At war with the squirrels

[shipwrkd]

The mice in my garage were eating from a heavy plastic bag of bird seed. The top of the bag was open, yet they chewed a hole in it, about an inch below the opening.

I’ve been there also. The only way around it is to put the seed bag in a tough rubber or metal garbage can. They’re especially fond of sunflower seeds

 

[shipwrkd]

Our little mountain church is slowly being pulverized by a woodpecker or woodpeckers. Sometimes he/she even tries to disrupt Mass. If you look at one side of the church there are over a hundred holes. Eventually the holes will connect…

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...SBvsG-1g3SONPfcV9ncyg9FdoMViAHCl-_9GC4KewN1Cg

That could be trouble because most woodpeckers are protected by law. This could be a whole new ballgame

 

[epan]

I’ve been there also. The only way around it is to put the seed bag in a tough rubber or metal garbage can. They’re especially fond of sunflower seeds

Put the seeds or some dog food, etc., in the bottom of a large plastic trash can. Put the trash can next to a counter or ledge that the mice can easily get to. In the morning, you will have a lot of mice trapped in the can who jumped down to get at the food, but who can’t get back out. Repeat this every night, until you aren’t catching any more mice for a while.

 

[shipwrkd]

Put the seeds or some dog food, etc., in the bottom of a large plastic trash can. Put the trash can next to a counter or ledge that the mice can easily get to. In the morning, you will have a lot of mice trapped in the can who jumped down to get at the food, but who can’t get back out. Repeat this every night, until you aren’t catching any more mice for a while.

I know this works for a hamster that found it’s way out of his cage but I never thought of it for mice. Great idea, right up there with Nan’s electric deer, as long as you let them go outside the garage so as not to harm them
I’ll bet you could tell some stories

 

[on_the_hill]

as long as you let them go outside the garage so as not to harm them

Um…letting them out outside of the garage wouldn’t work.

When I cleaned everything out of the garage six scattered to the outside. An hour or so later I saw at least two or three making their way back inside.

 

[shipwrkd]

Um…letting them out outside of the garage wouldn’t work.

When I cleaned everything out of the garage six scattered to the outside. An hour or so later I saw at least two or three making their way back inside.

Oh oh, we may have a moral conundrum here. What does one do with a bucket full of mice, keeping in mind that they are of the same order (Rodentia) as squirrels, just a bit smaller with uglier tails. I suppose I could wait till my Methodist neighbor left his garage door up and release them there. But if they’re catholic mice, they’re sure to find their way back…but maybe just for Christmas and Easter

 

[maltmom]

But if they’re catholic mice, they’re sure to find their way back…but maybe just for Christmas and Easter

Shame on you…I almost spit water on my screen. I thought you wanted to kill the squirrels…not me.

 

[shipwrkd]

Shame on you…I almost spit water on my screen. I thought you wanted to kill the squirrels…not me.

Aw man, I’m really sorry. A few pages back, Kelfa28 lost a keyboard that way and now you almost toasted a screen. This thread has become harder on computer equipment then on the rodents. :takethat:
Perhaps if CAF has an IT Geek we should get him involved…may have to move it from Moral Theology.

 

[maltmom]

I forgive you.

 

[on_the_hill]

Oh oh, we may have a moral conundrum here. What does one do with a bucket full of mice,

Well…One could tell you what one might have done in a similar situation many years ago when one was a volunteer at a certain animal-centered institution and was given the responsibility of regularly dispatching large numbers of mice that posed a threat to the animals kept there.

