can't see to win. If they aren't eating my house they are eating my garden and vice versa.

BB gun, jack russell terrier and a murder bucket.

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If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Kill dem.

Gamo Whisper google it

Ironically I was just looking at the gamo whisper. Might be time to go hunting in the backyard.

Just don't shoot your eye out....

Squirrels have a tougher life than you. Learn to share.

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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean

Squirrel Dumplings

The bastards bite my mangos and steal our bird seed when they could just go down to Publix or Lowes and get either by themselves.

They have us made for fools with their "cuteness"

In my yard, they hear the Daisy click clack and the roll of BB's down the magazine just before the smack in the ass.

there is no "sharing" with squirrels. They ruin the fruit way before it is ripe enough to eat by chewing it and knocking it off the tree. I think renting a jack russel for the season might be the way to go!

Squirrels are smarter than the average bear. You cannot beat them. I've tried. There is no such thing as a squirrel proof bird feeder. We have 3 supposed ones and they have figured out a way to get the food out of each one. Fortunately they can't dominate them enough and the birds get plenty. Now I feed both the birds and squirrels which distracts and fills up the squirrels so they don't bother the feeders (until much later when they get hungry again).

How many squirrels will you kill or maim to have an eggplant or mango?

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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean

Gun and trap are on the way. I will try trapping and relocating first.

It's not just that I'm trying to stop them from eating the garden. They are chewing my house and causing damage. I have had to replace all the soffit. They ate through all of my new lead boots in less than a year. They are chewing the 90 degree edges off my wood siding as well. They have to go, one way or another.

only way to save the lead boots is to cut a peice of pvc pipe just larger than the stack pipe and put around it so it sticks up over the satck a little - put a peice of chicken wire or the like in the top - bam ! squirrel proof, I angled the bottom of my pipes so they were flush with the roof and spray painted them black (my roof color)

pets-mart used to sell bird seed that had been coated with capasin (?) pepper - didnt affect the birds but squireels wouldnt touch it . It worked so well they quit selling the stuff ;-(( , you can buy the liquid capasin pepper and do your own seed but you need a biohazard suit to handle it - and Im not sure how well it would do on fruits and veg - might make them human proof to 

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Neighbors on both sides have bird feeders, the squirrels run across the back fence, right by the garden to go from one to the other feeder.

I haven't seen them in the garden and haven't lost anything to squirrels yet... BUT if they start eating Mangos, I start eating squirrels.

 

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I'm feeding the squirrels getting them comfortable next to my trap in the far corner of the yard. So far one relocation, about 20 more to go. Hopefully they will be full in the meantime till I can get them caught and moved. Pellet gun is zeroed in just in case.

A friend at work had the same problem with the lead vent stacks and
a roofer told him he could replace them but it will happen again...

... he said "coat them with 100% polyurethane caulk. They won't
chew on that. Problem fixed."






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Puerto Rico 11 - 24 - 2013

My father-in-law was a real bird lover and had a 30 year battle with squirrels on his feeder. He finally got a trap and trapped hundreds of them. He took them about 10 miles away in Sligo Park (in Maryland) and released them. Before he took them away, he painted their tales blue to see if any made it back. None did, but, we always crack up when we think of the people who saw them and went crazy trying to figure out where all the blue-tailed squirrels came from.

I researched their home range, it's pretty small.