Maybe this is karma for a one-time Californian, moi, defying Oregon governor Tom McCall's plea in the 1970s to "come visit, but please don't live here."
I stayed, and now I've got plenty of California company -- ground squirrels who have migrated into the northwest and are making a mess of our yard and crawl space.
They are super cute, which makes dealing with the critters a lot more difficult. We can't imagine killing them. But their reputation as "one of the most troublesome pests to homeowners and gardeners" seems well-deserved.
For most of the nineteen years we've lived in rural south Salem, gray tree squirrels have been our bushy-tailed wildlife neighbors. Now, the California ground squirrels seem to be taking over.
They hibernated during the winter, undoubtedly dreaming of the good life on a warm beach. When they emerged in the spring, we enjoyed watching them frolicking around our yard.
As noted here, the squirrels are skilled at getting into adorable positions. (Maybe natural selection has evolved them into adopting a look of "I'm too cute to shoot!")
I especially like the contemplative pose, similar to the photo above, where a squirrel sits on a rock just beyond our deck, looking like a Chinese courtesan with her hands folded neatly in front under her kimono.
Not nearly so cute, though, is what we discovered today.
Crawling under the deck, Laurel found that the little bastards had dug completely under our house's concrete foundation and had made their way into our crawl space. Evidence: insulation that they had dragged out through the tunnel (probably to make a bed where they will have sex and create more California ground squirrels to drive us even nuttier).
Speaking of sex, we've seen them doing the deed on the same rock where contemplation occurs.
Since the average litter is seven to eight, this is worrisome. We'd just as soon not have a big commune of ground squirrels tunneling all over our property.
Burrows, which are about four or five inches in diameter, may vary in length from five feet to more than thirty-five feet and may be used by many generations of ground squirrels...In studying California Ground Squirrels, one group of scientists found a squirrel home with six females and five males which consisted of tunnels totaling 741 feet in length and had thirty-three openings. The deepest tunnel was twenty-eight feet below ground. Although most tunnel excavation work is done in the spring, digging and burrow improvement is a continuing process.
I went to Lowe's today and got some hardware cloth. We'll seal up the openings around our deck, which should keep them away from the foundation.
We've also borrowed a live trap from a neighbor. If you've ever wanted a cute California ground squirrel, let me know. Hopefully we'll be able to accommodate adoption requests soon.
Other options listed under "best management practices" for controlling the critters don't appeal to us. The burrow exploder seems like overkill (especially since we don't want to kill them).
There is much equipment involved in this burrow explosion method. You will need personal safety gear, which includes a hard hat, heavy gloves, safety glasses, ear plugs, ear protectors, and full body protective clothing. A fire extinguisher and shovels are highly recommended.
Reminds me of Caddyshack, a great movie about getting rid of gophers by any and all means on a golf course. But we'll stick with the hardware cloth and live trap for now.
Part of my daily schedule from May until September is to take a 5 minute walk twice daily and shoot every single one that I see.
After about 5 years of this in the 90s the population dropped greatly.
At first, I burned through a 525 bullet box every year.
Now I use a bit over 100.
Before you pull the trigger make sure that you are not shooting a Silver Gray Squirrel or a chipmunk.
So be quick to take aim but not quick to shoot.
Our chipmunk population has increased dramatically in the last few years and I wonder if it is due to the suppression of the invasive grey diggers.
Also, when I shoot the little bastards (as you called them) I just let them lay. Almost all of them are gone in the am I am assuming due to hungry coyotes.
Now if you think I am yank'in your chain; lets talk gophers.
When we purchaced this property 20 years ago there were so many gophers that the front field looked rototilled.
Today: zero gophers.
We enjoy every sort of critter and they are all welcome here EXCEPT gophers, grey-diggers and skunks. All are considered "target practice".
Tip: Get your cases of 22 ammo before our total failure of a president cuts you off.
