Squirrel ate our pumpkin! How to keep them away?

[KerriMc]

Anybody know how to keep squirrels away from pumpkins???

We are in our new house and this is our first Halloween in it. We are so excited to have a porch, so we got some haybales and four beautiful pumpkins on our trip to the pumpkin patch. We put them out on Saturday and all was fine until we got home from the girls' hockey game today and one of the pumpkins had a big hole in it and seeds were all over the haybale. My poor youngest dd was very upset and sobbed and sobbed. I felt so bad for her. She thought it was so rude that something would ruin her pumpkin. She said "but mommy I picked the PERFECT pumpkin" ... and she did as it took FOREVER for her to choose hers. We are assuming it was a squirrel!

Anyways ... I've read about mothballs and bloodmeal ... will these kinds of things work to keep them away? We've put them in the garage for the night, but I think they are more in danger in the day when the squirrels are out. I can't watch another kid break down again!!!

Help please!!!

 

[famofsix]

I tried paprika once but I think they were spanish squirels and they liked them spicy Now I just bring them in until we carve them on Halloween.

Sorry to her about your daughter's pumpkin its a big deal for the little people!

 

[EclecticWAHM]

Sprinkle it with cayenne pepper. That should do the trick.

 

[SandrA9810]

Once you do carve it, spray it with vinegar, it'll make it last and look fresh for a few more days. That might help keep the squirrels off. Although you might want to put a bird/squirrel feeder up on the roof to keep them a little more occupied above ground.

 

[stsomewhere]

The squirrels will eat ours , too. We just leave them in and carve right before Halloween.

 

[Mimi1965]

I never knew squirrrels did this!

 

[Mermaid02]

I heard that putting Vaseline on it will make it unappetizing to squirrels!

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

We let our pumpkin fight back and it ate the squirrel. It was never seen again and the pumpkin had a silly grin on it's face when done

 

[Stitchfans]

We haven't carved ours yet simply because of the squirrels. They are terrible here. constantly stealing from our bird feeders even though I put corn ears out for them.

glad I saw this though, I will put vinegar and Vaseline on ours after we carve it

 

[ChristmasElf]

Go to Michaels or JoAnns and buy a can of clear shellac and spray the pumpkin inside and out with the shellac.

The pumpkin will last longer as it acts as a preservative, plus the squirrel won't go anywhere near it!

You will want to use a night light to light the pumpkin in place of a candle as shellac and candles don't work too well together!

 

[DawnCt1]

We let our pumpkin fight back and it ate the squirrel. It was never seen again and the pumpkin had a silly grin on it's face when done

That's hysterical! DH complains that the chipmunks eat our tomatoes. My solution? Plant more tomatoes. The chipmunk family is growing.

 

[DrCavin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3Ya6z-NlDo

 

[AKL_Megs]

Spray them with hairspray... Gives them a nice shine, too!

 

[SandrA9810]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3Ya6z-NlDo

That's so mean...

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I would suggest a combination of concertina razor wire to surround the pumpkin. There should also be a motion detector to react if anything does get inside. This could be coupled to some small laser ranging devices and hooked up to an automated pellet gun. This would not be designed to kill the squirrel, but to sting it and scare it away from the pumpkin.

 

[famofsix]

it's alot easier to store them in the garage

 

[tvguy]

Wipe it down with Tabassco sauce or Louisiana Hot sauce. My mom was looking swiss chard in her garden to squirrels, this stopped it. Just make sure you wash it well before eating or YOU'LL get squirreled too!

 

[KerriMc]

Thanks for the suggestions

That squirrel launch is mean - I don't like them but I don't want to hurt them either. Although dh suggested some target practice

We haven't carved them yet. They ate a huge hole in a complete pumpkin. We never carve our pumpkins until the day before Halloween. Little buggers. We are out in an area that is a little more country-ish so have many more squirrels. I had no idea they would do that.

Going to try mothballs tomorrow - they are currently still in the garage. Going to take Olivia out tomorrow to pick out a new pumpkin as well.

 

[ENSOCK]

squirrel gumbo???

 

[minniebride]

Sorry, OP I have no advice, but I just wanted to add that the same exact thing happened to us when we first moved out to the country!! It was seriously one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life and, to this day, I regret not taking a video of it, I was just in so much shock!!!

We put our pumpkin out on our stoop for decoration. Woke up in the morning to hear some ruckus outside the window. Took a peek and there was a squirrel literally ROLLING our pumpkin over to a tree. I swear he was trying to roll that pumpkin up the tree but obviously that was not a go, so the squirrel started gnawing on it instead. My DF and I just stood there in shock before we burst out laughing!!!