• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Squirrels must be low carb

RosieLKH

Well-Known Member
Messages
735
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I hope so 'cos I'm gonna get the little Bs who have learnt to climb a shiny steel frame, tight rope walk across steel wires, hang upside down and unhook all my bird feeders. All this while hovering above the jaws of death in the form of my ridgeback/greyhound cross!

It's taken them 3 years to learn this trick, but now they know they can do it they won't stop. How long do they live for? Maybe their offspring won't be so nifty.

The trouble is the dog is by nature a hunting hound. She's caught rabbits and partridge, so it's only time before she gets a squirrel and my husband's a bit of a Ray Mears, so the chances are he'll want to try and eat it.

Any squirrel stopping suggestions welcomed. I quite like seeing the little fellows around and don't really want them to fall into the dogs paws. If only they weren't too clever for their own good. I don't even mind them helping themselves to a bit of bird food. It's the wanton destruction that annoys me!
 
Lol. Try feeding them well away from the bird feeders - a special squirrel feeder hidden away at the far end of the garden. All animals prefer the easiest way of getting food, so make it easy for them. Peanuts will do.
 
How does the squirrel know that the food is not for them. They have probably been watching Krypton Factor.
 
I wouldn't mind but I put a load of nuts on my wall the other day and one squirrel sat and... well, squirreled the lot away. I wouldn't have thought it's stomach was big enough. The dog thinks I'm fattening them up for her (or is that the husband who think I'm fattening them for him?).
 
The squirrels are hungry at the moment as they are busy having babies and raising a family, which takes all their energy. Just like the birds. My garden is like an aviary at the moment. I am spending a small fortune on bird food. My feeders have to be filled up 3 times a day, plus a load scattered on the patio for them. Fabulous time of year in the garden
 
I have a bunch of blue tit chicks who sit on the weird wires that stretch across my garden. They can fly, but they are still at the stage where they wait, squawking, for their parents to bring them food from the hanging feeders (now taped back together after the squirrel attack).
 
No bluetit babies have appeared yet, but I have sparrows and starlings, with blackbirds due out very soon as mum and dad are busy collecting mealworms. I could watch them all day. My dog (a boxer) completely ignores the birds. She sits watching them with me, but makes no efforts to chase them away, and the blackbirds come right up to us. She does, however, eat up the bits that drop from the fat balls and suet pellets, which makes her sick!
 
When I saw the title of this thread I thought someone was suggesting squirrels as a diabetes-busting menu item ......
 
Yes, I have a job keeping the dog away from the bits the birds drop, but generally my big, fat pigeons clear them up pretty quickly. Now THEY love the squirrels.

As to the diabetes-busting properties of squirrels - well, the low carb diet definitely allows game...
 
Husband and I spent ages in bed this morning, with our heads crunched through the cast iron bed end bars, watching the main squirrel culprit navigate to the food.
It's jumps about a metre to the steel frame, then does not tightrope walk, but again jumps to the food which makes the feeders fall off as the wires bounce. You can just about see the thin wires in this photo of the strange garden frame the previous owners put on our patio. The still grid on floor is a stream like pond BTW, and the letter box on the lilac wall (which we are gradually painting cream) is a waterfall feature.


 
Have you tried electrifying the steel frame? (Kidding)

I'd find it quite entertaining trying to outwit squirrels on the bird feeders. Even greys, although you can't beat these (seen on Anglesey about 10 days ago)

 
I have a squirrel feeder, had one for a few years now , it's a good balance, it keeps the squirrels happy and allows the birds to feed from their feeders.....I love all my wildlife .....
 
Suggest a squirrel box feeder, your bird feeders really will last longer.....
 

Bluetits and blackbirds have done very well here this year, must have fledged a couple of weeks ago. I'm hoping the pair of goldfinches will show up with some youngsters soon after scoffing so much of my sunflower hearts!



We've not had squirrels since we had to have the Holm Oak tree pollarded some years ago - our biggest thieves are a pair of herring gulls who demolish the ground feeders, but we can't moan too much as we feed them preferentially to keep all the other gulls off (they're at least 12 years old now).
 


Another reason we must be related. Bird lovers! Well jealous of your goldies. I used to get 30 or more in the winter, less in the summer. Then they built on farmland down the road and they all disappeared. I miss them.
 
This is the first place we've lived where we get goldfinches. Beautiful colours.
 
They're one species on the up at the moment (in general). Try planting sea thistles (eringium?) in the garden. Mine don't seem bothered with nyjer seeds, maybe later in the year. Greenfinches recovering this year as well after that disease they were vulnerable to.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…