Digging critter control

My raised bed is being raided. Most likely for worms or grubs. I'd guess worms, no plants being damage, but having a bunch a narrow 2"-3" holes dug into the bed all over the place isn't going to be good for long. It may an opossum, I don't smell skunk at night. I've seen opossums in the neighborhood.

Tried pouring cayenne pepper down around the bed and on the paths into, now I suspect they're either coming along the top of the wall or another way.

Can I pour the cayenne pepper directly on top of my MM by the plants?

Other anti-critter control suggestions? I suppose I could get a trap but I'd need to know what and then need to get rid of it and it'll probably just come back.

No_Such_Reality wrote:Can I pour the cayenne pepper directly on top of my MM by the plants?

yes, it won't hurt the plants at all. i routinely sprinkle crushed red peppers on the soil around the base of plants that are attractive to digging pests, as well as making a spray solution with hot pepper sauce.

rowena___. wrote:
yes, it won't hurt the plants at all. i routinely sprinkle crushed red peppers on the soil around the base of plants that are attractive to digging pests, as well as making a spray solution with hot pepper sauce.

Searched the Inside-topics here, for knowing how to get RID of the mainly-feral (GrRRrr) cats in this neighborhood. - Now so bold, that in broad day light, they have their screeeching cat-fights right in the street in front of the house. - Not going anywhere near them, so I don't want to trap them either. - But how would Animal Control know? which is the right cats to come & get out of here. - problem: they used our planter-boxes as toilet for last 2 years; so this year I emptied them, scrubbed them down and refilled them with good soil & plants. - Ha, I saw one trying to dig around in the plants (GrRRrr) just last week so while watering plants, it too got a nice COLD-shower
After Triciasgarden posted the same challenge re Feral-cats in her neighborhood, I got brave, enough to post about it here, hopefully accepted as ONtopic. Thanks for any helpful suggestions again.

I have a "scare crow" which is a sprinkler that is motion sensor and sends a heavy spray whenever anything sets off the motion. works well for deer.
It is supposed to work for other animals.
Keeps my and DH out of garden

GWN wrote:I have a "scare crow" which is a sprinkler that is motion sensor and sends a heavy spray whenever anything sets off the motion. works well for deer.
It is supposed to work for other animals.
Keeps my and DH out of garden

LOL at 'keeping you & DH out of the garden'. - The only available placement would also get the next door neighbors, & they're both grumps to begin with, stuck on practicing their 'aging'-spiel; that one day I had just had enough, so I asked: "Age, you mean as in aging? is that the newest game in town? How much FUN is it?" - He said: How stupid are you?, that you don't know aging is inevitable! - I said "Thanks for the compliment, obviously I'm too stupid to play that game" - but then, they have no friends. - But were that motion-sensor gizmo to ever get them wet, who knows what they could do, so I best not go there.

Got any other bright ideas?

There is another one that emits a high pitched sound, when there is motion
We have one of those too, but have not had to use it.
Some friends also have one and their 20 something daughter can hear it and it drives her nuts but the rest of us cannot hear it...

LittleGardner the cats have been doing that in my garden for years also. I have had them come on my roof next to my bedroom window. I tried talking to the people feeding the cats. They said they aren't their cats and wouldn't put forth any effort to keep them in their yard. I tried moth balls, they knocked the jar into the neighbors yard. I tried chicken wire on the fence or on the bed itself. They walk right on it. I tried sticks poked into the soil so they get their bottoms poked when squatting. They moved them aside. I tried one nail per slat at the top of the wood fence, then three nails per slat. They get their toes in between the nails or just stepped on them and would come over.

Here the Animal Control takes a $50 check deposit and they don't cash it and I take the cage home. What I do as per Animal Control is put out a little container of cat food or tuna inside the cage. I use a half can of tuna and stir it up and keep some of the juice in it to have it nice and smelly. Tuna is cheaper than cat food. I set the trap at night and for the first 4 or so days I would catch a cat within five minutes of setting it. I was also having to put out traps for earwigs at the time and from the time I set the trap to going back in for the little cups of oil, I had a cat. It doesn't matter if the cats are ferrel or not. If the owners are not keeping their cats in their yard and they are ruining your garden, they are infringing on your rights.

In the morning I carry the cage to the front yard and put it in a shady spot and I call animal control. They come with a smaller cage and easily transfer the cat to their cage. The cage comes with a handle that is protected with a plate of metal in between the cage and handle so you don't get scratched. The cage wire is close together so their paws can't come out of the cage. I have never even come close to getting scratched. If the cat is owned by someone, they can go get the cat from the shelter and animal control will lecture them about keeping their cat in their yard. If it is ferrel, animal control can get it fixed and release it where people may want it for rodent control. One important thing about ferrel cats is to get them fixed so they are not repopulating every six months or so. The cats here have all been fixed so far but there are so many of them. If they are ferrel and fixed they have a nick out of their ear. At first I wasn't putting the trap away. When animal control went to talk to neighbors to tell them not to feed the cats, they advised me to put it away when not in use. That once they talked to the neighbors, the neighbors may start looking to find the person trapping the cats, and that traps have disappeared. So I follow what they say. After animal control talked to the neighbors, my next door neighbor pulled all the nails out of the fence. I was so angry and went over and got them back. She got most of them the first time and then a week later she pulled the rest out and threw them into my garden area. I figured at that point I am not going to let her get me angry. I will just protect my plants and soil by trapping.

