For some reason, this year the squirrels went nuts and started digging incredibly aggressively all around my yard. Until I actually caught one of them in the act, I assumed it was another animal because didn’t believe that they could move so much soil (and gravel?!) so quickly!
I’ve got pavers that are sinking in because they made little tunnels underneath, plants that are dying, and I’m starting to worry about the stability of the landscape in general. It’s truly a mess.
I would love any tips, hints, suggestions, etc to control this situation. (I know trapping and/or shooting are common last resorts, but I am worried about trapping other wildlife and I’m squeamish about the latter.) Are there any other things I could attempt? Owl boxes to welcome predators, maybe?
Have you checked your yard for grubs? Maybe they’re digging for grubs/food of sorts. If so then if you can get rid of the grubs, they’ll leave.
Once upon a time, when i moved into a new house, the grass had a grub problem and Robins would hunt in the ground out back. I took care of the grub problem and they stopped poking holes.
Just a thought. If your can figure out why they’re doing that, maybe you can stop it naturally
Also my grass grew back in the areas i treated and worms came back too. The robins still hunted the worms but not as aggressively as they did with scratching and the ground like before. They still allowed the grass to grow while worm hunting but I’m pretty sure it was the grubs that killed the grass and not the birds to begin with
But the squirrel problem will remain if there is anything at all to attract them. Trapping is a headache (the animal still needs to be dispatched) but helps. Learning to shoot them is the best option. Poisoning with the newer anticoagulants may not be safe for animals that eat the carrion, according to reports I read this year, so the poisoned squirrel needs to be found and buried -not that easy! You can trap, feed bait, and then bury. @Lucky_P may have more current information.
Didn’t know squirrels do so much burrowing. I too have lots of burrowing under the grass, but I thought they were voles.
I posted here about poisoning squirrels with rat poison zip tied to the tree, but the thread was eventually removed over too much bickering. If the problem is chipmunks, you can use rat traps with peanut butter. I’ve never had much luck with trapping squirrels in live traps. I also have a hard time shooting them.
Well, good luck, they can strip a tree of fruit before it even ripens.
We have had terrible gopher problems. What has actually worked best for us was planting catnip. I tried this as a desperate measure, never thought it would work so well. But alas… I could see that the plants were being flattened overnight, clearly somebody was rolling on them. Over time, our yard became THE hotspot for the local cats. And then we started finding gopher heads. I sometimes see a cat out there hunting during the day now. We still get the occasional gopher but things have really improved.
Im having good luck with the tube trap, Ive caught 33 squirrels since this past October. The trap kills the squirrel with in minutes, if the trap is placed off the ground, it’s very unlikely to catch anything besides a squirrel.
The Have a Heart traps are very easy to use (and kind to all God’s creatures). I do have to spend some time taking squirrels on road trips, but it’s not too inconvenient. And since squirrels are active during the day they are easy to catch. Usually I set one up and catch a squirrel within minutes.
Catnip hasn’t been invasive for me, but then again I also plant comfrey and mint without much fear of spread (so far, so good). I think maybe summers are dry enough that a lot of typical “invasives” may be more limited. (What I really can’t get rid of are the morning glory, English ivy, and Himalayan blackberry, but that’s another story.) I have occasionally seen spearmint establish and spread at some neighbors, but never catnip. And while the catnip survived here about five years in the garden, it’s looking like the last died, and so I am planning on replacing them this year. But it may be invasive in areas with more regular rain, not sure.
My client in woodinville did that for years w squirrels that keep getting into his attic. Then one of his neighbors at the release site pulled a pistol on him and he knocked it off. But for lists on here I read they just starve being dropped into a new pecking order and squirrel zone, no food or real estate.
Just like people who dump cats and dogs “in the country” instead of addressing the problem head on. Those of us with the unwanted critters are left to deal with the problem using lethal measures.
Don’t trap and dump critters elsewhere. You are only perpetuating the problem.
In 7a/b outside Philly… I haven’t planted any proper mint inground, but the catnip I have is growing around the edge of a fig in front of my house. It makes the jump along cracks in the concrete walkway to come up on the other side about three feet, and the flowers seem to produce viable seed if I want it elsewhere. Or just lots of seedlings that get rubbed out in the Spring/early Summer around where its growing. Cuttings also root reasonably well if you stick one in the ground.
It gets some water during the Summer if it looks like it needs it when I’m watering tomatoes/peppers/whatever. Gets about 1.5’ tall during the Summer and tends to die back to a few inches during the Winter. I have two cats that like nibbling it along with one of the neighbor’s who visits from time to time. A couple stalks get yanked once or twice a year if it’s getting to be a bit much and shading something more important.
Between Winter dieback, some pruning/yanking some out, and giving some to the cats/them nibbling on their own I’ve been worried about it dying off completely and having to restart it from seed than I have of it taking over.
and worms came back too. The robins still hunted the worms but not as aggressively as they did with scratching and the ground like before. They still allowed the grass to grow while worm hunting but I’m pretty sure it was the grubs that killed the grass and not the birds to begin with
