Capital Punishment, animals that anger us, stealing fruits, harming trees, etc.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Here it is boys and girls.

Before you grease your pistols, bait your traps and sharpen your lances, consider the following:

Is there an alternative to killing this organism? (relocation, trapping, scaring with decoy, etc)

Is there a real benefit to be gained from killing the animal, or will it be a waste of time? too much killing.
(for example, you plant jaboticaba near a healthy population of squirrels or birds, don't expect them not to enjoy!)

Will poisoning the organism trickle into food chain? poisoning other animals? (birds, snakes, canines, felines)

Is it legal to kill the organism in question?



If it is legal to kill:

Can you eat it? will someone else eat it?  Can it be used as feed for other animals, or plants?  How can the exterminated organisms be used?

What is the safest way of killing (for neighbors, plants, and ecosystem, etc)


I'm sure there are many other things to consider that I hope others add to this thread. So now I'd like to open up the floor to you! A down right loving, but I'm sure a murderous group of fruit enthusiasts...
 

[Tim]

I'd like to see Bluepalm respond first 

[adiel]

Here it is boys and girls.

Before you grease your pistols, bait your traps and sharpen your lances, consider the following:

Is there an alternative to killing this organism? (relocation, trapping, scaring with decoy, etc)

Is there a real benefit to be gained from killing the animal, or will it be a waste of time? too much killing.
(for example, you plant jaboticaba near a healthy population of squirrels or birds, don't expect them not to enjoy!)

Will poisoning the organism trickle into food chain? poisoning other animals? (birds, snakes, canines, felines)

Is it legal to kill the organism in question?



If it is legal to kill:

Can you eat it? will someone else eat it?  Can it be used as feed for other animals, or plants?  How can the exterminated organisms be used?

What is the safest way of killing (for neighbors, plants, and ecosystem, etc)


I'm sure there are many other things to consider that I hope others add to this thread. So now I'd like to open up the floor to you! A down right loving, but I'm sure a murderous group of fruit enthusiasts...
 

Do you own a cat?  He/She will solve alot of problems.  Even better if you have a small "active" dog like a Jack Russell terrier or a mini pin.  Combine two cats and one of those dogs and goodbye fruit problems.   

Note: You must keep the animals outside the house for this to work. 

[FlyingFoxFruits]

I have 2 cats, 2 dogs (one bull terrier, one Jack russell)

I've got all ends covered, and even my sandals covered in scat.

So if a squirrel or possum set foot on my lawn, he'd smell buffalo bodies in my dog's excrement...that lets him know that there is an animal bigger than him, willing to kill and eat him...Believe or not, cat and dog excrement is a good deterrent for small larcenous animals.

I made this post for others, who don't have cats, dogs, and such...just guns and traps...

and I made it for those who have neither, and care not to kill.

I fall in between somewhere, depending on what is killing what.

[BMc]

We have large populations of Possums (quite different to the american Opossums), known for taking down entire crops in a night. Then there are the fruit bats, which will take your entire mango or papaya crop in a night. Then there are the daytime marauders in cockatoos - I live in the shaddow of a flock of around 300. All are aerial attackers, so prefer to stay high - especially as I have a pair of Schipperkke (Belgian ratting dogs) that will chase them to the eand of the earth if given the chance. I've found the most successful POA is the sacrificial crop - growing something tall that they can access without having to come too low and engaging the dogs. Here I grow an Inga sp tree near the roof that takes care of the possums, and grow a passionfruit vine up an old crepe myrtle for the cockatoos and bats. I also grow a few tall palms and tall vom papaya along the boundary of the yard that the bats seem content with. I've found it works quite well on a smaller block.

[Guanabanus]

When a farmer has protected his crop by spending the night with his dogs clearing out the woods, he sure doesn't want any city folks who "Havahart" relocating their problems to somebody else's area.  A fellow might feel like shooting out some fancy tire! 

It is usually more illegal to re-locate than to dispatch quickly with a minimum of fright or pain, when no one is looking who might be traumatized.

Many jurisdictions are capricious on this subject:  You're damned if you harbor vermin;  you're damned if you re-locate them;  you're damned if you kill them;  you're damned if you call up animal control to try to pressure them into picking up your vermin from your Havahart trap.

