I can quarantee this method to rid yourself of pesky squirrels. We have been squirrel free for six weeks now. We have two trees which the squirrels entered the yard with. I took vaseline and made a ring around each tree as high up as i could reach. Then with gloves on i smeared in cayenne pepper from the grocery store making a vaseline pepper combination ring. Additionally to ensure the squirrels didnt follow up by using the fence rows from the neighbors tress, in strategic places i smeared the mixture on certain places along the fences surrounding my yard. The only other thing i did was took moth balls and put them in some legs of panty hose and hung them in the corners of the fence rows. I used neutral colors so they did not stick out like a sore thumb. No one even notices them there. I am not sure if the moth balls or the vaseline but either way we have been squirrel free and for the first time in five years we have gotten ripe tomatoes, radishes, peppers and onions out of our flower bed gardens with no animal bites taken out of them. I have read several articles about killing the tree rats but i caution this method as others will just continue to move in, it will never stop. good luck

I guess some of my neighbors feed squirrels as well. I keep finding buried peanuts in my flower beds and pots :o) Some squirrel relocated a lily bulb from the ground into container for me. It was really weird to see Lily blooming in the container with Camelia. "My" squirrels love to dig, but never eat greenery. I also vote for earwigs. Do leaves have round holes? Also rabbits or deer might do this.

We have a regular group of squirrels that frequent our yard. Not a huge amount, maybe 5-6 of them. We seem to be tolerating them at the moment. We feed birds and they are under the feeders getting the scraps and I don't mind that. We have two squirrel proof feeders and baffles so they aren't bothering the feeders much. We also have a large tube feeder that we put safflower seed in which is their least favorite food and 90% of the time, they avoid it. They have dug up bulbs and eaten them, and it was suggested to me to lay hardware cloth or wire mesh over the ground when I plant them and we did that. We cut pieces to size of the area where the bulbs were and it seems to me that they only bother the bulbs, the first year we plant them. It was suggested that they are attracted by disturbed soil. I only use crocus and daffodils, which I don't think they like that much, although they did eat crocus bulbs one fall. I only have a couple of lilies but they don't seem to bother those. I heard tulips are a favorite of theirs and for that and other reasons, I don't grow them. The other thing they did was to eat and run off with iris tubers that I just bought and planted in pots and put them in the shade for a few days. They also love to chew on succulent leaves, but only on those I have had in the house in pots for some reason. They never bother the hens and chicks, planted in the ground. So I don't bring my houseplants out for the summer now. I'm considering buying cactus in pots to surround an area of succulents I'd like to put outside in the summer. (g) I wouldn't consider trapping them. Nowhere to bring them to and they would just be replaced by new ones. You just have to find a way to live with them. :-)

My neighbor across the street has this huge (15 ft) very old enkianthus tree. She always complains that the beautiful bell flowers all drop at once on her driveway. But this year the squirells are tearing the tree apart and dropping leaves, etc. on the ground making quite a mess. I've googled and searched here and can't find a reason. The UCONN site did mention spider mites. Anyone have any suggestions for this sudden attack?