Hello Jim

[jinx]

Not worth turning the stove on for 1 squirrel.

[skysidhe]

lol

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by jinx

Not worth turning the stove on for 1 squirrel.

Try not to invite moar.:p

[lumberjim]

i may decapitate it and put it's little head on a little pike outside the hole in my gable.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by DanaC

That sounds like a horrible way to die.

What could be better than a full tummy?

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

What could be better than a full tummy?

The worst constipation in the universe?

[lumberjim]

I have a jump box for jumping a dead battery. if i hook both leads to the cage, will it blow the box out? or just cook the squirrel?

[squirell nutkin]

prolly pop the breaker, better to wire it so the squirrel completes the circuit. You'd have to isolate one part of the cage form the otherand when the squirell bridges them the current flows though him.

Electrical wiring isn't a hobby, as my friend the electrician is fond of saying...

[glatt]

yeah, it's a Faraday cage, and the electricity would go around the squirrel. It would be in there laughing at you.

[lumberjim]

check.

looks like drowning may be the only practical solution. I cant see myself squezzing it to death like this site seems to recommend


relocating them seems fraught with peril:

Releasing Trapped Squirrels


WE DID A TEST....
Over about a three-year period, in the summers, we released the squirrels we caught on our own property, a total of about 90 squirrels, at different distances from our office, using both straight-line runs and zig-zag patterns to different areas. Each squirrel was released away from buildings, parks or residential communities. For our "local" test, releases were within sight of residential properties, although some distance away.

HOW WE DID IT
To keep track of "our" squirrels, we used spray paint to mark them. We used red for males, orange for females, and another color for the specific release site. All in all, the females came back a little more often, gravid or not, when the release site was within a mile or two. Squirrels trapped again and re-released, came back more often and quicker, even when the route was completely different. Males seemed to be the ones (if they came back) that were more persistent in coming back again. Most of the returnees could be trapped again, although it usually took longer.

RELOCATION TECHNIQUE
A zig-zag pattern within that local mile or two makes no real difference to the normal, healthy squirrel, especially the males. Their perception of distance is different from ours and they usually have no problem getting back. The return of females released within that same range is a little less likely, it seemed. Probably 80 percent of the squirrels released locally came back. (Lots of people have the paint idea, we pick up painted squirrels on a fairly regular basis.)

When we hit the 5-7 mile range, using a zig-zag pattern, returns were rare, maybe 1 out of 15-20. We did have squirrels return from as many as 10-12 miles, but less than a half-dozen times. Even stranger, we had one amazing return from almost 25 miles, although HE was taken on a straight-line run out a county road adjacent to our office. We never tried our relocation plan in the winter, I doubt if any of them would return.

We never saw one of our painted squirrels dead, but I suspect a good many of the missing perished, especially seeing as how the ones that did come back were mostly pretty ragged-looking.

Releasing squirrels at night, and at a 10 mile range was virtually certain to eliminate their return - even locally, if the release site was at least a mile away. We only had two return under those conditions, although one male was back two days later.

The squirrels we used were not rogue squirrels, and not squirrels we had retrieved in the course of our business activities. We could not risk releasing squirrels caught at a customer's, in the event they would return. Our "test" squirrels were trapped on our property and released that same day or that night.

[glatt]

I've been a big fan of just putting them in the freezer alive. I do it to mice that aren't quite dead yet. Just drop the trap with the mouse in a coffee can and put it in the freezer. Next day, throw it away.

Looking at it from the animal's point of view, I've been really cold before. It's pretty uncomfortable, but not as terrifying as when you are running out of air under water or choking. So it's uncomfortable and then you eventually lose feeling in your extremities and then you go to sleep and die. I think it's probably one of the most humane ways to kill an animal yourself. It's certainly very easy and clean.

A squirrel in a cage is kind of big for a freezer though.

[DanaC]

Releasing squirrels at night, and at a 10 mile range was virtually certain to eliminate their return - even locally, if the release site was at least a mile away. We only had two return under those conditions, although one male was back two days later.

Drive a few miles out at night and release it.

[lumberjim]

yeah....i don't see how i'd get it out of the cage and into something i could freeze. I'd prefer to squeeze it, but i would be afraid it would escape when i reached in to get it....

for those that are appalled by the prospect....

If you release him somewhere else, and that animal has any diseases, (and they all do) you have just moved those disease(s) that much further. You moved that animal much faster and further than Mother Nature would, and in the process, perhaps affecting other animals quicker, making for more carriers and vectors of diseases that can affect you and me, your children and your pets too. (Don't forget, after handling ANY animal wild, domestic or whatever, WASH YOUR HANDS with soap and water!)

Besides, if you DO let that squirrel go, you don't think he's going to stay in the woods/park/forest do you? Not for one New York Minute, he's not! He's going to head for another structure. He might even find his way back to YOUR place, you can't be sure unless you take him miles and miles, in a zig-zag pattern. Even then, squirrels sometimes find their way back. Kind of a tiresome ordeal if you have to relocate a half dozen squirrels or more. Especially since most of them will perish anyway, in a far worse way than you could probably devise.

And don't think "he'll be happy" because you took him to the woods/park/forest where there are lots of other squirrels. Believe me when I tell you that ALL the squirrels will be unhappy. There is no squirrel, including his own mother, that will welcome him. There's just no way in the world he's going to be able to establish his very own territory, so he's not going to stay where you dropped him. He'll be chased out post haste, he'll just "head for the light" - someone's house - find some flaw, then find his way in, BINGO, instant squirrel problem. (Even though I use the term "he," it is just as often, or even more so, that the females do this.)

[jinx]

Why did we rule out poisoning the peanut butter in the cage?

[lookout123]

poisoned peanut butter or throw a blanket over the cage and run a hose from your jeep's exhaust into the cage. easy peasy no more squeaky.