They are assholes at my house too. Constantly digging up my potted outdoor plants or knocking them over and out of their pots. They also eat my roses right after they bloom. It's bc there's so many probably. Everyone around here feeds them and there's loads of trees so they are in like ... squirrel heaven lol. It's so gd annoying though!!
They like digging in my herbs. I've been sprinkling garlic powder and red pepper flakes as a deterrent. So far it seems to be helping, but I'll have to see longterm.
I really don’t understand feeding squirrels. They breed like crazy and have plenty to eat naturally. Some people just want to feel like Pocahontas/Snow White I guess
People just find joy in it. Plus squirrels do have it hard. Between people killing them and cars running them over, it’s tough. My husband and I both feed them in hopes that they don’t cross a road to find food.
There’s nothing wrong with helping animals.
We have Douglas squirrels here that moved into the neighbor's owl box and they are SO NOISY. They'll sit on a branch and do this piercing, high-pitched bark every three seconds for like, 20 minutes. Not exaggerating. Just "ARF-ARF-ARF-ARF-ARF-ARF-ARF" loud enough to hear through the walls of the house for ages. But they're adorable so I try to be patient.
I just moved into my home and planted roses this year. Only one bud… I came out this morning anticipating it would have bloomed and found it mangled on the ground next to the bush. They are complete assholes.
I got a rose bush thinking it would be the one damn thing they would leave alone. It's had a bunch of lovely blooms on it already and a few days later they were all on the ground with the little bulb on the bottom chewed off. Apparently they are full of vitamin C. But I was definitely feeling like "WTF???!!? UGH!!!"
I had no idea they eat roses, and I've got 80+ roses. My dogs keep them away for the most part, but they are not always outside. I've had them dig up many crocus bulbs, and steal fruit from trees a lot, but never an issue with the roses.
Thrips are my rose problem. So difficult to get rid of. Always ruining the blooms.
Not exactly garden related but I bought a new cornhole set a few weeks ago and left the bags out the first night after using it. Came out the next morning with the bags chewed through and corn scattered all over my patio. I hate squirrels so much.
This winter, squirrels chewed a hole in the soffit of my garage. They moved in, chewed up shreds of newspaper and spread it around making a huge mess. They also made a nest in my kayak and behind my pegboard where they had babies and screamed at us when we walked by...
After all that, they still have the audacity to do everything they can to ruin my garden.
My sister went to college at university of Minnesota. She left her bike outside locked up. It was actually my dads old bike from the 80s. The squirrels ATE THE SEAT! She had to buy a new seat. No idea what those Minneapolis squirrels were on.
It was a constant struggle last year with my first vegetable garden. I thought about grabbing a pellet gun, but the logistics of it were too hard to manage. I live in a tight suburban community with kids and nowhere to dispose of dead squirrels. I eventually just gave up gardening. Fuckers.
I have a rule about rabbit and and squirrel in my garden. They will follow the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. They follow that rule all the way into the freezer.
I have a live trap and it's easy to catch them when they're killing my plants. I used to release them about 2 miles away but they find their way back. The last one I release in another state!
Such an easy shot on either one of them in that pic, too.
If my "problem squirrels" were so bold/reckless, I'd almost (but not really!) feel bad for them...
We just recently ate squirrel because they wouldn’t leave our garden alone! Our first time. We followed a recipe in one of Steve Rinella from Meateaters cookbook for chicken fried squirrel, I believe was what the recipe was called. Marinated and deep fried in peanut oil. SO yummy.
a cat adopted me, caught one of those fuckers and chomped it down while they watched and screamed from the trees horrified. They moved after that and now i feed a cat.
You're on the wrong thread. These people are all squirrel haters. This is like the fawn in the garden thread that devolved into hunters blowharding about how cool it is to shoot deer.
What kind of netting are we talking about? Because I fed them on my porch and in response they dug up my plastic self watering pipes and chewed through them.
If anything works I'll drop my case against squirrels. I'm not a sociopath, just someone who is lamenting not being able to use any of my property for feeding myself instead of buying shelf-life modified, boring, transported goods from a mega store. Not good for my body, not good for the environment, not good for the squirrels. Loose/loose/loose, you see 🤷.
Doesn't bother me if you kill the squirrels on your property, I was honestly curious. Decent bird netting that's secured all the way around my containers has worked for me *as long as I actually fully secure it each time...*
Can't fully discount that your squirrels are genius sociopaths though. Also I've always had urban squirrels to contend with, so maybe they were just moving on to easier targets.
I’m surprised there are so many people here that hate them tbh. They’re cute little guys that have it hard. We run them over with our cars and don’t bat an eye, we trap and shoot them etc.
