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wheelz51

Peanut Butter & Plaster of Paris balls

wheelz51
16 years ago

I have read on several threads now about using peanut butter & plaster of Paris to get rid o critters. What animals go for these things? How does the stuff work? I am assuming it forms a plug in their digestive tract and does them in. Will this harm birds?

What is the recipe for the stuff?

Later in the year I will have problems with moles. Always seems to start about late August. Will this work on them? Explain where to put the bait if you know.

Any info on the above is appreciated!

Mark

Comments (52)

  • wheelz51
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for the response. Still looking for the recipe.

    My reason for mentioning the birds was to spare them and not to harm them. We love watching birds but can do without the squirrels & moles.

    Now, I have one for an one against this working on moles. What say the rest of you?

    Mark

  • farmer_at_heart
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have always heard that to get rid of moles you use Juicy Fruit gum. Just partially chew it and stick it in the mole holes. It is supposed to "gum up" their innards. Anyone every try this?

  • Karen Pease
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I doubt a mole would eat it unless they mistook it for a worm or grub. In a sort of cruel irony, the sort of soil most likely to draw moles is a healthy garden soil full of earthworms. Your soil gets healthy, the moles move in. ;)

    Also, one thing about moles: a single mole will have a very large territory. In urban environments, that territory may span several houses' yards. While the moles can damage plants in their hunt, the animals you really want to stop are the voles, which deliberately go after your plants (and will even use mole holes to get to them)

  • trfanatic
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Mark you just mix the POP with water and form into small balls, roll the balls in peanut butter and voila--squirrelicide :)

    I am new to this forum also and that is how I made them up. I also made larger ones for the raccoons (and who knows what else) digging up my grass.

    It definitely works on the squirrels--I had a young black one and a young grey one attacking my cherry tree and they are both gone. There is a new one coming around though, so I put new bait out tonight--I want to be able to eat my peaches.

    Hope this helps,

    Ravi

  • korney19
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Would groundhogs be attracted to this & would it work?

  • kubotabx2200
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This is the recipe.

    Mix 1 part peanut butter with 1 part plaster of Paris mix it thoroughly until the powder and peanut butter are well mixed I just mix it in a 1 pint plastic container with a lid, like you would get at a deli. That keeps it airtight until I am ready to use some, then roll some into small balls and put them out as bait.

    the proportions do not have to be exact. But do not add water because water will react with the plaster and cause it to harden.

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Moles don't come out of the ground to eat peanut butter and get caught in traps. VOLES, however, do.

    I strongly advise against this remedy. As I've alluded to earlier, the opportunities for non-target animal death is pretty serious. I'd think that the thought of harming or even killing a dog, cat, or birds would be enough of a deterrent for you.

    The gum thing is a total myth.

  • athagan
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    In an open garden where dogs could get at them I'd probably use them in a bait station that the squirrel or whatever could get into but not a dog. Rather like a bait station one would use that is big enough for rats to get into but not larger animals.

    My garden is fenced and I use PB/PP for squirrel control. Seems to work though I have never found any dead squirrels. I've been watching the things ever since I first started using them and have never seen a bird show any interest.

    Squirrels and coons do though and they are what I'm after.

    .....Alan.

  • lilion
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just lost my one and only unripened pepper to squirrels. Found it laying 5 feet away with one set of tooth marks and otherwise untouched. I am not happy with the squirrels, but this just sounds terribly inhumane to me.

  • kubotabx2200
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If you had a pack of rats dining in your pantry, I think most people would call an exterminator, yes?

    Well squirrels are tree rats, and the vegetable garden is my pantry.

    Gardening is all about making decisions and one decision facing gardeners is who gets to eat the food from the garden: your own children, or Mrs. Rat and her pack of little rats? There are many difficult choices in life, but this is not one of them.

  • ole_dawg
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I will go along with that and don't forget the chipmunks. Yes CHip and Dale are cute on Disney (I can still remember the song and I am almost 61)(I'm Chip, I'm Dale, we are just a couple of crazy chipmunks out to have some fun)RIGHT! Whack hum

  • wheelz51
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I will go along with that one too. There are 100 acres of trees, nuts & berries behind our lot. If Mr. Squirrel and his family cannot find a fine meal & all the fixin's within his own realm that's his problem, not mine. Maybe I should post the lot-line...? "No squirrels allowed! Eat at your own risk!"

