For you guys who have problems with squirrels...

[Herb G]

Whether you have problems in your garden, or in your attic, this will help resolve the issues for you. It's cheap, effective, and last awhile, at least until it rains if you use it outside.

Go to the local Asian grocery store & buy some ground up red chili peppers. Get the hottest ones you can find. A full pound of them only costs $4-5 at most.
Take that pound of peppers & soak them in a 5 gal bucket full of warm water. Stir them around every few minutes & leave them sit overnight at least.
What you are making is pepper water. You can also use cheap vodka to extract more hotness than water, but why waste booze?
The longer you leave it sit, the stronger it gets.
Once you think it's strong enough, strain it thru a paint strainer, or some cheesecloth into another 5 gal bucket.
Make sure you keep a lid on this bucket. You don't want anything getting into it, believe me.
I haven't ever soaked peppers more than 3 days. By then, it's an angry looking red hell broth.
Take some of the pepper water & spray where you have problems with the squirrels. They can't stand it. It's basically like pepper spray to them like the cops use on humans. Spray it liberally all over your tomato plants & whatever else they are getting into.
It will last until the rain washes it off. Then, you just spray more back on. You can also use it in attics, but I recommend using it sparingly up there.

HTH.

[Admiral]

Sounds effective, but I'll stick with my .177 cal pellet gun. Works for rabbits too.

[atgcpaul]

Admiral said:

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Sounds effective, but I'll stick with my .177 cal pellet gun. Works for rabbits too.

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I made the mistake of not screwing down the ends of my gutter covers so now I essentially have a squirrel hotel in the gutters outside our bedroom. I did buy a BB gun (same Daisy I had when I was in 5th grade) and even knocked out one while it was running around on my roof, but I don't want one dying in my gutter. I also learned BB guns are illegal in my city unless it's a dire situation.

I'm now painting my house and last thing I want is an angry squirrel running down my back while I'm 20ft up on my ladder. I am going to pepper spray the s**t out of these gutters!

[daddo]

Our Mexican grey squirrels just might like that and put it on their Pecan tacos.

I might try it this winter though.

I can hear old pecans pieces hitting the tin roof on the patio as we speak- that squirrel is a smart one- haven't gotten him yet.

[Curlycherry]

My dog is the Angel of Death to grey squirrels. His personal best is 15 one fall. Picks them off as they cross our back yard going from one neighbor to the other. I just open the back door and off he goes.

He got a bunny a week or so ago. Bunny ran, Dyson ran faster.

[Herb G]

I forgot to mention, the peppers you want are dried. They look like angry red dust. They also do not have seeds in them.
The seeds are little white disk looking things. If you see seeds, find the peppers without them.
Those are the absolute hottest you can buy. If I could find them here, I'd post a pic of them. I have to drive to Va. to get mine.

[jgrogan]

+1 on the pellet gun

[fredhargis]

Do you suppose I could spray my melons (cantaloupes) with that and keep the possums (and maybe 'coons) from chewing on them? I've used cayenne pepper powder but it's tough to cover the whole melon with it. The liquid would work much better.

[Herb G]

Give it a try. Nothing to lose, everything to gain.
If you get the right kind of peppers, it will keep most everything away from them.

[Cooler]

Or peppermint oil. We used this in our office to get rid of mice as my dog comes to work and we could not use poison. It worked. After a while they stopped coming back. I guess we "trained" them.

Peppermint Oil
To use peppermint to get rid of mice, purchase peppermint oil at a health food store. Peppermint oil is a more concentrated form of peppermint. It's different from peppermint extract that you find in the baking aisle at the grocery store. You can often find it near the aromatherapy oils at the health food store. Soak a cotton ball in the peppermint oil and place it near where you think mice are entering your home. Typical places where mice squeeze in are doorways where the bottom seal is weak or near clothes dryer vents. You can leave several cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil in areas of the house where mouse droppings are frequent. The strong peppermint odor sends the mice back outside.