Diane 9 I'll bet it's packrats that have eaten your engine wiring - we had over $1200 in damage done to our FJ by the little buggers - thank goodness we had rat damage coverage in our insurance (who knew??!) For THAT particular problem, the only thing that has worked to keep them out is to hang lights over the engine compartment at night. Or put the lights under the engine block at night. Also, don't park near pack-rat hot spots like areas with a lot of bushes or debris. Other than that, I've been battling all the cute little rats, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels and gophers around here for a decade. I don't intend to eliminate every single one - I DO understand I live in the desert - but I also want to grow cacti, mesquite, agave, etc. All of which are super yummy to the little beasts when they are young and tender. Lots and lots of chicken wire cages, and then occasionally rat traps, a gopher bomb every once in a while (they have a freakin' condominium complex dug under our shed) and a judicious application of pellet shot when my husband needs target practice. I still lose a number of new plants, and we haven't put a dent in the population by any means (nor do we intend to) I try to be more defensive than offensive, but since they've clearly declared jihad on my desert rehabilitation efforts, it does get ugly sometimes.

I know ground squirrels are insidious pests and getting rid of them is a serious matter, but reading this thread made me bust out laughing at least a dozen times. Still, I don't plan any time soon to don camouflage and start shooting anything that moves. Nor do I plan to capture and release, although I have a perfectly good Hav-A-Hart. My ex and I used it to humanely catch a pesky skunk that kept coming around our yard every night. We got sick of tomato juicing our dogs. We covered the trap w/a blanket and drove it up into the Oakland Hills to release in a park. We set it on a trail, propped open the door, removed the blanket and ran like hell. The skunk sprayed as it ran down the trail in the opposite direction and a strong breeze carried the spray to us faster than we could run! We were able to wash ourselves and soft clothing, but shoes and leather belts had to be thrown out. There's very good squirrel bait sold at ranch and farm supply stores. You sprinkle a teaspoon of it down an active ground squirrel hole and then you pray real hard the critter dies underground. If they come out to die above ground, you can't know who will eat it and also die. And it may be someone you know and love or a beautiful creature you don't want to harm. NOT a good idea. I was chatting w/a lady in a store in Medford, OR about our ground squirrel problem in CA and she recommended using Big Red chewing gum. Another lady in the line heard the conversation and also vouched for Big Red, so I bought a bunch of it at the dollar store. It must be actively-used burrows. You can't let your human scent get on the stick of gum, but cut it into squirrel-size bites an inch long and drop a couple of pieces in each hole. They love the cinnamon flavor, chew it and swallow it. I believe they choke to death. It worked to get rid of a very large population one year, but a few reappeared the following spring. I think these were probably newcomers, moving into the pre-built tunnels. We moved before having to re-apply. I recently moved to 5 acres where a million ground squirrels live. They turned hollowed-out Live Oaks into high-rise tenement buildings, but their main homes are subterranean. I almost broke an axle on my riding mower and twisted an ankle when I stepped into one by accident. I'm also pretty sure they're in the house. Yesterday, I noticed a brick missing from the chimney at deck-level. Someone put thick screen in there to keep critters out, but it was bent down. I put a brick inside to block the opening and a few more on the outside to make it too heavy to push away. It was still all sealed up today. But they could have other entrances I haven't discovered yet. Someone mentioned sealing up your house w/steel wool and I'd like to vouch for that method. I was told there's no way to keep mice out of a trailer or mobile home. They come up the walls from below. I once had to evict a family of smokers from a rental trailer. They'd so polluted the place w/nicotine that I had to replace everything before it could be rented out again -- ceilings, walls, floors, insulation, appliances, counters, plumbing and fixtures. To keep mice from getting in the insulation behind the new drywall, before we put the foot molding on I used a screwdriver to push steel wool down between the new floors and the drywall, creating a mouse-proof barrier for the entire trailer. It works!. Many people lived there after that and they NEVER had mice! I've sprayed expanding foam in the same way, but mice CAN chew through it, like styrofoam. Two months ago, I adopted a 9-mo-old cane corso (Italian mastiff) puppy. Walking him on leash through Home Depot, every single person we saw had to pet him or at least comment. Half the people said, "Adorable!" The other half wanted to know what kind of dog he was. Max really made out like a bandit getting treats from every sales assistant. In case you didn't know, that's what those orange aprons are for....carrying dog treats. One of the reasons Max's people chose me to give their dog to was precisely BECAUSE of the million ground squirrels who lived on my property, which we all saw as