How not to catch a (red) squirrel

[Guest pnj2411]

This might be a strange question, but I reckoned that so many experts at catching squirrels might have some ideas about how not to.

I'm in a fairly rural location in France and the garden has a good population of red squirrels. I'm quite fond of the little fellas, and enjoy watching them.

However we have a problem with rats - norvegicus I think, particularly in the loft. I've killed a few with the traps like big traditional mouse traps, but they soon got wary.

So I've started using poison - Brodeficum (or something like that). This seems to have solved the loft problem (no more noise, poison not being eaten any more).

 

Now I'd like to take the war out into the garden, and my question is this - is there any way of trapping, killing, poisoning the buggers without harming the squirrels?

 

For poison, I'd obviously use the black plastic lockable box thingys, but I'm pretty sure a squirrel could get in there.

 

I suppose live traps would be a possibility, but I'm sometimes away for longish periods so couldn't always check them regularly enough.

 

Any ideas gratefully received.

 

Thanks

P

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

I have an Idea, mate. But it's only that. Just arm chair theorising as I've simply never worked around Red Squirrels. Ironically too, having just this minute posted how I've busted my camera and so can't demonstrate my projects, this is exactly a project I had in mind!

 

To keep things brief and simple then: What I've done is bought an 18" Inspection Chamber Cover and some seven inch planks. Made a bottomless box of the planks and have fitted the cover. Now I have some flexable lengths of 2" drainage piping which I intend to fit.

 

My grand plan is to bury that box flush in the ground and bury the pipes at a slope and have them leading down to holes cut through the box. In there I'll place my rat bait - with or without additional Bait Stations (as those lockable boxes are known).

 

My idea is to stop my Dogs digging the whole lot up, lured by the smell of rats. Also to stop wild birds getting into the reguler Bait Stations, which they can and will on occassion do.

 

It's my further theory see that a bird won't normally travel downwards into a dark hole in the ground with no visible means of exit.

 

I'm just wondering about Red Squirrels?

 

 

Incidentally, it's Brodifacoum. And that's severely hectic shit! Squirrel gets a dose of that and that's all she wrote, for sure! Please do take all the measures possible to protect the little fellas.

[moley 115]

live traps , set when your there and door fastened open and well baited when your not, reds will go into dark underground holes , like what shitty is on about

[Guest pnj2411]

To keep things brief and simple then: What I've done is bought an 18" Inspection Chamber Cover and some seven inch planks. Made a bottomless box of the planks and have fitted the cover. Now I have some flexable lengths of 2" drainage piping which I intend to fit.

 

My grand plan is to bury that box flush in the ground and bury the pipes at a slope and have them leading down to holes cut through the box. In there I'll place my rat bait - with or without additional Bait Stations (as those lockable boxes are known).

...

I like this idea - could even use a ready made inspection chamber complete with knockout sockets for the pipes. There's a part of the garden with some fruit trees that is riddled with burrows. I hadn't thought of the bird problem - I really don't want to harm them either.

Just to check the squirrels don't go in, I might set it up with non-poisoned bait first to make sure they don't.

 

Incidentally, it's Brodifacoum. And that's severely hectic shit! Squirrel gets a dose of that and that's all she wrote, for sure! Please do take all the measures possible to protect the little fellas.

Thanks for the correction - it does seem to be effective - after about a week the bait stopped disappearing. I read somewhere that they are stopping selling to the general public next year, so reckoned it must be good. I don't much like the idea of using poison, but it was really the only option. The guy who 'renovated' this house failed to seal up all the little voids in the eaves, and there's an attached outhouse with ways through into the loft. It's next to farmland and a canal, and as soon as the wheat was cut and cold weather started, well you can imagine. Sounded like the wee b*****ds were putting up shelves and having wild parties.

 

Sorry to hear about your camera by the way.

[Guest pnj2411]

live traps , set when your there and door fastened open and well baited when your not, reds will go into dark underground holes , like what shitty is on about

Thanks - this might have to be the solution, although I'd like to try the 'Underground Restaurant'.

Any suggestions as to type of trap? Is there a danger of injuring a red squirrel in standard live rat trap?

[Guest pnj2411]

Please do take all the measures possible to protect the little fellas.

 

I certainly will, the wee ones in particular are very appealing - here's one that has just just eaten enough yew berries to kill a couple of big old cows.

 

[Guest bigredbusa]

you know , i have never and i mean ever seen a red un.

 

god damn greys