Every night the local squirrels that seemed only to have reappeared
during the last two weeks, have been digging in the soil of every tub
every night and making a bloody mess.

Are there successful solutions?

TIA

Alan

--
Linux Mint 21.1 kernel version 5.15.0-84-generic Cinnamon 5.6.8
AMD Phenom II x4 955 CPU 16Gb Dram 2TB Barracuda

On 26/09/2023 17:59, pinnerite wrote:
> Every night the local squirrels that seemed only to have reappeared
> during the last two weeks, have been digging in the soil of every tub
> every night and making a bloody mess.
>
> Are there successful solutions?
>
> TIA
>
> Alan
>
I use wire netting on my pots to stop them, It's not pretty, but it works.

On 9/26/2023 1:56 PM, RobH wrote:
> On 26/09/2023 17:59, pinnerite wrote:
>> Every night the local squirrels that seemed only to have reappeared
>> during the last two weeks, have been digging in the soil of every tub
>> every night and making a bloody mess.
>>
>> Are there successful solutions?
>>
>> TIA
>>
>> Alan
>>
> I use wire netting on my pots to stop them, It's not pretty, but it works.

"Hardware Cloth"

I placed a piece of 1/4" mesh hardware cloth over a decoration
out front of the house, to prevent rabbits from having
families on top of it (two families so far).

It seems any "feature" you put on a property, must be
properly explored by the animal kingdom, for the opportunities
it offers.

*******

A squirrel "recognizes" fresh digging, as a sign another squirrel
has buried food there. It is considered proper etiquette for
squirrels, to dig up another guys stash, move a few feet, dig
another hole, and bury it. The squirrels memorize where they
put the stuff, then go back when they're hungry later in the
year, and dig it up again.

If you did not use hardware cloth, you would need a means of
disguising the "look of fresh digging", so no squirrel will
use "squirrel math" to figure out what to do. An untampered
piece of ground, will still receive random examination for
food sources, but not a lot of theft activity.

It's both the "flatness" of the ground and the "colour" that
matters. If you tamp down a fresh dig... that's not good enough
to fool a squirrel. The change in ground colour, the squirrel
knows there are nuts under there, to be stolen. The hardware cloth
costs money, but at least it's a mechanical barrier.

Each hole does not receive multiple items. You might find
a single acorn in a hole. Or, an unshelled peanut (when the
neighbours feed such stuff to the animals). A squirrel "leaf home"
holds more items, but I've not examined one to see how they're furnished.
(Little squirrel sofa, little squirrel TV set.)

Paul

In message <kngkb5Fjrh5U1@mid.individual.net>, RobH <rob@nospam.com>
writes
>On 26/09/2023 17:59, pinnerite wrote:
>> Every night the local squirrels that seemed only to have reappeared
>> during the last two weeks, have been digging in the soil of every tub
>> every night and making a bloody mess.
>> Are there successful solutions?
>> TIA
>> Alan
>>
>I use wire netting on my pots to stop them, It's not pretty, but it
>works.

Bury a few holly leaves just below the surface of the soil. You don't
need to do it to every pot. The squirrels soon get the message.
--
Ian
Aims and ambitions are neither attainments nor achievements

I guess you could trap them and go for a drive ten miles way, and release
them there.
They are rodents of course, and will eat most things even electrical wiring
as I found to my cost some years ago on an out door mains cable to a shed.
No dead squirrels though, but there were a lot about around that time. Not
seen, or should I say, heard any for some time.
Brian

--

--:
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"pinnerite" <pinnerite@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:20230926175934.78b0aa7a5b155eb4ad68f445@gmail.com...
> Every night the local squirrels that seemed only to have reappeared
> during the last two weeks, have been digging in the soil of every tub
> every night and making a bloody mess.
>
> Are there successful solutions?
>
> TIA
>
> Alan
>
> --
> Linux Mint 21.1 kernel version 5.15.0-84-generic Cinnamon 5.6.8
> AMD Phenom II x4 955 CPU 16Gb Dram 2TB Barracuda

On 26/09/2023 17:59, pinnerite wrote:
> Every night the local squirrels that seemed only to have reappeared
> during the last two weeks, have been digging in the soil of every tub
> every night and making a bloody mess.
>
> Are there successful solutions?
>
> TIA
>
> Alan
>

get a pine marten as a pet.

On Wed, 27 Sep 2023 08:02:45 +0100
Ian Jackson <ianREMOVETHISjackson@g3ohx.co.uk> wrote:

> In message <kngkb5Fjrh5U1@mid.individual.net>, RobH <rob@nospam.com>
> writes
> >On 26/09/2023 17:59, pinnerite wrote:
> >> Every night the local squirrels that seemed only to have reappeared
> >> during the last two weeks, have been digging in the soil of every tub
> >> every night and making a bloody mess.
> >> Are there successful solutions?
> >> TIA
> >> Alan
> >>
> >I use wire netting on my pots to stop them, It's not pretty, but it
> >works.
>
> Bury a few holly leaves just below the surface of the soil. You don't
> need to do it to every pot. The squirrels soon get the message.
> --

I don't have holly but I something else with prickly leaves.
The first night they disturbed everything but no mess.
Since then, nothing.
Brilliant solution. Thank you.

--
Linux Mint 21.1 kernel version 5.15.0-84-generic Cinnamon 5.6.8
AMD Phenom II x4 955 CPU 16Gb Dram 2TB Barracuda

On Wednesday, 27 September 2023 at 17:10:47 UTC+1, Brian Gaff wrote:
> I guess you could trap them and go for a drive ten miles way, and release
> them there.
> They are rodents of course, and will eat most things even electrical wiring
> as I found to my cost some years ago on an out door mains cable to a shed.
> No dead squirrels though, but there were a lot about around that time. Not
> seen, or should I say, heard any for some time.
> Brian
>
> --
>
> --:
> This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
> The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
> bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
> Blind user, so no pictures please
> Note this Signature is meaningless.!
> "pinnerite" <pinn...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:20230926175934.78b0...@gmail.com...
> > Every night the local squirrels that seemed only to have reappeared
> > during the last two weeks, have been digging in the soil of every tub
> > every night and making a bloody mess.
> >
> > Are there successful solutions?
> >
> > TIA
> >
> > Alan
> >
> > --
> > Linux Mint 21.1 kernel version 5.15.0-84-generic Cinnamon 5.6.8
> > AMD Phenom II x4 955 CPU 16Gb Dram 2TB Barracuda
I don't expect a BSA underlever Airsporter would help Brian but it can be extremely effective.