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DEAR JOAN: I am struggling with land squirrel problems and was advised by one of my family members to contact you.
I already tried contacting someone who used carbon dioxide, but it was not useful as there are multiple interconnected tunnels, so they escaped every time.
I have little kids and a dog, so I am hesitant to use any poisonous stuff. Do you advise anything to solve this problem?
Puneet Mann, Tracy
DEAR PUNEET: Being a veteran of the ground squirrel wars myself, you have my deepest sympathy. Ground squirrels are voracious and unrelenting, and getting rid of them is a long and lasting battle.
That said, ground squirrels are native to California and probably have more right to be here than I do. On the other hand, I rarely dig holes, tunnel beneath buildings, or eat vegetable gardens down to the ground.
Methods that involve flooding tunnels, using carbon dioxide or other gasses, stuffing a dead squirrel down the hole or feeding spearmint gum to the little darlings is useless. Poison is not recommended, as many other animals feed on ground squirrels, including hawks, coyotes and pets, and they would be poisoned as well.
Trying to flood or gas ground squirrel, gopher and mole tunnels is an exercise in futility, as the animals block the tunnels at the first hint of trouble, escape through numerous exit holes, or go into an area not affected by the water or gas.
I am not a proponent of killing any wild creature, however if you are not like-minded, the safest way is through trapping, using a gopher trap that kills instantly and, purportedly, with little pain and suffering. Depending on the size of the colony, this could take a very long time and still not eliminate all the squirrels. Some will figure out and avoid the traps.
The best — and most expensive — solution is to completely dig up your yard, flushing out the ground squirrels, and then build a fence to keep them out. You’ll need to bury fencing material — hardware cloth is good — 2 feet down, creating a barrier that the ground squirrels can’t tunnel under.
The height of the fence isn’t as important as what goes on top, and that would be shock wire that delivers a powerful but non-lethal jolt if the ground squirrel attempts to climb over. And it will.
Exclusion is your only hope.
DEAR JOAN: I have a problem with one very aggressive hummingbird I have named
Bullybully.
In past years, I have had to fill my feeders two or three times a day, but now Bullybully sits on top of the feeder and chases away any other hummingbird that comes near him.
I took them down for three weeks, hoping he would go bully at another location, but he’s back. Do you have any suggestions on how to tame Bullybully’s aggressive behavior?
Bonnie Barrett, Bay Area
DEAR BONNIE: The recommended move to bust a bully is to put out more feeders. It makes it more difficult for him to guard them all, and the abundance of food often eases the bully’s belief that he needs to jealously hoard the goods.
If that doesn’t work, you’ll just need to let the birds sort it out for themselves. Bullies get knocked off their perches eventually.