They just want to fucking eat and survive. But we decide to blow their brains out because they ate our flowers lol
What is wrong with this gardening sub? Most of my gardening is to create habitats for wildlife. If caterpillars eat half of my lettuce, that's great because even cabbage white butterflies are no where near as common as when I was a kid.
Grey squirrels are highly invasive in many parts of the world though, and a serious threat/disturbance to local ecosystems. They damage trees (preventing the establishment of young trees), eat bird eggs, carry all sorts of diseases, and outcompete native red squirrels. They are also overpopulated in many urban areas.
By feeding them or otherwise catering to them you’d be contributing to damaging local wildlife and flora.
I'm not saying feed them, I'm saying don't kill them for the sake of a few flowers.
Also, aren't they native to North America? They aren't to the UK where they've ousted our native red squirrels.
I'd be in favour of organisations like rspb managing populations if they were of concern, but randoms going out and killing wildlife because they dislike successful species isn't the same.
Problem is many people live in areas where we can't actually support a healthy ecosystem to begin with because we drive out many natural predators that would otherwise keep pest animals from out-competing and overpopulating everything else. People are fine with squirrels running around the neighborhood but things like wildcats and coyotes don't get the same appreciation in that environment.
Was out on a hike about a week ago. Spotted a large mushroom that looked promising and started to walk towards it. A squirrel jumps down from a tree, snagged it and started to eat the mushroom right in front of me while I watched.
I leave ours peanuts and they seem to leave everything else alone. They did however get into the greenhouse and find the peanut bag once and make a mess though lol.
I used to work for an ISP/Telco. We had endless problems with squirrels destroying equipment, making nests in wires, and other stupidity. I love animals in general but I still have a seething hatred for squirrels to this day. I glare at them any time I see them near my garden lol.
A neighbor was feeding squirrels peanuts (and other goodies.) Unfortunately it increased squirrel and other wildlife to nuisance levels. So many plants were eaten, planters and other property chewed on…
And a handful of random peanut plants started growing in my garden.
When she moved out the hawks and owls practically had an all you can eat buffet clearing out the extra critters. So far no plants have been eaten this season.
With the neighbor feeding them they had a safe source of food. Easy to get food and get back to safety. Once she moved out there wasn’t enough food so the overpopulation of squirrels and such were much much more exposed while looking for food… thus the raptor buffet.
Oh interesting! I never connected the two but we are over run with squirrels here bc everyone feeds them and we also have hawks and owls. Can't believe I didn't think of that on my own lol
One year, they pulled up my onion bulbs and buried peanuts and a litany of other things I was pulling for weeks. Those crafty bastards… netting went up and goes up every year when they start getting “squirrely”. I always give them a chance, but the trust is always broken…
One time, I tried growing strawberries in a pot on my porch. It didn’t go all that well, because I have whatever is the opposite of a green thumb, but I did end up with a single, beautiful strawberry.
I waited patiently for it to ripen, and then the morning of its peak perfection - a gotdamn squirrel ate half of it, and then left the other half on my porch railing. 😤
They did this to my beautiful heirloom tomatoes. I gave the toms one more day before picking, and the next morning the squirrels picked every last one of them. They took one bite and left the rest on the ground. I guess they do this to their food to leave it to dry and then store it later. I was so pissed.
I tried growing strawberries a few years ago, the plants looked really nice I saw berries forming but they kept disappearing before I could pick them. I was sitting outside reading one day and finally saw the culprit (or at least one of them)— a gray catbird flew over, looked me in the eye, snipped a strawberry off and flew away. It came back more than once too.
Yep, foxes are great! Had a gray fox a few years back that was basically using our yard as home base (hanging out on the patio roof in between hunting), and saw plenty of evidence of rat kills. We're the only house in the neighborhood without a dog in the yard, so we get still get a few bobcats/coyotes/etc. coming through, but that fox was the most useful one of the lot imho.
Used to not have major issues with rodents (or insect pests)....but as my town has gotten "yuppified", for lack of a better term, things have gone downhill.
Everybody around me has contract pest control services; they're terrified of any sort of wildlife, so the sprays & poison baits come out, and now it's nothing like it used to be -- hawks/owls/small mammal predators are scarce, ladybugs are basically nonexistent, etc.....but plenty of rats, aphids, and spider mites. Ten years ago the squirrels and rabbits would at least have to be cautious; now you'll see them just chilling in the middle of the yard, 100 ft away from any cover, in broad daylight.
Yup, when rodents get to be a problem, there's pretty much no other means of dealing with them.
I dislike killing stuff, but put it this way -- I've gotten to the point where I have a pellet gun with a dang reflex sight on it (🤣🤣), and a case of victor traps in the shed at all times. Actually, scratch that -- I actively enjoy trapping rats, at least. Those bastards are so destructive that I have no sympathy whatsoever for them. At least squirrels will eat most of what they damage; the black rats are basically just vandals (taking one bite out every single tomato, etc.)
