HELP! squirrel digging up lawn

Yep, just when i thought the lawn was looking great and was going to be no more trouble, there is a Grey (i think) squirrel digging little holes everywhere. I'm not even sure why because although there are lots of acorn shells left on the lawn i never see anything hidden in the holes. What can i do to gently dissuade him from digging?.... obviously don't want to harm it.

Cheers, Mark

 

The unfortunate answer is a trap and kill it or get an air rifle, if you value your lawn that is. They are technically vermin, so it is illegal to trap them and release them in a park or elsewhere. It sounds harsh, but they are a real pest. As well as ruining lawns, they dig up bulbs and eat them, raid birds nests and empty them of eggs and chase away and kill red squirrels by passing a virus to them which is harmless to greys but fatal to reds.

I know it sounds terrible, but IMO, these animals need culling. They breed twice a year and each litter can produce 7 or 8 babies. Feel no remorse for them and get yourself a trap.

If thats a no-go, then remove anything that may attract them ie.bird feeders or any natural food sources.

Cheers,
Ian.

www.ideallawns.biz

 

For me in my own garden it would be my .22, however you could try one of the sonic scarers.

 

Blimey.

What kind of trap do i need to get? I don't have any kind of gun license so thats a no go.

There are no food sources i'm aware of. Any kind of poison i can put down?

 

LOL sorry too laugh

just tickled me the poster saying i don't want to harm it & the follow up reply shoot it with an air riffle

i back on to fields and have about 3-4 squirrels every yr and don't shout at me but i feed them !

i buy them a bag of nuts every week i can't help it as they are so cute and the kids love watching them play on the fence while getting the nuts they don't pinch my bulbs or make a mess in my garden but then again i have 2 cats one of which is very quick and would give it a run for its nuts :D

sorry i can't help much apart from borrow someones cat ?

or if you did want to bump it off what about a mouse trap with some nuts on it ?

 

If my neighbours started waving around an airifle next door to me I'd be straight onto the Law.
Even if they did think they knew what they were doing with it. It depends on what kind of area you live in.
Probably, (and I'm only guessing) the digging holes in lawn is a time of year thing that will pass.

 

i'd say poison it if anything knowing the youth of today would probably hear your rifle and not to be out done would run home get his pistol come back and put 4 0r 5 bullets in you

 

Hello Mark you could try a ultrasonic squirrel scarer they run off batteries or main, just put it in an area where your little critters like to go and every time they go into the area the device will switch on and send a high pitch noise out which the squirrel doesn't like.

It should work ok as I have three cat ones that keep all but one cat out of our garden but we are unlucky as there is one cat that keeps coming on to our patch who just happens to be deaf! :confused:
Helen.xxx.

 

Hi folks.

Sorry to disappoint, but in my experience these sonar devices are next to useless, as are all the other old wives tales ie. predator urine (foxes), mothballs etc etc. In fact I've always wondered where you go to get get a bottle of foxes wee !!!

The only way to remove them that is guaranteed (that won't have the neighbours phoning the police as an earlier poster suggested)is trapping them. The only downside to this is, if you trap them you must kill them as they are vermin and it is illegal to release them else where. The easiest way to do this if you can't bring yourself to use an airrifle is to stick the whole cage in your water butt and leave it for 10 minutes.

I shouldn't chuckle, but if that offends people who think they're cute garden visiters, remind yourselves that they are quite literaly tree rats and I for one would never encourage normal rats into the garden so why invite squirrels in?

Have you ever wondered why fewer and fewer indigenous song birds are visiting our gardens??? To a large degree it's down to our grey friends feeding on their eggs.

 

Drowning is ILEGAL as is using poison other than wafarin, the use of warfarin is restricted, google drowning of pests ref the wildlife and countryside act.

BTW, Ian im not offended and agree with you ref squirels being vermin but you are liable to prosecution if you are caught drowning.

Nothing illegal about shooting as long as you have an adequate backstop ie the pellet canot cross your property boundary.

As Pete infers the problem will go away/ lessen, at the moment the squirells are probably stashing nuts for the winter.

A cat or dog will be a good long term solution to this problem and also rabbit damadge as well as a nice pet.

 

Is drowning illegal?
I thought the law was they had to be despatched humanely. I suppose that drowning could be considered inhumane, I'll have to check the legality of that.
Thanks for the advice.

 

I enjoy the squirels around us too, and the lady that backs onto our garden has a feeder just for squirels. Along with loads of bird feeders. We still get loads of sparrows,tits,etc, and they also use my pond to drink

My only pest is what ever rips my bins opens and ****s on my flower beds (magpies and cats).

 

" Black Widow"catapult. Got me a "bunny" with it. I'm sure it'll deal with a "scudgie". I feed them by hand in the local Parks but in the garden, well, it's a different matter.
Look at it logically, the ones that feed in the park,survive. The ones that feed in gardens die. Natural Selection means that we'll only end up with the ones we like. :D

 

I don't think the problem would be so bad that you would have to result to drowning squirrels.

I makes me think of years gone by when dogs got caught and the silly owners thought nothing of drowning the young pups, I know squirrels and pups are not alike but you truely have to be a hard hearted person to drown something! :eek: Helen.xxx.