    I have no sympathy for the critters!

  • lilion
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Don't misunderstand, I don't mind killing them one bit! I'm hardly a friend to PITA. I grew up on a farm - I remember my dad and brother clubbing groundhogs that got into the barn and I ate my fair share of rabbit and squirrel. And Heaven knows I wish the chipmunks would leave my chard on the front steps alone...

    I just think death by bowel obstruction is a slow and awful way to go! Isn't there some less painful way to do them in?

  • trfanatic
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am going to try some Warfarin (Rat poison) in the mix. If they eat it I imagine it would speed up the process.

    Ravi

  • annie-lee
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "Gardening is all about making decisions and one decision facing gardeners is who gets to eat the food from the garden: your own children, or Mrs. Rat and her pack of little rats? There are many difficult choices in life, but this is not one of them."
    Boy, this is getting kind of philosophical! I happen to believe that gardening is more than "who gets to eat the food from the garden". Do you feel good and comfortable about what you did? Can you win the battle against these critters in smarter and more humane ways? Gardeners are no hunters, I think.

  • gamebird
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sure seems like they feel good and comfortable about it. More power to them.

    Myself, I use a Havahart trap and then I kill and eat the bugger. The havahart is so I know they haven't been dead too long when I get to them - not because of any squeamishness. If I don't feel in the mood for squirrel (or they have mange, like one did), I can just kill them and toss the body.

    Lots of gardening methods involve inflicting terrible pain or lingering deaths to living creatures. The horrors inflicted on slugs and soft-bodied insects are freakish! Not saying I don't use BT and slug bait myself. Most of what we're doing to plants in gardening is raising generation after generation of plants and then deliberately refusing to allow them to reproduce. We trick them into fruiting and then we eat all their fruits and don't disperse their seeds.

    It's a cruel world.

  • kubotabx2200
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    alys it is not death by bowel obstruction -- that is your common sense assumption but apparently not how the compound works. It is death by extreme overdose of calcium ions that causes heart failure. The medical term is hypercalcemia. Look up the term rodenticide and you will see on of the most common rat killer Ortho Rat-B-Gone is vitamin D3 a hormone that causes extreme calcium uptake in the rat and leads to renal failure and heart failure. Rodents unlike most mammals are very sensitive to this -- to rodents too much calcium is a strong poison. Plaster of Paris does the same thing as vitamin D3 overdose only it is by directly overdosing the animal with calcium , not by relying on a vitamin OD to indirectly trigger the same effect. In fact Plaster of Paris is possibly quicker and more effective because it is direct.

    The PB/PP balls have a short shelf life and could not be viable in a commercial rodenticide because they are only effective for a short while, maybe just for a day or two.

    People presume that plaster of Paris is a cement and therefore it works by stopping up the creature. That is not what is going on here -- it is biochemical reaction not a physical obstruction.

  • kubotabx2200
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    annie-lee I happen to think your weeping over vermin is being philosophical. Growing food and feeding it to children on the other hand, is being practical and humane. What's left over is a gift to friends or is donated to the soup kitchen, or what rots goes to the earthworms. None for the rats, not if I can help it.

    My comfort level on feeding people instead of squirrels is high.

    Here's my philosphical question for you: Is the person who grows vegetables then sits by and lets the rats eat them a vegetable gardener, or just a dilettante?

  • val_s
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Isn't there some less painful way to do them in?

    Peanut butter and rat traps. Snaps their little necks - quick and painless.

    I have a friend who was using a rat trap - she caught something like 9 in one or 2 days. Then she had a pang of quilt and decided to live trap them and release them where she works. Now I happen to think that is really mean to the other gardeners in that area but to each his own (as long as she's not releasing them near me)......... :-)

    Val

  • koreyk
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    where can I purchase Plaster of Paris.

    or what kind of store sells it.

    would home depot have it. if so what department.

  • kubotabx2200
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Val your friend may not release this but in Illinois a person can legally do one of only three things with animals they live trap

    1. kill them
    2. release them no more than 100 yards from where you trapped them, or
    3. surrender them to a veterinarian who is also a licensed wildlife rehabilitator

    and to do 2 or 3 you need a permit from the state of Illinois. Releasing animals spreads disease and they are territorial so an outsider is certain to be attacked and driven off. Usually they will seek out another homeowner to pester.

