For just a second, I wasn't sure if you were sprinkling red pepper flakes on the vegetable plants or the dogs. :biggrin:

The whole experience is making me feel a bit like Bill Murray in Caddyshack.

I found I had a weasel in my barn, took care of all my chipmunks and piney squirrels. Since I don't have chickens, let the weasels do what they do.

Here the only weasels are on the City Council. Oops, off topic.

:shock: but, but, there my pets :biggrin:

Kind of funny the different opinions we can all have. To me, a squirrel is nothing but a rat with a hairy tail and deserves the same treatment when it becomes troublesome. I won't say how I dealt with my problem, though it was effective.

Rbarata, funny all our food preferences too. You don't see rabbit for sale or offered around here but rarely, mostly at higher end shops with more exotic meats. Around here we offer gator. :D And some of the country folks outside of town hunt and eat squirrel.

I've heard of using predator urine/feces as a deterrent in gardens- might not be worth the smell to you, but maybe it would work? Maybe they sell fox or something urine odor in a sporting goods store. Not if you're bringing stuff indoors soon though.

Wow....in Texas I step outside and see 10 rabbits and 40 squirrels. Thankfully the dogs keep them away. Unfortunately it also brings....rattlesnakes to eat said rabbits and squirrels...:( I got a spray at home depot that smells horrendous for a few hours but kept the squirrels and armadillos from digging in my flowerbeds beds and pot plants. Good luck orchid Whisperer!

For a fraction of a second, I thought you had "rasta-critters" LOL!

Nope rattlesnakes last year's was 5 ft long.....ugh....😨

Heh we get wild cottontails around, but in my yard they didn't do the damage squirrels do. Lot of big oaks around here that house whole nations of squirrels. We get LOTS of snakes too, I like the nonvenomous ones around because they eat the vermin. (idea- maybe drape the orchids with a shed snakeskin and/or feces if you know someone with a pet one?) And on the food topic, rattlesnake is good we get plenty around and will butcher them.

The commonest rattlesnake in metro Phoenix is the Western Diamondback. I don't have any in my neighborhood, because we have a good population of California king snakes, which eat other reptiles. Outdoor cats seriously damage the king snake population; they aren't welcome here. The coyotes take care of the cats.