Animals in your garden or plot (lawn, landscape, snakes, tomatoes)

[ontheroad]

Well, I am just here in Pittsburgh temporarily but I've already seen a large ground-hog, and understand from my neighbours that one of the green plots near my house is a haven for the ground hog, squirrel and raccoon populations.

I am very pro-animal and wouldn't want to upset the critters--and my neighbours intend to weed the area so that these furballs will disperse.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to have both: furballs and no weeds?

Much appreciated!

[momof2dfw]

No clue on how to help you. We have rabbits all over our neighborhood and I've heard many complaints from some. I however LOVE the rabbits. I plant lots of stuff for them to snack on and have never lost anything because of the rabbits (and by the size of the one I saw this morning in our yard he was getting PLENTY to eat). The only critters I don't care for are rodents like rats and snakes. YIKES! NO! I don't care how good snakes are for the environment or whatever I don't want poisionous snakes in MY yard. We did kill one the other day in the backyard that was poisionous ! Better him than my kids or dogs. Our yard is heavily landscaped, a pool and we live near lots of woods and a creek so wild animals are plentiful (ducks are here now, coyotes, raccoons, opposum, rabbits and snakes).

[ontheroad]

Thanks so much for responding, momof2dfw. We are just really getting Spring here and the landscaper was cleaning up old weeds and tidying the lawn today. I so hope these critters survive the exposure; all of those I know anything about love the hide.

[Ohiogirl81]

I'd rather have snakes than rabbits; snakes don't eat my tomatoes!! Of course, they're not the poisonous kind.

If you want to attract animals, set out water for them (especially in the summer) and food like corncobs, sunflower seeds, etc. You can also buy "critter food" in bags where the bird food is sold.

[Wildcat]

You may not believe this but human urine is a great deterrent for your furry neighbors. Groundhogs hate it. If you can get your hands on some soiled diapers or you have the ability to have a man "mark" your yard, it really does work! (I didn't know how else to say that, rofl)

I have a girlfriend who works for state wildlife division and she said that works better than anything and it's free! There are some products on the market like Shake-Away which also work. A lot of people say human hair should be used but it doesn't carry a strong enough odor of humans to chase them away. We live in the country and my husband marked the area where we had seen the groundhog and he never appeared again. I guess the neighbors are dealing with him now, lol

It also works on squirrels, gophers and moles.