Mark it to see if it comes back?

That's what Rita said to do....she told me it was probably the same squirrel, and just wanted the 'free ride" in the truck . I'm taking them over a mile away, and, while a 'mile" isn't all that far for us....when your legs are only 2 inches long.....that would be quite a trip .

Sometimes I use the poop from the cat box to put down the gopher holes. The gophers stay away for quite a long time. Think Predators.

We used to relocate racoons that we caught (dining on cat food in the barn). Couldn't figure out why we continued to have so many. Someone smarter than us said "if you haven't moved them a minimum of 35 miles away, they just come back". Oh. Crap.

Now we just shoot them.

illegal to move wildlife in MA. We think an owl got a squirrel & a young skunk earlier this summer. We hear the barred owls a few times the summer. Hope so.

I think it's probably illegal here, too, Lucy !

Many animals die a terrible death when re-located. They are in new territory and don't know the food sources and often are killed by rivals. Many advocate to just kill them humanly and be done with it. There's been a quite a bit of research done on re-locating animals.

People try to relocate Squirrels around here all the time, but then the people on the other end relocate them back to us!!! They leave my iris alone, and thanks to garlic appear to not want to dig in the garden beds anymore either. A spray of cayenne pepper in oil will stick to leaves and deter animals from nibbling them. Used to spray my Dutch iris all the time. Worked well.

I think squirrels have a pretty wide range of travel and you would have to drive a considerable distance to take them out of their range. Tom is right about a lot of animals being territorial and if loosed in already occupied territory will not survive. We have seen a lot of television programs showing animals being reintroduced back into the wild. That really only works if the animal is released in an area where none other of its kind live and the time of release allows the animal to find/build shelter and food sources before winter dormancy sets in. A lot of people cringe at the thought of putting an animal down but overpopulation, even in the wild, is a cruel way for an animal to live and die.

I've only had one or two squirrels here by my house - but they have both gone away. No other critters have been seen ever in the area. So I have no idea what has been nibbling on my rhizomes. I still say it's all the Crickets I have here (that keep me up at night). I have read that they will eat iris rhizomes.

Try sprinkling a little comet on the rhizomes. Crickets and grasshoppers do not like its taste. The rain will wash it off but the rain will wash most everything off and a little bit of comet will not hurt your soil.

crowrita1 said:I think it's probably illegal here, too, Lucy !

It's illegal in Michigan to. But we are on number 53 now and I am sure they like the nice big park much better then my yard!!!!

grannysgarden said:Try sprinkling a little comet on the rhizomes. Crickets and grasshoppers do not like its taste. The rain will wash it off but the rain will wash most everything off and a little bit of comet will not hurt your soil.

On inspection this morning, a total of 9 iris rhizomes have been chewed up -- I got out the canister of Comet and sprinkled it all over the rhizomes ! NOW I'm starting to get really upset
over this.

Some chewed places are almost inevitable, Patrick. The goal is to keep the critters from taking so much of the leaves that the plant does not suffer or to keep them from eating on the rhizome. When the rhizome is damaged it is more susceptible to soil borne diseases. Good luck.

The Critters (bugs or rodents) are not touching the leaves - they are eating the rhizomes.
I've sprinkled COMET on the affected rhizomes - if that does not deter them from chewing up
the rhizomes, I'm going to use Cayenne Pepper !!

My tomato fence was broken into again last night and everything was eaten and trampled to death. I will rip out what is left of the plants this weekend and toss them into the compost bin.

That's discouraging, What do you think got in? Deer, Raccoons?

Once the fence was broken into, I think everything got in. Deer, wild turkeys, ground and tree squirrels, raccoons, possums and any other critter that came along. All season long I have only been able to harvest about a handful of tomatoes. I was waiting patiently as the plants reloaded themselves with tomatoes after the last critter attacks.

Now I'll have to go to the farmer's market for what I hope are fresh and pesticide free tomatoes.

Two more tree rats took a ride, today ! And one more mole has dug his last hole !

Rob -- I'm sorry to hear about your tomatoes.

Arlyn -- I hope that I'm as successful as you in trapping moles.