Where to buy poisons?

[Tractor Seabee]

We own a lot 65 miles away in a nice community. Bought it when our son got transferred to a town near there, but before we could move he got transferred back close to our place.

So I go every week or two and mow the grass. But now the lot is occupied by an army of ground squirrels and the area looks like a battle field with holes all over the place and it won't be long before I get the riding mower stuck in a hole. The lot is 18,000 sq. feet and we have it for sale so we want it to look good.

Extension Service info about ground squirrels says to poison them but the article doesn't say where to get the stuff and it lists various kinds of poisons.

So where can you buy poisons?

I agree it will be hard to sell in that condition. As stated later beware of poisions; you do not want to be buying all the areas dead dogs and cats. Set up a nice blind and plink away with a 22 unless restricted from fire arms then use a good pellet gun. I once killed 100 of them in one day up in the Dalles area. You should have a WILCO Farmers Co-Op store in your area. There may well be a natural means of killing them that will not harm the pets population. Drive them into you neighbors lots then after the sal they will probably re-occupy. W/O natural predators populations such as those can explode almost overnight. What are they eating? Figure a way to stop their food supply; they will then move on. I ahve found that isthe best way to get rid of moles for example.

Ron

 

[hslogger]

Going out on a limb here with my personal knowledge.... I don't use poisons. I have seen secondary poisoning go right up the food chain affecting, ie killing non target species.

 

[RNeumann]

These are the tees I was referring to-

Building and Using Ground Squirrel Bait Stations - YouTube

 

[TnAndy]

I'll send you my wife's recipe for turkey hash, but use at your own risk.

 

[zzvyb6]

Chipmunks, squirrels and mice are not swimmers but really go for sunflower seeds. It's on their bucket list. Mine, too.

 

[Oldoak]

Going out on a limb here with my personal knowledge.... I don't use poisons. I have seen secondary poisoning go right up the food chain affecting, ie killing non target species.

I'm with you 100% on that note! :thumbsup:

Using poison to kill coyotes years ago not only killed other critters that got into it, but also decimated the Bald Eagle population which feed on the dead animals. That and DDT. Sadly, there are almost always other non-targeted victims when ever poisons are used.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Squirrels, including ground squirrels, are one of the top 10 most intelligent animals according to scientists. They are ranked above dogs and cats. They are problem solvers. They will quickly learn to defeat any *squirrel proof* bird feeder, including one that needs to be unscrewed. They can also open doors. They have strong social and family bonds. They are excellent mothers and devote a long time to the care of their young relative to other small mammals. For example, kittens and puppies are weaned at 6 weeks old, and ready to go on their own after just 3 months. Baby squirrels are cared for by mom for 6 months. Even after weaning, squirrels stay in family groups, with last year's sons and daughters babysitting this year's babies when mom needs to forage. Although small in body size, squirrels have surprisingly developed emotions; they bond very strongly, mourn their dead, have a sense of humor, and considering that they are wild, un-domesticated animals, have an unusual ability to bond with humans. Perhaps they've been *watching* us for a long, long time?

 

[deserteagle71]

Squirrels, including ground squirrels, are one of the top 10 most intelligent animals according to scientists. They are ranked above dogs and cats. They are problem solvers. They will quickly learn to defeat any *squirrel proof* bird feeder, including one that needs to be unscrewed. They can also open doors. They have strong social and family bonds. They are excellent mothers and devote a long time to the care of their young relative to other small mammals. For example, kittens and puppies are weaned at 6 weeks old, and ready to go on their own after just 3 months. Baby squirrels are cared for by mom for 6 months. Even after weaning, squirrels stay in family groups, with last year's sons and daughters babysitting this year's babies when mom needs to forage. Although small in body size, squirrels have surprisingly developed emotions; they bond very strongly, mourn their dead, have a sense of humor, and considering that they are wild, un-domesticated animals, have an unusual ability to bond with humans. Perhaps they've been *watching* us for a long, long time?

Your eastern ground squirrels must have renegade outlaw relatives out here in Nevada. Ours are even cannibalistic - we see them all the time munching on their road-killed (or shot) relatives.

The amount of damage they do is beyond belief - the bigger farms/ranches around here employ a person pretty much full time to eradicate them, with little success. And all of them have a standing invitation for shooters to come out and shoot all they want. I'm currently in the process of mowing my land and I have to mow in lower gears than what I could use if the ground were smooth - but with the mounds and holes from the ground squirrel colonies it is too dangerous to go too fast. I have to use a heavy-duty rotary mower even though all I'm mowing is grass and weeds because any other type of mower cannot handle running into the mounds of dirt and rocks without damage.

I refuse to use poison due to the aforementioned problems of the poison going up the food chain. But I and my immediate neighbors shoot hundreds of these things (funny that they hibernate as soon as it gets hot) every spring...for all the good it does.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Your eastern ground squirrels must have renegade outlaw relatives out here in Nevada. Ours are even cannibalistic - we see them all the time munching on their road-killed (or shot) relatives.

The amount of damage they do is beyond belief - the bigger farms/ranches around here employ a person pretty much full time to eradicate them, with little success. And all of them have a standing invitation for shooters to come out and shoot all they want. I'm currently in the process of mowing my land and I have to mow in lower gears than what I could use if the ground were smooth - but with the mounds and holes from the ground squirrel colonies it is too dangerous to go too fast. I have to use a heavy-duty rotary mower even though all I'm mowing is grass and weeds because any other type of mower cannot handle running into the mounds of dirt and rocks without damage.

I refuse to use poison due to the aforementioned problems of the poison going up the food chain. But I and my immediate neighbors shoot hundreds of these things (funny that they hibernate as soon as it gets hot) every spring...for all the good it does.

This is all true as well.......

Bless you for not going the poison route. A terrible way to die. A clean shot is more humane.

Still, I can't help but think that when your livelihood depends on constantly killing things it's hard to retain the softer feelings. You must harden your heart if you're gonna sleep at night. You see that a lot in farming.

I'm not criticizing you or anyone, the whole situation just makes me sad. I hope that someday technology will enable us to live and feed ourselves without so much collateral damage. I believe that it will.

 

[deserteagle71]

This is all true as well.......

Bless you for not going the poison route. A terrible way to die. A clean shot is more humane.

Still, I can't help but think that when your livelihood depends on constantly killing things it's hard to retain the softer feelings. You must harden your heart if you're gonna sleep at night. You see that a lot in farming.

I'm not criticizing you or anyone, the whole situation just makes me sad. I hope that someday technology will enable us to live and feed ourselves without so much collateral damage. I believe that it will.

It's just a matter of figuring out how to make what we grow unpalatable to wildlife. Wildlife gravitates to where the "groceries" grow - that's why, if you want to see wildlife, don't go to the mountains, go to the farms. That's where, around here, anyway, you'll see herds of deer, elk, antelope...and thousands of ground squirrels. Just the other day I was watching a swather go round and round a field of alfalfa while a herd of antelope kept moving just enough to stay out of its way.