  • kubotabx2200
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Home Depot has it right near the paint department. Ask at the paint department they will point you at it. Walmart carries it. Arts & crafts stores also have it because it is used for sculpting.

  • jbann23
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Man, this is one heck of a post. Really got some intense reactions from folks. Seems it's terrible to starve a slug to death or give a squirrel a heart attack. Every one of us lives because something else dies. That's just the way it is. Don't feel too bad if you have to kill something weather for food or some other reason. Others do it for us so's we can eat. In the end we'll all feed Mother Nature. Best Regards to all.

  • blanesgarden
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    sick.....just sick......hmmmmm....not gardenen here?

  • val_s
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    kubotabx - I'm sure she knows that she's not suppose to release them because she said that she made sure no one saw her. I don't agree with her doing that but to each their own.

    I know some people have a problem with killing animals but I belive in natural selection. See....I figure I'm helping the chipmonk population survive by culling out the dumb ones and all the smart ones will be living in someones garden who wants to live and let live. :-)

    Val

  • koreyk
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    May I make a comment on killing animals and using poison to kill garden bugs.

    We are all ONE. We can not poison another without poisoning ourself. We can not kill another without killing ourself.

    The great indian chief Seattle understood this.

    quote:

    How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
    Every part of the Earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clear and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man.

    The white man's dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful Earth, for it is the mother of the red man. We are part of the Earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters, the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and the man, all belong to the same family.

    So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us. The Great White Chief sends word he will reserve us a place so that we can live comfortably to ourselves. He will be our father and we will be his children. So we will consider your offer to buy land. But it will not be easy. For this land is sacred to us.

    This shining water that moves in streams and rivers is not just water but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you land, you must remember that it is sacred blood of our ancestors. If we sell you land, you must remember that it is sacred, and you must teach your children that it is sacred and that each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events in the life of my people. The waters murmur is the voice of my father's father.

    The rivers of our brothers they quench our thirst. The rivers carry our canoes and feed our children. If we sell you our land, you must remember to teach your children that the rivers are our brothers, and yours, and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness that you would give my brother. We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The Earth is not his brother, but his enemy and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his father's graves behind, and he does not care. He kidnaps the Earth from his children, and he does not care.

    BIRTHRIGHT

    His father's grave, and his children's birthright are forgotten. He treats his mother, the Earth, and his brother, the same, as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright beads. His appetite will devour the Earth and leave behind only a desert.

    I do not know. Our ways are different from yours ways. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. But perhaps it is because the red man is a savage and does not understand.

    There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in spring, or the rustle of an insect's wings. But perhaps it is because I am a savage and do not understand. The clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of a whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around a pond at night. I am a red man and do not understand. The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of the pond, and the smell of the wind itself, cleansed by a midday rain, or scented with the pinon pine.

    PRECIOUS

    The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the stench. But if we sell you our land, you must remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. And if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where even the white man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow's flowers.

    So we will consider your offer to buy our land. If we decide to accept, I will make one condition - the white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers.

    I am a savage and do not understand any other way. I have seen a thousand rotting buffaloes on the prairie, left by the white man who shot them from a passing train. I am a savage and do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be made more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive.

    What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of the spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.

    RESPECT

    You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of our grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the Earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the Earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.

    This we know - the Earth does not belong to man - man belongs to the Earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected.

    Whatever befalls the Earth - befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life - he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

    Even the white man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see. One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover - Our God is the same God. You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land, but you cannot. He is the God of man, and His compassion is equal for red man and the white. The Earth is precious to Him, and to harm the Earth is to heap contempt on its creator. The whites too shall pass, perhaps sooner than all other tribes.

    But in your perishing you will shine brightly, fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man. That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are slaughtered, the wild horses tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires. Where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the Eagle? Gone. The end of living and the beginning of survival.

    Chief Seattle
    1854

  • trfanatic
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Koreyk I assume you are a Vegetarian and do not wear leather etc?

    Anyways, back on topic...I laced the POP/PB balls with Bromone tonight. I hope they get eaten. I put the regular small balls along the top of the fence where the squrrels go and I put some big ones by the bottom of the fence where the bigger animals that dig up my grass come from--I assume groundhogs but not sure. I want to be rid of them all. The squirrels are even eating my 2 inch green peaches!! If the balls are gone I am going to put them out every night until the end of the peach picking.