 

[Nan_S]

And here I thought this was a joke! Let me know if you see any on Christmas

I go to Midnight Mass on Christmas and the Vigil Mass at Easter. The squirrels are already in their nests by that hour. Someone else is going to have to verify.

shipwrkd:

Oh oh, we may have a moral conundrum here. What does one do with a bucket full of mice, keeping in mind that they are of the same order (Rodentia) as squirrels, just a bit smaller with uglier tails. I suppose I could wait till my Methodist neighbor left his garage door up and release them there. But if they’re catholic mice, they’re sure to find their way back…but maybe just for Christmas and Easter

Send them over to me. I have an 18-year-old cat in declining health who we don’t allow outside any more. He has always been a Mighty Hunter and misses it. Now I have to go to the pet shop and buy mice bred to be snake food. That gets expensive.

Now I don’t want anyone hissing about animal-on-animal cruelty. The cat likes his favorite food live, but he’s all business. He’ll dispatch any mouse in about 7 seconds, far faster and more efficiently than the snakes these mice were intended to feed.

 

[shipwrkd]

Well…One could tell you what one might have done in a similar situation many years ago when one was a volunteer at a certain animal-centered institution and was given the responsibility of regularly dispatching large numbers of mice that posed a threat to the animals kept there.

Let me guess. S.W.I.M. was responsible to take care of them

 

[shipwrkd]

I go to Midnight Mass on Christmas and the Vigil Mass at Easter. The squirrels are already in their nests by that hour. Someone else is going to have to verify.

So we need someone trained in reconnaissance who won’t be attending Midnight Mass. I’m thinking my Methodist neighbor and because he’s a “shooter” I think he can be trusted.

Send them over to me. I have an 18-year-old cat in declining health who we don’t allow outside any more. He has always been a Mighty Hunter and misses it. Now I have to go to the pet shop and buy mice bred to be snake food. That gets expensive.

I see an opportunity here. Rather then buying , we could start selling. Instead of spending, we could be making. Maybe go on the Shark Tank to get some coin to get up and running. Mighty Hunter would be in mice for a long time. We may have to make a donation to CAF to keep the thread up and running because I’m sure there are many Catholics wondering what to do with the critters they’re gonna catch from our poster’s ideas.

Now I don’t want anyone hissing about animal-on-animal cruelty. The cat likes his favorite food live, but he’s all business. He’ll dispatch any mouse in about 7 seconds, far faster and more efficiently than the snakes these mice were intended to feed.

Hmmmm, are there pet snakes that would like something bigger then a mouse…say as big as a squirrel?

 

[mary_bobo]

I go to Midnight Mass on Christmas and the Vigil Mass at Easter. The squirrels are already in their nests by that hour. Someone else is going to have to verify.

Send them over to me. I have an 18-year-old cat in declining health who we don’t allow outside any more. He has always been a Mighty Hunter and misses it. Now I have to go to the pet shop and buy mice bred to be snake food. That gets expensive.

Now I don’t want anyone hissing about animal-on-animal cruelty. The cat likes his favorite food live, but he’s all business. He’ll dispatch any mouse in about 7 seconds, far faster and more efficiently than the snakes these mice were intended to feed.

Is the cat faster than a terrier who will take the mouth and the snake at the same time.

 

[shipwrkd]

Is the cat faster than a terrier who will take the mouth and the snake at the same time.

Do I sense a bit of friendly competitiveness on the part of a probable terrier owner What’s it’s name and how is it with squirrels? I’m sure it would be welcome to the hunt.

 

[TheDoors]

But maybe you could try it just ONCE and do all that, wait for nature to become alive, watch the wonders of God… but don’t take the gun. And on the way back home through the wonderful forest and fields think about how wonderful it is that there is now one animal out there that is still alive and part of this because YOU didn’t shoot it. Isn’t that even better???

Sister, I’ve hiked on the Rockies and the Appalachians. I grew up on a farm and saw the sun rise and set every day of my life, usually caring for the animals which I grew up with. I’m going to reach out and assume that you’re city born and raised. This isn’t an insult, but an observation. I grew up on a farm. We raised beef, pork and poultry. That is to say, we brought home calfs, piglets and chicks, raised them by hand and then butchered them when they were ready. In this manner we knew what was going into these animals, and we could be sure that they lived and died cleanly and well.

