On Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:59:28 -0400, "J. Clarke"
wrote:

an Musicant wrote:
: On Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:31:22 -0400, Pat Kiewicz
: wrote:
:
: said:
:
: However, yesterday I went outside and found 3 squirrels feeding on
: the remains of what I had left there of the attacked pumpkins.
: This
: made me think: Was it squirrels or were they just scavenging on
: what was left by another animal? One of the squirrels repeatedly
: looked longingly at one of the suspended pumpkins but didn't try
: to
: climb the trellis system, which is pretty flimsy, evidently too
: flimsy for it to attempt to climb. This makes me further suspect
: that the squirrels may have been the original attackers. There are
: a LOT of squirrels around here (Berkeley, CA). I wonder if
: squirrels could have eaten THAT much of the
: pumpkins,
: though. Two pounds or more of pumpkin were evidently consumed.
:
: My concern is for next year. I don't know if these animals are
: smart
: enough to "remember" and come back for next year's harvest.
:
: Pumpkin eaters I have known:
:
: Squirrels (especially to go after the seeds in the fall): small
: gnaw
: marks
:
: Groundhogs (will eat them at any stage): large gnaw marks
:
: Mice (rarely, and without much damage): tiny, tiny gnaw marks
:
: Deer will go after pumpkins, but are likely to break them apart
: with
: their hooves as they are mainly after the seeds and soft pulp.
:
: I'd probably finger the squirrels for this one, especially
: considering the day-time damage.
:
: You may be at the peak of a population cycle. Live trapping
: squirrels isn't too hard.
:
: Thanks, Pat!
:
: OK, so your take is that the brazen eating of maybe a third of two
: 2-lb kabochas in mid-day (it was probably between noon and 3 PM)
: suggests squirrels rather than opposum! There were also one or two
: small ones attacked at the same time. It's hard to believe that one
: possum would do all that. Do they go in packs or are they always
: solitary?
:
: I guess I'm going to have to try squirrel repellent strategies.
: Possibilities seem to be:
:
: Live Trapping (I'd need traps and a decision what to do with them)
: Tinsel scarecrows
: mouse traps (to scare them away)
: sling shot
:
: There are a LOT of squirrels around here!
:
: I even thought of throwing a wire cube (with one side open) over
: each
: squash. That would require a lot of handiwork.
:
:The proper choice of cat will do the job just fine. There used to be
:a semi-feral black cat that hung around my parents' house that loved
:squirrel. If we'd been away for a while we'd often find a half a
:dozen squirrel tails lined up in a neat row on the front porch.

That is awesome! Davey Crockett the semi-feral house-cat! I do love
cats.
:
:The trouble is finding the right cat--most can't figure out how to
:catch squirrels and the ones who can usually get beat up enough the
:first time that they decide that squirrels aren't worth the effort.

Training a cat would be darn near impossible, I guess.

Dan