    Ravi

  • kubotabx2200
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not.

    -- Yoda

    The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

    -- Spock

    Them's good eatin'

    -- Jethro Bodine

  • kubotabx2200
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Bullwinkle, I'm worried.
    -Rocket J. Squirrel

  • val_s
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    koreyk - First you write: "where can I purchase Plaster of Paris." I'm thinking you have some critter problems yourself. Then your next post: "May I make a comment on killing animals and using poison to kill garden bugs."

    You seem undecided on which way to lean, kinda like my friend who killed 9 chipmonks and then decided to live trap. I can't tell by your bio where you live but where I'm at I simply can't afford to give any food to the critters. My plot is small and can't be enlarged to "share". I want to can this fall to help feed my family this winter.

    I'm all about live and let live, to each his own.....yada...yada. But it's time to be realistic. You are quoting a dubious speech at best. You need to think for yourself and form your own opinions about life. High-toned prosy speeches are great for the soul but don't really relate well to today's life style. Before anyone gets crazy, my grandfather was part Native American so I respect the culture but even my grandfather wasn't above killin' a varmit :-)

    Val

  • vgkg Z-7 Va
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    kubotabx2200, do you think that these POP/PB balls would do the trick for Groundhogs too?

  • kubotabx2200
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    vgkg I don't know if they will work for groundhogs -- it was never recommended to me for other than chipmunks and squirrels and the like. I would not want to hazard a guess.

  • vgkg Z-7 Va
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I was (am) hoping that POP/PB will do it's trick on Groundhogs too since they are in the same rodent family as squirrels (see link below). This critter has been munching on rat poison for almost a week now, seems no effect so far. It not only took all the poison bait but also raided the package I had stored nearby, the little devil. A PB/POP chaser is next in line this weekend.....at least I'm keeping him well fed and out of the garden, so far.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Groundhogs

  • kkfromnj
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Are you sure its the same one? When I started trapping I thought I had one, 3 months later the count was up to 14.

  • annie-lee
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "Here's my philosphical question for you: Is the person who grows vegetables then sits by and lets the rats eat them a vegetable gardener, or just a dilettante?"

    Sorry to miss your question last night, Kubotabx2200. But there is no gardeners I know of who would grows things and then sits by and lets the rats eat them. A better question and a challenge, for problem solving gardeners, would be: can we use less drastic means and yet deter these critters enough so we still have plenty to eat? The answer is mostly "Yes".

  • vgkg Z-7 Va
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, I'm pretty certain as it was just last weekend when I was in the garden when I looked up and he was inbetween me and the garage. When he saw me he scampered back to the leantoo next to garage. He's young, not really big yet and was digging a new hole/den. He finally broke thru ~6' away with a back door hole. Probably setting up home for a mate to come, want to nip those plans in the bud pronto.

  • wheelz51
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, this has certainly turned into an interesting discussion/debate. More than I ever anticipated! It's both educational and entertaining.

    Now, I had a wonderful chuckle at the post about chief Seattle. He was quite an articulate fellow and had a great command of the English language for a Native American of his time.

    I am one who almost always gives one the benefit of the doubt so I looked up the old chief and found this"

    "Chief Seattle is widely known for having supposedly given a speech in which he lamented the destructiveness of the white people. However, while he did give a speech in 1854, in which he thanked the U.S. president for buying his land, the widely circulated 'speech' which exists in various versions is a work of fiction written in 1971 by screenwriter and professor of film Ted Perry for the script of an ecological film Home, produced for the Southern Baptist Convention's Radio and Television Commission."

    "A work of fiction!"

    Anyway, on with the debate!

    My theory continues to be "If I plant it, care for it and nurture it, I determine who get the privilege of eating it. I choose NOT to share with critters!"

  • val_s
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    When I started trapping I thought I had one, 3 months later the count was up to 14.

    Very good point. Some of my neighbors feed the squirrels and birds even in summer. That's fine, I don't mind at all but this is what has jumped the chipmonk population inside the city. If they were in their natural habitat there probably wouldn't be so many. They'd have to hunt harder and fight harder for their territory.

