I use motion detecting sprinklers for 6 tables of plants on my roof, which has worked fantastically. They don't even go around my plants when the sprinklers are off (in case I left them off by accident). I know someone who has live trapped and relocated from their property, but from what I hear squirrels are very territorial and others will just move in. They had to modify the traps slightly for higher sensitivity because the squirrels/chipmunks could get in and out. One day they also caught a bird!

Interesting. Looks like you had the corky lower part of the stem buried in your potting mix. Normally I'd avoid doing that but your mix is so chunky I'm not sure if doing that mattered. The part that looks bad on the cactus is a little above the mix and not below the mix surface. Anyway, the roots look great. This isn't an ideal time for rooting cuttings, going in to winter, but the alternative is not doing anything about the problem until spring and I'm not sure you can do that and have the plant live. You could try cutting above and below the bad looking part- cutting back until all the tissue inside looks healthy. You might get two healthy parts from doing that. The top wouldn't have any roots, you'd let it callus as Rob mentioned, and eventually root it. The bottom part, if the tissues look healthy, could be repotted at a higher level in your mix. The bottom part might grow pups or a new branch eventually. Seems like with roots looking that good there should be healthy tissue below the bad spot, too.

Hi! I would be interested. I am already growing some astro myriostigma seeds right now. They are doing well, but I have only been growing them for perhaps 2 months. I'd probably share my seeds with my partner as well. However, if someone else does not have easy access to astro seeds and wants them, they can feel free to take them instead. My partner's astros are likely going to flower again this year so I can always just wait a bit :) Also, I have mostly only seen astro myriostigma with smooth surfaces (not necessarily nudum, but the overall shape is a round star). Is having "wrinkles" like yours special in any way?

The Parodia should breed true but the Astrophytum may give you variations since it looks like a hybrid or variety. Do a search on Google for seed raising hints. There is plenty out there and I would only be needlessly repeating it to include it here.