I have heard good stories about what Gwn recommends. I just didn't have the money and I would have had to buy two. Rowena's idea sounds like a good one also. I didn't know if you could put it in your beds with your plants so I may do both. I had to dig three poops out of my beds this morning. Over the fence those turds went!

I feel angry sometimes to be put in the position that I have to do all this work and a bit guilty catching them but I am the one making my house payment and paying taxes. I tried everything else that I could. If my dog went to a neighbors and pooped in their yard that would not be right.

Oh that's funny Gwn, keeps you and hubby out of the garden! There is a ringtone that emits that high pitched sound people my age can't hear. One kid in school had that for his ringtone and his phone rang. His teacher heard it and told him to turn it off. Apparently she wasn't too old to hear it! Good luck LittleGardner!

Tricia

Triciasgarden wrote:LittleGardner
the cats have been doing that in my garden for years also.
Here the Animal Control takes a $50 check deposit and they don't cash it and I take the cage home.

Hi Tricia,
What a nightmare, you have been thru yikes! - Thanks for caring to take the time to write all that out. Question: So we must pay Animal Control $50 for each animal trapped? even tho it's not ours? - (we only have a Protector-dog now, that does NOT waltz around the neighborhood, being a royal nuisance).

Triciasgarden wrote:
What I do as per Animal Control is put out a half can of tuna and stir it up and keep some of the juice in it to have it nice and smelly. Tuna is cheaper than cat food. I set the trap at night and for the first 4 or so days I would catch a cat within five minutes of setting it.
I was also having to put out traps for earwigs at the time and from the time I set the trap to going back in for the little cups of oil, I had a cat. It doesn't matter if the cats are ferrel or not. If the owners are not keeping their cats in their yard and they are ruining your garden, they are infringing on your rights.

oh and garden? - Two cats came right into the house were they ever in for a surprise with the dog, lol
what do you mean "earwig-traps"?? Never heard of such a thing. I learned 8 things today.
As far as I know, there's at least 4 wild cats that need to go; one mom I found had kittens underneath our shed where she'd hollowed out a hole; & then - a Racoon got into the shed under the roof, and totally re-arranged what all we had stored, that I now have to also clean up, oy vey!

Triciasgarden wrote:
In the morning I carry the cage to the front yard and put it in a shady spot and I call animal control. They come with a smaller cage and easily transfer the cat to their cage. The cage comes with a handle that is protected with a plate of metal in between the cage and handle so you don't get scratched. The cage wire is close together so their paws can't come out of the cage. I have never even come close to getting scratched.
If the cat is owned by someone,
they can go get the cat from the shelter and animal control will lecture them about keeping their cat in their yard. If it is ferrel, animal control can get it fixed and release it where people may want it for rodent control. If they are ferrel and fixed they have a nick out of their ear.
When animal control went to talk to neighbors to tell them not to feed the cats, they advised me to put it away when not in use. I will just protect my plants and soil by trapping.
I feel angry sometimes to be put in the position that I have to do all this work and a bit guilty catching them but I am the one making my house payment and paying taxes.

okay I will try to get this problem off my plate this week, and then report back. Thank you so much for your kindness, friend

WOW tricia
That is a lot you do for those cats, and it is sad to get abuse for it.
People are so ignorant as to the real problem.

I admire what you are doing.

Thank you Gwn, that's sweet of you to say! I agree about people being ignorant. Her husband who is a very nice guy and seems embarassed about her behavior said: "Isn't the cat poop a fertilizer"! Wonder where he heard that from! As my mom would say: "It takes all kinds!"

The $50 is a deposit for the trap to guarantee I return it after I am done with it. The only cost is the cans of tuna and my time. Animal Control does not charge for picking up the cats. I do like cats but I am allergic to them. My sister-in-law has a cat that barely bothers me. She's a very sweet cat! I can pet her but I make sure I was my hands after, just in case. Then there are some cats that just walk by me and I almost have instant allergies and asthma. That hasn't happened for awhile though.

That's great about the cats thinking they own the joint and your dog showing them different! It's funny the relationship between cats and dogs. What's funny is the cats don't bother my chickens. They can be within a few feet of each other and the cats just watch them.

I'm thinking if the kittens can be caught early enough, they can be trained to like people. As far as I know we don't have raccoons close by here. What a mess they can make! Have fun cleaning up their mess, lol!

Oh the earwigs. You can use empty tuna cans or cut down plastic cups about an inch or two above the bottom so they are shallow. You use about a half inch of vegetable oil or any cooking oil per cup or container. It can even be used vegetable oil or canola oil. The earwigs love it and I have even caught plenty of ants in the oil. They crawl in but never come out! I got the idea from someone on this forum and I wish I could remember who it was!

rowena___. wrote:

No_Such_Reality wrote:Can I pour the cayenne pepper directly on top of my MM by the plants?

yes, it won't hurt the plants at all. i routinely sprinkle crushed red peppers on the soil around the base of plants that are attractive to digging pests, as well as making a spray solution with hot pepper sauce.

Can you spray the hot peper sauce solution on both the plants and soil without damaging either?