    When I first started putting out traps I only saw what I thought were 2. Now I'm up to 8 and my neighbor down the street has caught even more as well. These little guys are so brazen that they'll WALK through the patio area with us sitting there. A couple ran over my friends feet while she was painting her garage. Two years ago they were more timid, keeping to the sides of buildings, running at the first sign of a human.

    Val

  • lilion
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow! I didn't expect to start a philosophical debate or bring in the misquoting of famous Native Americans....I just thought it sounded cruel to kill something by exploding their intestines.

    kubotabx2200 - Thanks for explaining that it wasn't what I thought it was...which I got from the first poster who didn't know either - Like I said, I don't personally have a problem with protecting your garden...Don't think I'm not going to be declaring war on the squirrels if they start in on my tomatoes! I'm just a little too fond of fuzzy critters to kill them in any way that's going to be unduly painful.

  • trfanatic
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well I have been using the POP/PB balls laced with Bromone for a few nights. It seems to have gotten rid of the resident pair (one black/one grey) but they have since been replaced by a mob (maybe 6-8)of big brown ones--very active--perhaps male adolescents. I hope the balls do their work quickly -- soon there will not be any cherries or peaches left. The ground digger (coon/groundhog) seems to be eating them also.

    Ravi

  • wheelz51
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    May be time to get out the heavy artillery - night-vision scope mounted on a .22 or 9mm. Maybe a shotgun. Warn the neighbors first & be very careful! =)

    Hope the PB & POP works tho!

  • hemnancy
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OK, I have to ask, will it work on raccoons? A raccoon killed some of our ducks and we fortified the movable run but there seems to be chewed wood on the roof. A problem is we have cats. Will cats consider eating the balls? I was surprised to see my dingdong cat eating Iron Phosphate snail bait the other day.

  • wheelz51
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I believe it will work on any mammal if they eat enough of it. A coon may have to eat quite a bit if it's a big one.

    As for your cat, (and please know I dislike cats with a passion) if you even "think" your cat likes or would take a nibble of peanut butter DO NO TRY THIS! Better watch your ducks too.

  • harvesthunt
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    As silly as this might sound, I really don't want to risk harming my bunnies (who pretty much leave my garden alone) and only want to go after squirrels.

    Would rabbits eat it? I'm ready to kill every squirrel within a 10 house radious they're doing so much damage around mine and my neighbors yards, but don't want to hurt the bunnies.

  • harvesthunt
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh, thank you whoever posted the idea about putting it on fences. I will try that since it'll keep the bunnies safe and get the furry tailed rats!

    (Teach them to go after my almost ripe figs!)

  • vgkg Z-7 Va
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    An update on my Groundhog, he never got around to eating the POP/PB balls as he dissappeared for a few days. I thought that the rat poison finally got him so I filled in his holes. The next day he showed up again looking confused so I put him out of his misery with a pellet. So never got to the point of testing out the POP/PB on him.

  • ilovesquirrels_2008
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Just to inform all of you crazy wildlife killing rednecks, Killing and trapping wildlife in most states is against the law. Call your local game comission or google wildlife rehabbers in your area.
    I sure hope the extremes you are willing to go to does not kill anyones pet, or things could become even worse for you.
    What goes around comes around. SHAME!

  • wheelz51
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yea, yea, yea... Nice of you to be so stereotypical.

    I started this topic because I wanted some information and got it! The thread turned into a very informative, useful and entertaining piece. Your post is part of the "entertainment!" LOL. And, BTW, here is "the rest of the story;"

    The squirrels you love kept raiding my bird feeder. I peppered their backsides with BBs hoping they would get the message and stay away. I guess squirrels are not one of the brightest creatures on the planet! So... I got the pellet gun out, gave it 15 pumps and terminated one squirrel. I left his lousy carcass lie in its tracks for a couple of days and haven't had a squirrel problem since. End of story and "no SHAME" on me. As James Brown sang, "I feel good!"

    BTW, Never did use the POP/PB balls =(

  • albert_135   39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I had some time and this one struck me as being curious so I went Googling and found where the EPA, that will cause some knee jerk reactions, lists plaster of paris among "inert" ingredients that may be added to pesticides for use in the production of food use products.

    Elsewhere I found someone who sold plaster of paris with something added to prevent rats from eating it.

    It is harmful to squirrels and not rats? Could very well be. Humans should not deliberately consume the stuff. The humans who breath it a lot have some lung problems attributed to impurities.

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