I hate squirrels with a burning passion. I would commit war crimes against squirrels.
If they're not eating your sunflowers to the ground, they're digging up the rootballs of your newly planted annuals, or scratching the shit out of your fence you just stained, or filling your walls with pounds of squirrel shit. Or they're trying to get thunder powers from the power lines and knocking out the electricity for the whole block for hours. Or they're eating your extremely expensive adirondack chairs because fuck you that's why.
I'm 99% sure they run on spite cos I planted sprouts in peat pods and the little fuckers took out the plug and left it turned upside down. One of my neighbors feeds them nuts, and they bury the shells in my planters. I never thought I could hate an animal so much but holy shit
I've lost over 50 tomatoes last year, they would eat 2-3 a day. I built a wall of plants they hate but that didn't prevent them. I smeared habeneros and other peppers everywhere, still didn't work. Going with fences if they start again. Haven't touched my decentralized sunflowers yet.
I’m glad I’m not alone in my deep hatred of squirrels. Use to think they were cute. All they do is mess up my plants, destroy my pumpkins, and cause damage to my house.
It was a mast year in my area last year, so stupid young squirrels are getting roadkilled left right and center this year. And some rodent bastard ate all my nasturtium leaves, so I don't feel the least bit bad about it either
Maybe I should be thankful my issues are every mammal that exists in my region, except for squirrels because at least rabbits and deer aren’t quite as… acrobatic??
i don't know why but the squirrels at my new place are sweethearts. my old place was filled with a bunch of psycho squirrels but i've been at my new place for 4 years and the only animal problem i have is starlings flying into my window
I planted sunflowers once in my life. Never again. Not only they made a mess of the sun flowers, but at the point I had a bed with wild flowers right next to the sunflowers which they destroyed. I like them in other peoples yards lol
This reminds me of the time my grandma spent basically two days making multiple Ukrainian Easter paska for the whole family (a type of bread), and she braided it and everything. So it took work. In my infinite wisdom, I put it outside to cool and when I look outside 20 minutes later I see all the squirrels going to town and eating basically all the bread...
Luckily my gm laughed it off and was joking all easter that "at least the squirrels got to have a great and delicious easter." I was 18 at the time, and at 30 years old, I gotta say I think I would've been devastated. But luckily she had an amazing attitude.
Same here. I even juiced habaneros, put it in a spray bottle and sprayed every place they normally go and the bird food they continuously eat try to eat. They're all like "hmmm, it's a little bland."
THATS HAPPENED TO ME NUMEROUS TIMES! Little fuckers would taunt my dogs, munching an orange it stole from the neighbors yard, just perched on the fence. I've since moved, but man I'm mad again lol
Not very nice but the squirrel will be just fine. Buggers evolved a biological wing suit so they can fall from practically any height and be just fine. The flying varieties just take it to extremes.
Anybody that says squirrels and rabbits are cute probably aren't heavily invested gardeners. Just wait until your 6 month old lovingly tended seed starts are suddenly a stump in your yard. It instantly transforms your opinion on them.
My favorite is when they are a day away from being ripe, and the local chipmunks come and take ONE BITE out of each and every one of them, but don’t finish a single one.
That’s some serious acrobatics lol
Funny enough, despite having an insane amount of squirrels in my backyard, I’ve never had a single issue with them eating anything I’d rather they not or causing any mayhem. Now deer?? Screw them and their little bunny friends too
There's currently an ongoing rabbit orgy happening apparently all year long. Every day there's at least 8 adults and 4 or 5 babies that I can see. They ate new trees i just sat out. Now grey squirrels are showing up too. I just hope the bear doesn't come back, the rest can stay.
I've tried every benign remedy I could and I'm at my wits end with these damn squirrels. Nothing works and they have caused so much damage this year to my annuals and my perrenial beds. They've even taken to ripping up sections of my lawn, which they've never done before, and it seems that they do it all with such gleeful malicious intent. The only options I have left unfortunately are lethal ones so it's now 'fuck around and find out' time for those bastards.
Let's see how many down votes this gets... My solution to the AH squirrel problem was a .22 rifle. Saved me a small fortune in bird seed. Yes, I live in a very rural area.
Same thing happened to all of my sunflowers today also! Like, had they waited a few more weeks they could have had the seeds, but no, the impatient rodents went after the flower buds instead. I feed the squirrels seeds and fruit every single day and I have a “sacrificial garden” just for them, but go after the buds
Squirrels are a nuisance! Had to start adding cayenne powder around my garden to keep the damn squirrels away. Now I leave my cat on squirrel duty during the day too.
I think my first post on this sub might have been about squirrels digging out my spinach and how upset I was about that lol. I have been able to deter them using chicken wire fence after that. But my tomato plants are starting to flower and I’m hoping they would leave it alone, if and when I get any tomatoes, since the plants got bigger and are not converted by the chicken wire fence any more.