endless hours of entertainment for him. I could let him loose out the slider, on his own recognizance, w/o worrying about him getting on the road. In and out, in and out, 20-30 times a day. I knew the first day he started chasing squirrels from his muddy brown nose when I let him back in. I got a wash cloth to clean his face, but quickly realized the only time I need to wash his nose is right before bed. About a week ago, I heard some squirrels chirping very loudly from the front of the house so I went to look out a bedroom window. I saw Max chase, catch, de-tail and decapitate a squirrel, and get into sphinx position on the lawn w/his squirrel burrito between his paws, just like he holds his chew toy when he's working on it. He ate slowly, obviously enjoying every morsel, and I thought, "What a great puppy, catching his own protein and getting rid of vermin at the same time!" Then I realized the squirrel could give Max fleas, lice, rabies or other diseases. Late that day, as the sun was setting, I heard a VERY loud and persistent chirp in the backyard. Max and I went out on the deck and looked down to see where it was coming from. We saw the largest ground squirrel ever, standing straight and tall next to a burrow. He was half again as tall as any other ground squirrel, obviously the king of the squirrels. If he could have shook a fist at us, he would have. He was angry Max had eaten one of his harem and was giving us a piece of his mind! It was HE declaring war on us, rather than the other way around! This is what brought me to this site. I can't use poison w/o putting Max in danger, but these vermin gotta go! There are too many to trap, although I LOVE the idea of using animal crackers for bait. Filling every hole w/cement won't work here, an act of futility since every burrow leads to dozens of escape hatches. And there isn't enough Big Red or fox or lion urine in the world to fill all these holes. I also don't want to handle dead squirrels, emptying traps. I don't want to pester them into moving to my neighbors' yards either. I don't like the idea of pouring propane down holes and igniting it, especially in a high fire hazard area like the Pacific Northwest, and especially during the 4th drought year in a row, this year reportedly the worst in recorded history. Drowning in the sunflower bucket sounds good but, like rats, these are quite intelligent animals. They wouldn't follow the Pied Piper into the sea. They'd see one go up the ramp, plunk in and never return, and they'd figure it out. Chlorine bleach or ammonia dissipate and are gone from the environment w/in a few days, but it would only make the squirrels move next door temporarily and return when it was safe again. You'd have to apply it to a million holes every week forever. When I lived in Siskiyou County, everyone knew how to keep bears from stealing fruit out of your orchard. You fill a condom w/ammonia and close it off by tying it w/string. Then you coat the condom w/honey or peanut butter, something tasty that stays stuck to rubber. You tie it to a branch 6' above the ground, just high enough to make the bear on its hind legs have its mouth aimed upward in order to get the tasty condom. As soon as its teeth puncture the condom, all the ammonia falls into its mouth and that particular bear will never come back again. But you can only teach one bear at a time. They don't tell each other to watch out for the nasty fruit in your orchard. I lived across the river from a community of 200 bears! I'd like to know HOW LONG it takes squirrels who eat cement & flour to die? If it happens too quickly, the survivors are smart enough to catch on. Big Red gum may be worth another try. At least no one else would be harmed eating those dead squirrels. But of everything mentioned on this site, the one thing that ALWAYS works and involves no cost or effort at all on the part of humans is cats, miniature panthers, deadly predators. A few years back, I saw something on U-Tube that blew me away. A couple in southern California attached a video cam to their cat's collar in order to know what it did at night. The cat spent the night cruising the neighborhood, killing everything it could! Not to eat, but for the sheer joy of killing. A cat is a killing machine. We all know this. Once they're well fed, they continue killing and toying with small creatures for the sheer love of it. They're so proud of their kills, they lay them neatly in a row on your doormat, to show you how good they are at killing. I once had a girl dog who did the same thing. There was no way to put her on a diet....the great outdoors was her restaurant. Max's people said he gets along just fine w/cats. I'll be looking to get me a couple.

We don't have rabbits or deer. We do have gophers, but I did not think they would go for the leaves only, more the roots. Also, I forgot, whatever it is got all my carrot tops a couple weeks ago as well. Didn't touch the beats or turnips. So if it was insects (we have not seen any animal prints) what should I do? I was using diatomaceous earth but as that gets wet when I water. I have also sprayed the seedlings with neem oil, which was kind of helping. Any other suggestions? I wanted to put hay down in my beds around the veggies but I wasn't sure if that would just encourage more insects...

I think various birds can peck or pluck peppers as they won't feel the burn. Not that a squirrel or other mammal would not, perhaps only once or twice before they learned.