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Squirrels and sarracenia

Hey all,
Have anyone of you had any problems with squirrels munching on your sarracenia? Thanks.
 
Hmmm, squirrels don't normally munch on Sarracenia. Their diet generally consists of insects, seeds, nuts, fruits, mushrooms, and pine seeds, as well as an occasional frog, mouse, or small bird. They have been observed eating tender green shoots but this is rather out of the ordinary for them.  A chipmunk diet is much the same as a squirrel diet other than you can take out the occasional frog and small bird and add back in bird eggs, snails, and berries so I don't think your culprit is going to be a chipmunk. Rabbits have been known to nibble but they generally prefer other types of plants. Deer have been known to munch on them though. Have you seen any hoof prints anywhere around your plants? Come to think of it, deer seem to munch on everything that is indigenous to North America these days given their herd numbers are so high... actually their population is 7x that which is was in the year 1904 in my area and some estimates are even higher. Needless to say nothing is safe that is within their reach if it isn't protected via exclusion fencing or electric fence. Miracle tubes work well for saplings but that won't work for a Sarracenia. Let me think... English House Sparrows and European Starlings can certainly do a number on pitchers plants that might have the appearance of the plants having been "munched". It's that learned behavior deal and the moment one of those introduced species of birds figures out your plants are a smorgasbord ripe for the pickins... they'll masacre your CPs so they can get to the insects to feed their nestlings. Fruit tree netting works wonders.  You just need to make sure that you monitor the netting in the event that a native species of bird becomes entangled which can happen. As far as squirrels... do you have any fruiting trees around such as oaks, hickories, or hazelnuts?  If you do, prepare to do battle. You see squirrels have this habit of ferreting away the harvest. They do this as soon as the fruiting trees begin dropping their bounty. Look out when that happens as the squirrels end up in a frenzy and they uproot CPs left and right in their quest to locate appropriate spots to bury their winter food supply. They prefer loose soil and they are particularly fond of freshly amended garden beds, sand boxes, and pots of peat. I'm personally ok for this year thanks to a few raptors that decided they liked my property. Recently, some neighbors in my area decided to take it upon themselves to kill off a significant number of our coyotes in the area. This resulted in a bumper crop of undesirables. I'm thinking it was the exceedingly high squirrel, rabbit, and feral cat population that made the raptors decide they liked it here well enough to stake claim to the area. Regardless I'm a happy camper that the hawks and owls are around to decrease the surplus population otherwise I would be seriously considering using that squirrel stew recipe that was passed around before.
 
I noticed some robins making away with some of the peat/sand mixture in my cp pots this Spring. Apparently, it's good nesting material. I let them be. But I have had squirrels uproot cp's...I lost my red dragon VFT this way. Little fuzzy not so nice creatures! but at least it was a VFT I did not kill myself, LOL! April
 
At least squirells are hilarious to watch in trees sometimes when you grt near them. One time, I did that and it started hissing and spitting and lashing its tail at me up in its tree. I didn't go away so it started running down the tree at me. I walked away a bit and it took one final tail lash at me and then it scampered up the tree. It was hilarious.
 
Squirrels can uproot sarracenia out of curiosity (or plain destructiveness).
 
Hey I got an idea, I doubt it will work but whatever. take any weeds or things like that from outside. Then put them in some soil inside but give them water with food coloring in them that matches some of your sarrs. Then replant them outside near and around your sarrs with the pots still around them so you could continue to give them food coloring. Then take some pitcher gunk from your sarrs and rub it on the weeds so they smell the same.
 
Here is a better idea though. You can buy this liquid stuff at the pet store used for training dogs not to chew on your plants. Its a copmpletly herbal formula that you spray on plants every so often, (read label for further instructions) so that when your dog, or possibly any other animle bites it or maybe even sniffs it, they wont be able to stand it.
 
huh thanks.

but the weird thing is that, it only preys on S. Flava var Ornata. Chewing on the new growth and ripping out the phyllas which are attached to the rhizome.
mad.gif
 
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