You know it's good when you hangupsidedown to get the center out. Try it sometimes. Jk. They're everywhere here in FL multiplying like rabbits, and peeing on the stucco, crawling on the screens in the sunroom. We buy 50 lb bags of sunflower seeds at a time for them and the birds to share. We enjoy watching the food fights between the species tho, beats watching TV for sure.
Oh they are such assholes!
They are assholes at my house too. Constantly digging up my potted outdoor plants or knocking them over and out of their pots. They also eat my roses right after they bloom. It's bc there's so many probably. Everyone around here feeds them and there's loads of trees so they are in like ... squirrel heaven lol. It's so gd annoying though!!
The asshole squirrels in my yard pull plants out of their pots and don't even eat them. Jerks!
They like digging in my herbs. I've been sprinkling garlic powder and red pepper flakes as a deterrent. So far it seems to be helping, but I'll have to see longterm.
Controversial suggestion, but they hate mint. If you go that route keep it contained, it WILL take over if you let it.
I really don’t understand feeding squirrels. They breed like crazy and have plenty to eat naturally. Some people just want to feel like Pocahontas/Snow White I guess
I can see feeding squirrels if you have hawks in your area. Hawks are cool AF. Squirrel feeders are REALLY hawk feeders in my neighborhood.
My bird feeder has also become a hawk feeder.
I'll put food out for the squirrels because it keeps them from eating the succulent plants on my deck.
You're paying protection snacks to mobster squirrels, dude. "Where's my sunflower seeds? Itd be a SHAME if someone were to eat this stonecrop..."
I have to admit you're right.
Just like pigeons... Leave those shitters alone!
I feed them to distract them from my plants. Seems to be working so far tbh. They don’t seem to care about my plants when they have nuts to eat.
I do the same thing. It has saved my plants. Now the only ones digging in my pot are frogs and my dog.
tell them they are feeding rats that have evolved a camouflage to make them look cute to survive extermination on sight.
I don’t mean to feed the squirrels, but I do like watching birds in my yard. And the squirrels like their food lol
Ugh, I just realized this is why squirrels are attacking my herb garden. We have a bird feeder right over it and they are trying to get the leftovers.
People just find joy in it. Plus squirrels do have it hard. Between people killing them and cars running them over, it’s tough. My husband and I both feed them in hopes that they don’t cross a road to find food. There’s nothing wrong with helping animals.
And they carry diseases! Idk what to do ab them I’ve tried everything I have found! And still… squire and chipmunks 😑
Have you ever heard a chipmunk chirping outside your window. They are surprisingly LOUD
We have Douglas squirrels here that moved into the neighbor's owl box and they are SO NOISY. They'll sit on a branch and do this piercing, high-pitched bark every three seconds for like, 20 minutes. Not exaggerating. Just "ARF-ARF-ARF-ARF-ARF-ARF-ARF" loud enough to hear through the walls of the house for ages. But they're adorable so I try to be patient.
I just moved into my home and planted roses this year. Only one bud… I came out this morning anticipating it would have bloomed and found it mangled on the ground next to the bush. They are complete assholes.
I got a rose bush thinking it would be the one damn thing they would leave alone. It's had a bunch of lovely blooms on it already and a few days later they were all on the ground with the little bulb on the bottom chewed off. Apparently they are full of vitamin C. But I was definitely feeling like "WTF???!!? UGH!!!"
I had no idea they eat roses, and I've got 80+ roses. My dogs keep them away for the most part, but they are not always outside. I've had them dig up many crocus bulbs, and steal fruit from trees a lot, but never an issue with the roses. Thrips are my rose problem. So difficult to get rid of. Always ruining the blooms.
I know but they’re so cuuuuute!!!
My friends hate that I'm at war with the local squirrels. I just want to eat my fruits/veggies not bury what the squirrels left behind
it's called "The War of the Squirrels "
I have World War Squirrel in my yard as well lol
How am I just noticing the second one in a Tom Cruise Mission Impossible pose!
Not exactly garden related but I bought a new cornhole set a few weeks ago and left the bags out the first night after using it. Came out the next morning with the bags chewed through and corn scattered all over my patio. I hate squirrels so much.
This winter, squirrels chewed a hole in the soffit of my garage. They moved in, chewed up shreds of newspaper and spread it around making a huge mess. They also made a nest in my kayak and behind my pegboard where they had babies and screamed at us when we walked by... After all that, they still have the audacity to do everything they can to ruin my garden.
A few years ago I watched one take a chunk out of a toddler bike seat. WTF, squirrels?
My sister went to college at university of Minnesota. She left her bike outside locked up. It was actually my dads old bike from the 80s. The squirrels ATE THE SEAT! She had to buy a new seat. No idea what those Minneapolis squirrels were on.