:-Q
Posted by: Harry Vanderpool | April 13, 2009 at 10:01 PM
LOL Brian! Interesting transition from Colonoscopy to squirrel control! I have to say I don't think I could ever shoot a living animal, but I can see how others could feel driven to that point.
I have to laugh a little in terms of your previous poster worrying that Barack Obama is looking to take away your bullets/firearms. Sounds like an clever marketing plan by Smith and Wesson to get conservative/republicans to buy up ammo and weapons. I think the president might have a few more things to take care of before he tackles the second amendment (i.e. pirates, health care, recession, war in Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan). Yep, that's right, Pirates are ranked no. 1 :)
Posted by: Lindsay | April 13, 2009 at 10:38 PM
I'm always curious when someone is using a live trap. What will you do with a trapful of the little furry beasts?
Since you live in the country, I'd think you would have had enough of people transplanting their problems to your back yard. Surely you wouldn't contemplate transplanting them to become someone else's problem?
The main problems with pests like these are they don't have any natural predators to keep their numbers in check and they run the natives out of their habitat. It just seems like eating our houses and digging under them is the real problem.
We don't own a gun, but if we had these guys as well as the 'coons and the fluffy tailed grays, I'd carefully weigh Harry's response and maybe begin some target practice myself. ;<
Deb
Posted by: Deb | April 14, 2009 at 02:51 AM
Deb, we wouldn't transplant the squirrels near any other homes. But you raise a good point. The California "best management practices" site that I linked to indicates that euthanizing (i.e, killing) ground squirrels is the only acceptable/legal thing to do after trapping them -- in that state, at least.
You're right: if we had more coyotes around here, or other predators, there would be fewer squirrels. When people mess up the balance of nature, nature gets messed up.
Posted by: Brian | April 14, 2009 at 09:08 AM
My husband shoots them at various times and he's quite good at it. I can't bring myself to do that; so we also set live traps. When I get one (sometimes two on one trap which is amazing but guess they are fast), I carry them to the back of the farm, which is good arm exercise and maybe pointless; but it's their chance for a wild life. If they return to the house, their odds become worse for survival. I don't like them because they actually are not safe for cats.
Posted by: Rain | April 14, 2009 at 05:16 PM
Bob's Mother became a crack shot in shooting ground squirrels. Why? Because ground squirrels attract rattlesnakes. Which would you rather have?
Posted by: Carol Ann | April 15, 2009 at 05:45 AM
Do you mind if I live trap the ground squirrels on your property? I'll do it for free of charge. I plan to relocate these critters to a 100 acre property in a rural area. Email me at [email protected] if you want your squirrels live trapped and relocated. I don't live far from Salem.
Posted by: george | April 27, 2009 at 10:11 AM
george, thanks for the offer, but we'll pass for now. We have a live trap also and have had some success with it.
Posted by: Brian | April 27, 2009 at 02:00 PM
Badmouth'em. Everytime you see one give it shit. Be vicious--attack their self-esteem. They're really quite sensitive. Make fun of their coat,their stupid little feet or the fact they're all inbred. I've got around forty of them in the one acre where my house and outbuildings are. I go out twice, sometimes three times a day and lay into'em. You can't imagine the sense of reward that comes from seeing one run crying down its hole. I fantasize about it running into its little squirrel house and throwing itself down on its little squirrel bed and bawling for hours. Every now and then I'll send one into an actual breakdown. You can tell, becuase they go into their hole and never come out.
I'm sure it's suicide
Posted by: walt | July 31, 2009 at 01:25 AM
Walt, we like your approach. Non-lethal, but it leads to the ground squirrels dying. Excellent! I wonder how they commit suicide...being from California, it probably involves overdosing on tofu, or sticking their acupuncture needles in farther than normal.
Posted by: Brian | July 31, 2009 at 10:26 AM
It is Illegal in Oregon to live trap and then release an animal to a place other than property you caught it on. In other words you can not release it somewhere else where it will become a nuisance.
Posted by: Squirrel guy | November 15, 2011 at 02:27 PM