- Author: Karen Metz
Over the years we have had a changing relationship with the neighborhood squirrels. Early on there were not many interactions. The housing development was new and there were not any mature trees nearby.
We enjoyed putting out our bird feeders and watching the finches, blue jays, and doves that came to visit. Gradually our landscaping grew as did our neighbors'. But about this time, we got a West Highland Terrier, so the squirrels didn't drop in much.
But then we lost our Westie to cancer. Suddenly the squirrels descended and seemed to be occupying the bird feeders more than the birds. We purchased a squirrel proof feeder. This feeder worked through the perches. If any creature that was too heavy landed on the perches it would trigger a metal mesh to slide down and block the openings to the seeds. This worked beautifully…..for a while.
Then one squirrel was large enough and smart enough to realize he could hang from the top of the feeder, brace his feet on the bottom of the feeder, and reach in and grab the seeds, totally bypassing the perch mechanism. None of the other squirrels could do it although they certainly tried. They learned to sit on the ground underneath the clever squirrel and catch all the seeds he dropped. He dropped a lot! Sometimes we had five squirrels in our small backyard. Other than running out to shoo them away, we didn't know what to do.
Suddenly that one special squirrel was gone. We don't know if he was hit by a car, attacked by a predator or succumbed to old age, but we didn't see him again. So, the rest of the squirrels were left with only the dropped seeds from the birds feeding at the feeders. The numbers decreased to one or two. This seemed manageable.
The next change was on my part. I became very interested in succulents. I had succulents on the front porch and succulents on the back patio. Soon I needed more room to display them. I got a vintage metal ladder with wooden rungs. I put several shallow succulent pots on the steps. I also found some special hooks to put on the fence which allowed you to slip pots into them. Everything looked so pretty.
Pretty soon I saw that the succulents on the fence were constantly disturbed. I was never sure if the squirrels were digging underneath the new plantings to bury seeds or to look for insects or if they were trying to eat the plants and pulled them loose in the process. I kept trying to replant the pots without success.
Also, about this time I noticed that occasionally one of the shallow pots on the ladder would be turned over and on the ground. Arrgh! I would put everything back in the pot add more soil and try again. Now the squirrels did not need to use that ladder. There were two eight-foot oleander shrubs on either side which they had always used to get to the feeders from the fence, with a stop off at the dwarf crabapple if they desired.
Now, I have to admit that I have always liked the squirrels and enjoyed watching them feed and chase each other. They have brought my family a lot of joy over the years. But everything came to a head when I saw a squirrel happily sitting in the succulent pot on the top step of the ladder. He was nibbling away. It did explain why that particular plant had been looking so poorly, it was getting squashed and eaten. I just wasn't going to let the squirrels destroy my succulents.
There had to be a way we could all coexist. Then suddenly I remembered I had several pots of Aloe. Aloe is tough. Aloe is drought tolerant. And many varieties of Aloe have thorns. I got several well-established plants and slipped them into the fence hooks. I got another Aloe to put on the top step of the ladder. If they wanted to go down the ladder now, they would have to go through thorns.
It's been over three weeks and so far, nothing has been uprooted or overturned. The squirrels seem to be back in the shrubbery. Peace reigns in the kingdom, at least for now.