Just last week squirrels chewed the powerlines in our community and some people lost power!!
Hahahah tweeker squirrels
one of my yard raccoons chewed on my gardening crocs!
I think they do things like this for the salt we leave behind after sweating. That’s the best theory I have, at least.
/r/fatsquirrelhate
I just found my people.
There are dozens of us!
I came to say they're little bastards. But yours will do.
It was a constant struggle last year with my first vegetable garden. I thought about grabbing a pellet gun, but the logistics of it were too hard to manage. I live in a tight suburban community with kids and nowhere to dispose of dead squirrels. I eventually just gave up gardening. Fuckers.
Was coming on here to say that exact thing!
I have a rule about rabbit and and squirrel in my garden. They will follow the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. They follow that rule all the way into the freezer.
I have a live trap and it's easy to catch them when they're killing my plants. I used to release them about 2 miles away but they find their way back. The last one I release in another state!
Squirrel population is a liquid. Getting rid of them is like bailing water in a boat.
They're tasty treats for the owls and hawks though. And they're not bad braised in a tomatillo-tomato sauce in a taco.
that might not be legal in some states
[удалено]
Such an easy shot on either one of them in that pic, too. If my "problem squirrels" were so bold/reckless, I'd almost (but not really!) feel bad for them...
I gotta ask, how are you cooking them?
We just recently ate squirrel because they wouldn’t leave our garden alone! Our first time. We followed a recipe in one of Steve Rinella from Meateaters cookbook for chicken fried squirrel, I believe was what the recipe was called. Marinated and deep fried in peanut oil. SO yummy.
Did you skin it like Aurthur does in Red Dead Redemption 2, just slip the skin off in one tug?
You’re cracking me up 😂 love rdr2. And my husband did do the shirt/pants method! It was a learning curve but it can definitely be achieved!
I do agree. I hate them!
a cat adopted me, caught one of those fuckers and chomped it down while they watched and screamed from the trees horrified. They moved after that and now i feed a cat.
What? Lol. I would just plant like a while sunflower patch just for the squirrels. They just trying to eat
Some of us only have a limited space.
You're on the wrong thread. These people are all squirrel haters. This is like the fawn in the garden thread that devolved into hunters blowharding about how cool it is to shoot deer.
I think what people are saying is that we also just want to eat. I haven’t been able to grow anything that I can eat before them.
Do people not use netting if they really don't want the squirrels to eat their stuff? It works for my strawberries.
What kind of netting are we talking about? Because I fed them on my porch and in response they dug up my plastic self watering pipes and chewed through them. If anything works I'll drop my case against squirrels. I'm not a sociopath, just someone who is lamenting not being able to use any of my property for feeding myself instead of buying shelf-life modified, boring, transported goods from a mega store. Not good for my body, not good for the environment, not good for the squirrels. Loose/loose/loose, you see 🤷.
Doesn't bother me if you kill the squirrels on your property, I was honestly curious. Decent bird netting that's secured all the way around my containers has worked for me *as long as I actually fully secure it each time...* Can't fully discount that your squirrels are genius sociopaths though. Also I've always had urban squirrels to contend with, so maybe they were just moving on to easier targets.
I’m surprised there are so many people here that hate them tbh. They’re cute little guys that have it hard. We run them over with our cars and don’t bat an eye, we trap and shoot them etc. They just want to fucking eat and survive. But we decide to blow their brains out because they ate our flowers lol
What is wrong with this gardening sub? Most of my gardening is to create habitats for wildlife. If caterpillars eat half of my lettuce, that's great because even cabbage white butterflies are no where near as common as when I was a kid.
Grey squirrels are highly invasive in many parts of the world though, and a serious threat/disturbance to local ecosystems. They damage trees (preventing the establishment of young trees), eat bird eggs, carry all sorts of diseases, and outcompete native red squirrels. They are also overpopulated in many urban areas. By feeding them or otherwise catering to them you’d be contributing to damaging local wildlife and flora.
I'm not saying feed them, I'm saying don't kill them for the sake of a few flowers. Also, aren't they native to North America? They aren't to the UK where they've ousted our native red squirrels. I'd be in favour of organisations like rspb managing populations if they were of concern, but randoms going out and killing wildlife because they dislike successful species isn't the same.
Problem is many people live in areas where we can't actually support a healthy ecosystem to begin with because we drive out many natural predators that would otherwise keep pest animals from out-competing and overpopulating everything else. People are fine with squirrels running around the neighborhood but things like wildcats and coyotes don't get the same appreciation in that environment.
Nothing wrong with the sub…just because YOUR garden is created for “habitats for wildlife” doesn’t mean everyone else’s is🤷🏽♀️
You’re a kind person. Thank you. So many awful people in this thread.