As a hunter, I know that the game that I take is a gift from God, and something not to be squandered by becoming just a trophy. I won’t kill something that isn’t going to find a good use. For me, it’s meat, bones and fur. I have to use atleast two if I’m going to hunt it.

As someone who grew up in deer country, I can tell you that winter is a hard, hard time for these animals. There is only so much forage to go around, and animals that aren’t fed will starve. A controlled, responsible culling of the herd allows the majority to survive instead of starving to death. It also helps keep the numbers on the road down. Thanks to responsible hunters in New England, we’ve gotten the deer down to a somewhat reasonable level. This has allowed other animals such as moose and caribou to return to the state. Keeping the number of Coyote down is allowing the native wolf and bobcat to return.

Every predator has a place in the order of things. As man, we are given stewardship over all the earth and everything in it. As we displace animals for farms and homes, it’s our responsibility to make sure that those creatures can continue to survive as a specie, and that their lives are not made into something which fails to glorify God. I can understand if you don’t hunt. I have many friends who believe that meat comes from the grocery store, and they’re quite happy with going that far. But I will say that there is no shame in killing an animal if you are going to make proper use of it. It’s how my ancestors fed their family, and it helped feed my siblings and me growing up.

 

[Kathrin]

Sister, I’ve hiked on the Rockies and the Appalachians. I grew up on a farm and saw the sun rise and set every day of my life, usually caring for the animals which I grew up with. I’m going to reach out and assume that you’re city born and raised. This isn’t an insult, but an observation. I grew up on a farm. We raised beef, pork and poultry. That is to say, we brought home calfs, piglets and chicks, raised them by hand and then butchered them when they were ready. In this manner we knew what was going into these animals, and we could be sure that they lived and died cleanly and well.

As a hunter, I know that the game that I take is a gift from God, and something not to be squandered by becoming just a trophy. I won’t kill something that isn’t going to find a good use. For me, it’s meat, bones and fur. I have to use atleast two if I’m going to hunt it.

As someone who grew up in deer country, I can tell you that winter is a hard, hard time for these animals. There is only so much forage to go around, and animals that aren’t fed will starve. A controlled, responsible culling of the herd allows the majority to survive instead of starving to death. It also helps keep the numbers on the road down. Thanks to responsible hunters in New England, we’ve gotten the deer down to a somewhat reasonable level. This has allowed other animals such as moose and caribou to return to the state. Keeping the number of Coyote down is allowing the native wolf and bobcat to return.

Every predator has a place in the order of things. As man, we are given stewardship over all the earth and everything in it. As we displace animals for farms and homes, it’s our responsibility to make sure that those creatures can continue to survive as a specie, and that their lives are not made into something which fails to glorify God. I can understand if you don’t hunt. I have many friends who believe that meat comes from the grocery store, and they’re quite happy with going that far. But I will say that there is no shame in killing an animal if you are going to make proper use of it. It’s how my ancestors fed their family, and it helped feed my siblings and me growing up.

Thanks for calling me sister, and I am glad that this all sounds like it is staying on a friendly basis, as we are all God’s children just with different views on some things .

Yes, you are right, I am born in a city. I did spend some childhood vacations in little mountainside cottages though, and I saw a cow give birth when the farmers woke us up int he middle of the night for it.
But yes, I am not raised with farm animals (but a sweet German shepard ).

I do not eat meat by the way. This started when I saw on TV how animals are treated in factory farming. I started eating only meat from “happy animals”, and then stopped completely. Maybe I realized I do not need it at all so why should an animal be killed if it is not really necessary?
Plus I knew I couldn’t kill an animal myself, so how could I have the right to have others do it for me, just so I could eat it?

But this is a question everybody has to decide for themselves, without judging others, as it also implies in the Bible, doesn’t it?

