Posted by lynn allin on January 30, 2005 at 11:46:10:
In Reply to: Very Important Running Question posted by Monetta Roberts on January 30, 2005 at 09:13:10:
Dear SWtSSSS(wr):
A couple years ago there was an indepth article in the prestigious journal, Smithsonian. It featured everything squirrel: how tricky and dexterous they are, squirrel-free feeders, squirrel deterants, and the like. They concluded that despite patents on some of these highly squirrel "resistant" feeders there was nothing squirrel "proof".
This article highlighted the best work of the brightest anti-squirrel minds and they concluded that you just can't beat them.
As they say, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
1. Buy deer corn, only $5 a 50 pound bag, and scatter it under trees. Then they leave my more expensive birdfeed alone.
2. Distract them with other devices. For example, the squirrel ferris wheel. A long skinny board is attached to a tree such that it can spin freely. A piece of corn is attached to one end. The squirrel jumps on it and goes around and around, until he either gets ill/dizzy ( I have seen it happen!)or until the corn is gone. You get the satisfaction of watching him work his little tail off for a few nibblets, and yet he seems intrigued by the challenge.
3. Turn Piggy loose on them. My dogs keep the backyard safe for birds because they know birds can escape, but despite a 0 record of squirrel kills, they still try enthusiastically.
4. If Piggy isn't inclined, you can borrow my dogs. They make so much noise it will keep everything away.
5. Potassium cyanide-laced acorns.
(kidding! don't unleash PETA on me!)
6. Tame them with bribes of white bread. They will sit on your hand and take food very gently if you are patient enough. Then you can take them running with you (see how I ever-so-subtly slipped that in?)
7. Buy them mini red rider bee-bee guns so they put out each others' little squirrel eyes. They don't have mother's around to warn them.
9. Electric fence. Nuff sed.
10. Encourage them to run with headphones!
Lynn "there is no "8"...it's a metric top ten" Allin