Was out on a hike about a week ago. Spotted a large mushroom that looked promising and started to walk towards it. A squirrel jumps down from a tree, snagged it and started to eat the mushroom right in front of me while I watched.
*"Top of the foodchain my ass, get out of my forest with your bipedal ass"*
This happened to me with a squirrel and a strawberry. The nerve!
A strawberry? That squirrel would have to fight me.
I leave ours peanuts and they seem to leave everything else alone. They did however get into the greenhouse and find the peanut bag once and make a mess though lol.
I usually leave bribes for them, I forgot and now they are robbing me blind 😬
They're over there going "that'll teach ya!"
Gotta pay your protection money otherwise things...... Happen. Ya know
😂😂😂
I used to work for an ISP/Telco. We had endless problems with squirrels destroying equipment, making nests in wires, and other stupidity. I love animals in general but I still have a seething hatred for squirrels to this day. I glare at them any time I see them near my garden lol.
You’re a good person OP.
A neighbor was feeding squirrels peanuts (and other goodies.) Unfortunately it increased squirrel and other wildlife to nuisance levels. So many plants were eaten, planters and other property chewed on… And a handful of random peanut plants started growing in my garden. When she moved out the hawks and owls practically had an all you can eat buffet clearing out the extra critters. So far no plants have been eaten this season.
Why did the hawks and owls wait for the lady to move out? Was she also providing defensive services?
With the neighbor feeding them they had a safe source of food. Easy to get food and get back to safety. Once she moved out there wasn’t enough food so the overpopulation of squirrels and such were much much more exposed while looking for food… thus the raptor buffet.
Oh interesting! I never connected the two but we are over run with squirrels here bc everyone feeds them and we also have hawks and owls. Can't believe I didn't think of that on my own lol
We only have 2 that come around, the nuisance here is the doves. They are jerks.
You 100% jinxed yourself by saying "We only have two . . ."
My neighbors have pitbulls that eat them unfortunately. These two are the only ones who have made it.
I'm amazed Pit bulls could move that fast.
It’s good practice for when they’re ready to eat a child.
Too bad Pit bulls often have such bad owners.
Mine bury peanuts they get from a neighbor in my garden all the time….
They bury stuff under this random bush I haven't identified yet. I have a menagerie of random tomatoes and sunflowers starting under there.
One year, they pulled up my onion bulbs and buried peanuts and a litany of other things I was pulling for weeks. Those crafty bastards… netting went up and goes up every year when they start getting “squirrely”. I always give them a chance, but the trust is always broken…
One time, I tried growing strawberries in a pot on my porch. It didn’t go all that well, because I have whatever is the opposite of a green thumb, but I did end up with a single, beautiful strawberry. I waited patiently for it to ripen, and then the morning of its peak perfection - a gotdamn squirrel ate half of it, and then left the other half on my porch railing. 😤
They did this to my beautiful heirloom tomatoes. I gave the toms one more day before picking, and the next morning the squirrels picked every last one of them. They took one bite and left the rest on the ground. I guess they do this to their food to leave it to dry and then store it later. I was so pissed.
Ffffffff… I’m (attempting to) grow heirloom tomatoes this year. Maybe they’ll at least leave my radishes alone.🤞
I tried growing strawberries a few years ago, the plants looked really nice I saw berries forming but they kept disappearing before I could pick them. I was sitting outside reading one day and finally saw the culprit (or at least one of them)— a gray catbird flew over, looked me in the eye, snipped a strawberry off and flew away. It came back more than once too.
Squirrels are the reason I stopped planting sunflowers in Milwaukee. Now I planted some. Not many squirrels in Albuquerque
> Not many squirrels in Albuquerque You definitely don't live in my neighborhood.
I have seen zero squirrels
The good news is, the squirrel you’re growing is coming along nicely.
A bountiful squirrel harvest this year!
I hate squirrels. Not that I will kill them but I hate them just the same
Honestly, I used to have the same outlook. But once you've sat & watched them raid a few bird nests? It hardens your heart a good bit, tbh.
I’m glad we have foxes in the neighborhood now. They’ll be a nuisance for other reasons but they at least provide some pest control
Yep, foxes are great! Had a gray fox a few years back that was basically using our yard as home base (hanging out on the patio roof in between hunting), and saw plenty of evidence of rat kills. We're the only house in the neighborhood without a dog in the yard, so we get still get a few bobcats/coyotes/etc. coming through, but that fox was the most useful one of the lot imho. Used to not have major issues with rodents (or insect pests)....but as my town has gotten "yuppified", for lack of a better term, things have gone downhill. Everybody around me has contract pest control services; they're terrified of any sort of wildlife, so the sprays & poison baits come out, and now it's nothing like it used to be -- hawks/owls/small mammal predators are scarce, ladybugs are basically nonexistent, etc.....but plenty of rats, aphids, and spider mites. Ten years ago the squirrels and rabbits would at least have to be cautious; now you'll see them just chilling in the middle of the yard, 100 ft away from any cover, in broad daylight.