I love nature, by the way. I love gardening (hope I get mroe chances to do it again int he future) and I do feel sorry sometimes for the weeds I rip out, but anyway taking out weeds is a work I enjoy…
I have been told that it is just a matter of where you draw the line. You can feel sorry for the carrot you eat too…well, something I HAVE to eat i guess.
With the weeds sometimes I don’t take out a very young one that saw the sun for the first time on a first warm spring day Maybe this is childish but somehow it feels so… beautiful, like life.

 

[centurionguard]

At my home there’s a huge grey squirrel. He/She is not the problem at all.
The fattened up chipmunk has got all pests who invade the birdseed feeder that double as 4 foot rectangular flower pots hanging by the 12x15 foot deck rails at the back of the house.
This comical small critter whom I’ve affectionately called Scrat would chase big foot if need be to protect his three staked-out flower pots.

Scrat lives fifteen feet away under the baby barn last years home of a skunk that chose to park his carcass there last winter. Bluejays, grosbecks, doves, finches and now three pesky pigeons have joined the family ranks of feeding on a rich blend of songbird seed.

Last winter Mr Skunk hibernated under the baby barn but was rudely awakened everytime after a winter snowstorm I’d go into the baby barn to start the snow blower and he’d let out a nice basking odor of air fresher I was forced to relish. You’d think the big 10 HP snow blower shaking and rattling the raffters of the baby-barn would remove him from his premises.

Nope! not a chance in hades. Mr. Skunk finally vacated last Spring. Not sure how Scrat will fair out this winter. He parks his buns on the roof of the baby barn during the day spoting other birds invading his territory at the flower pots and hops across the maple tress in lightening speed and tears after other birds like the tazmanian devil himself.
Crazy nut case that chipmunk but fun to watch as he engorges on sunflower seeds.

 

[lynnvinc]

We live in a suburban neighborhood with many beautiful oak trees and in those trees, many annoying and destructive squirrels. Used to think they were cute and enjoyed playing games with them and my bird feeders.Then they started to cause damage. Chewed their way into the attic and nested, damaged screens by crawling on them, gnawed the siding etc. My devout Catholic wife counted 16 of them in our 75 X 100 foot front yard a few years ago and for my birthday a couple weeks later, I received a pellet gun and war was declared. It’s not a just war because I have no chance of winning it. My neighbor and I have turned this into a competition in which the rules of engagement state we can’t shoot anything not in our own yard, so if one makes it to the fence, it belongs to him. He’s not Catholic, but I’m a better shot and together, we’re over two hundred confirmed kills. Do I need to confess this???

This might help. No acorns, no squirrels. When we lived up north and had lots of squirrels, our neighbor put some tin or aluminum sheet around his tree trunks. The squirrels couldn’t climb up the trees. He still also had to use his pellet gun to shoot them now and then, but the problem greatly reduced.

We only had evergreens in our backyard and no squirrel problem. However, we’d watch the squirrel festival every fall in our front yard oak tree out our picture glass window. Luckily they’d just take the acorns in their chubby cheeks and run off to their squirrel homes on someone else’s property…

 

[shipwrkd]

This might help. No acorns, no squirrels. When we lived up north and had lots of squirrels, our neighbor put some tin or aluminum sheet around his tree trunks. The squirrels couldn’t climb up the trees. He still also had to use his pellet gun to shoot them now and then, but the problem greatly reduced.

We only had evergreens in our backyard and no squirrel problem. However, we’d watch the squirrel festival every fall in our front yard oak tree out our picture glass window. Luckily they’d just take the acorns in their chubby cheeks and run off to their squirrel homes on someone else’s property…

The foil thing has been tried but there is a neighborhood network of oaks that act as a squirrel freeway. I’d have to get everyone in the hood to do the same, or get my neighbor’s to cut their trees closest to mine down. And if they don’t come for the nuts…they come for the bird seed. They seem particular to sunflower seeds. Then there’s still the matter of damage to property. Seems the only solution is to cut the oaks…and they have been there much longer then the squirrels.