[FloridaGreenMan]

Squirrels are the worst pest in my yard. I have used Havaharts and BB guns but it seems to have increased the population.  They are especially bad just around the time my Mameys are ripe. They are satanical little creatures.  A few years ago the Iguanas were thick and they took a liking to my annona flowers and left me with a very small crop. A couple years of colder winters in 2009-10 helped to control them but I have recently seen a few running around. (:<)         

[fruitlovers]

Worst pests here are wild pigs, mongoose, and rats. The pigs would get into my nursery area and knock over all my pots and even my plant benches. Made me pretty mad, as you might imagine!  So i hired a hunter to come in. Ofcourse when the hunter came the pigs didn't show (pig intuition???). Then i realized "what good would it do to kill one or two when there are dozens of them roaming around?" Also they reproduce a lot faster than you can kill them. The only permanent solution was to fence my whole place, which i finally did. Costly, work intensive, and so pretty, but now no more pigs ever again, yeah! 
The mongoose don't bother fruits but they play havoc with my free range chickens. I use haveahart traps and relocate them.
Rats can be a problem not just because they chew fruits up on trees, but also because they get into my shadehouse and eat seeds in pots. They seem to especially prefer very exotic seeds from the Amazon or Borneo that can never be replaced.    Again i use haveahart traps. If a rat is too smart to go into the trap i will resort to rat poison.
Oscar

[BluePalm]

I love all squirrels, especially ones that persistently eat my mangos and lychees. I would never ever shoot them with a Gamo Whisper (4 X 32 scope) and Beeman Kodiak heavy match pellets.  I often relax on my patio and watch them jump from tree to tree, playfully taking a nibble here and then a nibble there out of the Kents, Dots and Keitts. Hypothetically though, one could completely eliminate squirrels from one's yard...it just takes a couple weeks of persistent hunting. As new ones come in to the yard they can be "corrected"  (to quote from The Shining   ). And an air rifle with a good scope is very humane and a quick kill.
Fruitlovers...wild hogs? Wow. Not THAT is a challenge and not an animal I hope to ever see in my yard! And then fruit-bats and cockatoos? Dang, I have it good with only squirrels.

[fruitlovers]

Worst pesty animal i ever encountered were ground squirrels when i farmed in San Diego. I would have to build a hardware cloth metal cage for everything i planted. They ate the roots of just about everything. I remember talking to a Castroville organic artichoke farmer. He also told me they were the most horrible pest imaginable. So i then politely asked how he dealt with them. He rolled his eyes and admitted he used dynamite!
Oscar

[Tropicalgrower89]

http://www.idealtruevalue.com/servlet/the-79043/Detail

http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P7816-Ultrasonic-Pestrepeller/dp/B00027D6DY/ref=pd_sim_lg_1

http://www.amazon.com/Nite-Guard-NG-001-Predator-Control/dp/B0014FGT8C/ref=pd_sbs_lg_57

Or

For the most stubborn ones...









  

[Felipe]

I used to have big problems with rabbits, rats, mice and lizards. But after my dad got a few small dogs, we have no more problems with that. The dogs eat anything they kill.

I would never use poison! Only that special stuff for rats that does not harm the environment.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

That remends me', the Cuban anoles will eat chuunks out of my miracle fruit!  Like a white shark biting a surfboard!  You can see their mini dinosaur bite marks!  I always thought they only ate insects, but once I saw one run up and eat a small (palm fruit) fruit at a botanical garden...ever since I've noticed them eating small fruits !!!

[Jackfruitwhisperer69]

In South Africa I had several bird pest's in my small orchard!   Black-collared Barbet ,Crested Barbet and the Mouse Bird's which are all frugivores!!! My peaches and plums were on the menu for this beautiful bird's!!!

An elderly man once said, ''the top branch of a tree belong to the bird's and the bottom branch belong to us'' which I totally agree

[fruitlovers]

That remends me', the Cuban anoles will eat chuunks out of my miracle fruit!  Like a white shark biting a surfboard!  You can see their mini dinosaur bite marks!  I always thought they only ate insects, but once I saw one run up and eat a small (palm fruit) fruit at a botanical garden...ever since I've noticed them eating small fruits !!!

I notice that the geckos here also enjoy some fruit. If you don't clear the table right away they come and lick the fruit juices right off the plate. But don't think they do much damage on trees. Probably go only after fruits that are already open or damaged. We have green anoles but haven't seen any damaged miracle fruit. I think it's the birds that do most of the damage to miracle fruit here. But don't have any hidden cameras (yet).
Oscar

[mangomandan]

If it is legal to kill:

Can you eat it? will someone else eat it?  Can it be used as feed for other animals, or plants?  How can the exterminated organisms be used?

     I'm willing to kill the weevils, but haven't found anyone / anything willing to eat them.