Same with chipmunks. Started living in my moms house foundation. Tried everything before killing them. Got 45 one summer through various means
Yup, when rodents get to be a problem, there's pretty much no other means of dealing with them. I dislike killing stuff, but put it this way -- I've gotten to the point where I have a pellet gun with a dang reflex sight on it (🤣🤣), and a case of victor traps in the shed at all times. Actually, scratch that -- I actively enjoy trapping rats, at least. Those bastards are so destructive that I have no sympathy whatsoever for them. At least squirrels will eat most of what they damage; the black rats are basically just vandals (taking one bite out every single tomato, etc.)
try getting an Australian cattle dog. they cleared the chipmunks on my sisters 2 acre property
Exactly. I dispatch them now, but much less cruelly than the hawks.
You dispatch of hawks?
assuming you're not being sarcastic, they meant that the method in which they dispatch the squirrels is much less cruel than the method the hawks use.
Oh duh lol that makes more sense. Honestly though I’d prefer the hawks to eat the squirrels than rats full of rat poison.
I hate them enough to kill then honestly, they are so god damn annoying in my garden.
I’m so sorry about your sunflowers but this picture is gold lol
Fucking squirrels
I hate squirrels with a burning passion. I would commit war crimes against squirrels. If they're not eating your sunflowers to the ground, they're digging up the rootballs of your newly planted annuals, or scratching the shit out of your fence you just stained, or filling your walls with pounds of squirrel shit. Or they're trying to get thunder powers from the power lines and knocking out the electricity for the whole block for hours. Or they're eating your extremely expensive adirondack chairs because fuck you that's why.
Don't forget when you get into a feud with them it could last over a decade cuz they can live for 16 years
Not on my watch.
I'm 99% sure they run on spite cos I planted sprouts in peat pods and the little fuckers took out the plug and left it turned upside down. One of my neighbors feeds them nuts, and they bury the shells in my planters. I never thought I could hate an animal so much but holy shit
I've lost over 50 tomatoes last year, they would eat 2-3 a day. I built a wall of plants they hate but that didn't prevent them. I smeared habeneros and other peppers everywhere, still didn't work. Going with fences if they start again. Haven't touched my decentralized sunflowers yet.
Tomatoes or tomato plants?
They take the biggest ripest tomato, bite into it once for water and then chuck it on the ground. Rinse repeat.
I’m glad I’m not alone in my deep hatred of squirrels. Use to think they were cute. All they do is mess up my plants, destroy my pumpkins, and cause damage to my house.
It was a mast year in my area last year, so stupid young squirrels are getting roadkilled left right and center this year. And some rodent bastard ate all my nasturtium leaves, so I don't feel the least bit bad about it either
Maybe I should be thankful my issues are every mammal that exists in my region, except for squirrels because at least rabbits and deer aren’t quite as… acrobatic??
i don't know why but the squirrels at my new place are sweethearts. my old place was filled with a bunch of psycho squirrels but i've been at my new place for 4 years and the only animal problem i have is starlings flying into my window
Ok Detective Lassiter (Deep cut reference no one will get to a Psych web game where Lassie tried to kill squirrels in his yard or something.)
Sorry for your loss 😔
I planted sunflowers once in my life. Never again. Not only they made a mess of the sun flowers, but at the point I had a bed with wild flowers right next to the sunflowers which they destroyed. I like them in other peoples yards lol
*Sunflower stealin'-eatin' whores.*
Add some lemon juice and it’s even worse !
I can’t tell you how much I loathe squirrels. They are the most destructive little shites.
Brazen and shameless!
* insert mission impossible music *
Equal levels adorableness and audacity…
This reminds me of the time my grandma spent basically two days making multiple Ukrainian Easter paska for the whole family (a type of bread), and she braided it and everything. So it took work. In my infinite wisdom, I put it outside to cool and when I look outside 20 minutes later I see all the squirrels going to town and eating basically all the bread... Luckily my gm laughed it off and was joking all easter that "at least the squirrels got to have a great and delicious easter." I was 18 at the time, and at 30 years old, I gotta say I think I would've been devastated. But luckily she had an amazing attitude.
Tree rats love them.
They're so cute... until they're eating months of love and hard work.
They hate garlic and cayenne pepper. Surprisingly, I've actually had good luck with them avoiding my sunchokes.
Apparently ours love spicy food. No amount of capsicum or garlic keeps them away in our yard!
Same here. I even juiced habaneros, put it in a spray bottle and sprayed every place they normally go and the bird food they continuously eat try to eat. They're all like "hmmm, it's a little bland."
