Large Scale Central

Attack of the Giant Squirrels!

Until recently we rarely saw squirrels in the back yard. But now there’s a whole family of them living across the street and they’ve been coming over here a lot. So far they haven’t done too much damage, mostly just rooting around for seeds and, in the process, getting dirt on the tracks.

They did find a weak spot in one of my mine tunnels though, and started digging out a den there. I stuffed some hardware cloth in and put a stop to that. (They’re ground squirrels, not the tree-dwelling variety.)

I am concerned that they’ll start burrowing inside one of the RR tunnels, or chew up trains or structures.

If worst comes to worst, I may start trapping them. Preferably live traps, if I can find some.

I wondered how the botanic keeps the chipmonk population reasonable. Now I know: There are mink living in the garden.

Get a Border Collie. Or a terrier of some sort.

Shoot, shovel, shutup.

It boggles the mind…

I agree on getting a Terrier, they’ll enjoy patrolling the area and the squirrels will stay away. Our Lab responds to “Squirrel Alert” with great vigor, even at her advanced age. :wink:

Sigh - My Samoyed just whines and pants because the squirrels won’t come over to play. The neighbor feeds them peanuts in shells. Guess where all the shells end up. They dig up most everything I plant and chew fresh growth off the trees dropping branches with leaves all over the yard.

Tree rats.

I’m thinking poison may be in order. Someone said that cats will get into it - well I have no love for cats either [/me ducks]

San Diego very likely has a “loan-a-trap” program through animal control. Try that.
Current nature vs. man conflict up here in the mountans of La Mirada is summarized by RACOONS!
The city loans out traps, comes out and collects the encaged critter, and relocates them – hmmmmm, wonder where?

My suggestion: Try out your own city animal control. Please note ground squirrels CAN carry bad-guy viruses. San Diego would be interested in helping because once a call is made they face a liability charge if they do nothing – afterall, they were notified and asked to help.

Meanwhile…
Good stuff! Who could be bored reading Large Scale Central!
In doubt? Re-see Bruce Chandler’s visual.

Wendell

I saw a hawk on the fence yesterday, so with a little luck the wildlife problem may solve itself.

I also found out something kind of interesting: the squirrels are eating the seedy part of the iceplant that forms after the flowers dry up. There’s not much to it, so I was kind of surprised that it has any nutritional value.

Yeah, ground squirrels can carry some nasty diseases! I’m still amazed that my brother didn’t get the plague or something after he carried home a sick baby squirrel in his shirt pocket when we were kids. It was dead by the time he got home with it, and it was also covered with fleas.

Speaking of “tree rats”, we actually do get rats in the trees here. A few years ago I would hear a tremendous stampede in our hedge and up into the neighbor’s juniper tree, everytime I went outsite after dark. Thought it was just one large animal. Then I stood still out there for a long time with the lights off, and pretty soon our patio looked like a remake of “Williard” – rats everywhere!

I started putting out traps at night, for a while I was catching 2-3 every night, until eventually I got them all. The only problem was I had to remember to bring the traps inside before going to bed. I forgot a couple times, and found dead birds in them the next day. :frowning:

My brother in law was visiting a friend in ritzy La Jolla and somehow the topic of rats came up. They were standing under a palm tree and he mentioned that rats lived in the palms. She insisted that, “there are no rats in La Jolla!” At that very moment, a rat fell out of the tree right a few feet away! True story!

Ray-

Any experience with the “giant style” mouse spring-style traps ( 4" x 6", I’m guessing) that might catch the ground squirrels and/or large rats?

Yeah, those are the traps I used to get the rats. They do work on squirrels too, but you have to put them inside a box with openings on the side, to avoid getting birds.

Rather than poisonong the “Rats”; poison anyone that feeds them…that is the real problem.

Those big mouse traps are called “Rat Traps” around here, and do a nice quick job.
You might note that if you bury the dead “Rats” in a 1 foot deep hole, they make good fertilizer, over time. The reason for going as deep as 1 foot, is to prevent scavengers from digging the bodies up at night…you never know; you might have a Vogel around…they aren’t all in the swamps of Lower Joisey…!!!

Ground Squirrels are insidious little beggars! The worst thing they do, other than dig and burrow in tunnels, is that they have an insatiable appetite for wiring! They get up under cars and chew the wiring and, the first thing you know, you can’t get the car to start and it takes a mechanic a loooooong time to find the chewed wire! They will also eat your track wire just as happily if it’s not in conduit. Nothing seems to get rid of them. They’ve undermined my entire front yard with their burrows. Miniature Prairie Dogs. If you’ve ever seen a running horse go down to its knees in a Prairie Dog Town, then you know how I feel when I walk around in my yard! There aren’t enough traps to get 'em all, and they breed like … well, Squirrels!

The tree squirrels do the same thing. My dad was away on vacation for a couple weeks and came home to find the squirrels had chewed up the wiring in his car. And they love tenmille ground throws. Just something about plastic that attracts them. In the city they would chew the hell out of the telephone cables. We had to replace it with cable that had a steel sheath under the plastic sheath.

We have plenty of squirrels around here but with 2 dogs it keeps them at bay.

I’m surprised they haven’t moved into the tunnels already. :wink: One male cat could guard your entire railroad from anything that moves. Our daughter got two cats a year ago, and we no longer have any squirrels, moles, voles, mice, snakes, frogs, or skinks around the Village. The squirrels are actually still around, but they stay in the trees.

Last week I smelled something rotting in the train shed, but couldn’t find it. I assumed it was a dead rodent. This week I discovered the tail end of a very large, very dead black snake hanging out of the rafters.

Paul

I have two neutered male cats, a Border Collie with attention deficit, hyperactive disorder, and a Doberman mix. The deer now look longingly at their former apple trees. Little critters rarely show their heads around here, either.

Darn squirrels left some kind of seed pod thing on the track inside a tunnel, kept uncoupling and/or derailing the cars as the train passed through. Grr!

We had dogs for years, finally stopped replacing them after the last one passed away three years ago. Too much maintenance, they stink and attract too many flies, and I was never much of a dog fan. It’s only because the dogs are gone that I can have the railroad back there.

I like cats better but they have drawbacks, too. At this stage in life, I get all the “pets” I need just feeding the wild birds and lizards.

I thought a border collie was the definition of ADHD.

Tom Ruby said:
I thought a border collie was the definition of ADHD.
Hmmmmm ....... must be the reason they do so well in agility competitions and field trials of sheep herding etc. Don't pay any attention to the human, just concentrate on the "job", that's true AD.

OTOH if you’re looking for something in the ADHD line, Jack Russels and Beagles should do well!
Plain dumb? I’m too polite :stuck_out_tongue: :wink: :slight_smile: to list my favourites for that category, but I’ve seen them in action.

Ray maybe you should fabricate up some simple wooden plugs for the portals that can clos e them off when the layout is not in use.

Victor Smith said:
Ray maybe you should fabricate up some simple wooden plugs for the portals that can clos e them off when the layout is not in use.

That’s a good idea. I did just that on my roundhouse. I made the second generation plugs to resemble closed doors when in place.

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/RichardSmith/2007/2007Jul08-Roundhouse-DoorPlugs-1-Web.JPG)

Alternately, some prototype tunnels were built with large doors to keep animals and people from wandering in.