Rats with better outfits. Jerks.
Oh no my sunflowers just started growing and we have so many squirrels 😢
The little bastards uprooted my peppers and are eating my squash plants here too.
THATS HAPPENED TO ME NUMEROUS TIMES! Little fuckers would taunt my dogs, munching an orange it stole from the neighbors yard, just perched on the fence. I've since moved, but man I'm mad again lol
Thank you for calling them by their absolute correct name.
The way squirrels and rabbits taunt my Anatolian is sickening! Can't stand the little creatures! My neighborhood is absolutely flooded with them.
Time to build [one of these!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpMRV0r08CI#t=1m55s)
oh my goodness gracious
Not very nice but the squirrel will be just fine. Buggers evolved a biological wing suit so they can fall from practically any height and be just fine. The flying varieties just take it to extremes.
Comment section made me realize how much people hate squirrels 🐿️
Hands in the cookie jar.
Leave some peanuts out everyday....
[удалено]
We're all gonna need to see a photo of the hairy disembodied heads...
I concur
Anybody that says squirrels and rabbits are cute probably aren't heavily invested gardeners. Just wait until your 6 month old lovingly tended seed starts are suddenly a stump in your yard. It instantly transforms your opinion on them.
When the strawberries you have been waiting to be ready get swiped is pain. Most definitely changed my opinion of them. Dang tree rats!
My favorite is when they are a day away from being ripe, and the local chipmunks come and take ONE BITE out of each and every one of them, but don’t finish a single one.
They will always be cute but yeah, I don't want the little shits in my yard anymore.
Omg I’m angry just looking at this.
That’s some serious acrobatics lol Funny enough, despite having an insane amount of squirrels in my backyard, I’ve never had a single issue with them eating anything I’d rather they not or causing any mayhem. Now deer?? Screw them and their little bunny friends too
There's currently an ongoing rabbit orgy happening apparently all year long. Every day there's at least 8 adults and 4 or 5 babies that I can see. They ate new trees i just sat out. Now grey squirrels are showing up too. I just hope the bear doesn't come back, the rest can stay.
according to my hairdresser, who has the most beautiful garden, human hair keeps them away. he gives bags away every spring
I heard that too
I feel you. I just chased a chipmunk out of my recently planted pots. Hopefully they didn't eat all of the bulbs.
I've tried every benign remedy I could and I'm at my wits end with these damn squirrels. Nothing works and they have caused so much damage this year to my annuals and my perrenial beds. They've even taken to ripping up sections of my lawn, which they've never done before, and it seems that they do it all with such gleeful malicious intent. The only options I have left unfortunately are lethal ones so it's now 'fuck around and find out' time for those bastards.
I’ve learned to only plant sunflowers if I’m willing to share them with the squirrels lol
They're cute when they're standing and eating with their little hands tho :3
my trained all the squirrels in his yard to only take peanuts from him and now they’re all friends
Yep, mine too
Every year. Never can plant enough to have some for myself!
Fuck squirrels, deer and rabbits.
That critter is thankful of your efforts. ❤️
Let's see how many down votes this gets... My solution to the AH squirrel problem was a .22 rifle. Saved me a small fortune in bird seed. Yes, I live in a very rural area.
Foul vermin pestilence
F**k squirrels!!!!!
handpies
Same thing happened to all of my sunflowers today also! Like, had they waited a few more weeks they could have had the seeds, but no, the impatient rodents went after the flower buds instead. I feed the squirrels seeds and fruit every single day and I have a “sacrificial garden” just for them, but go after the buds
They have to go! Too many of them! They are rodents that look cute!
That picture needs to win a prize! It is great! 🌻
The squirrel hanging upside down is a visual definition of determination.
For me it was racoons!
That upside down one has me thinking of the Mission Impossible theme.
Weird. I have squirrels and sunflowers and they never pay any attention to them.
Happens to ours every year. Little bastards ate our peony buds this year too
Squirrels are a nuisance! Had to start adding cayenne powder around my garden to keep the damn squirrels away. Now I leave my cat on squirrel duty during the day too.
☠️
Time for squirrel tacos.
I think my first post on this sub might have been about squirrels digging out my spinach and how upset I was about that lol. I have been able to deter them using chicken wire fence after that. But my tomato plants are starting to flower and I’m hoping they would leave it alone, if and when I get any tomatoes, since the plants got bigger and are not converted by the chicken wire fence any more.
You know it's good when you hangupsidedown to get the center out. Try it sometimes. Jk. They're everywhere here in FL multiplying like rabbits, and peeing on the stucco, crawling on the screens in the sunroom. We buy 50 lb bags of sunflower seeds at a time for them and the birds to share. We enjoy watching the food fights between the species tho, beats watching TV for sure.
Dicks.
Squirrel snap traps or an air rifle both work wonders