Looks like a chipmunk ..
Posted on 04/13/2009 2:33:14 PM PDT by Daffynition
Edited on 04/13/2009 2:58:04 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
So the Parks and Recreation department is going to use a special machine to detonate some of the 100 to 150 rodents that are tearing up the grounds.
The machine is called the Rodenator Pro. It pumps propane and oxygen into the tunnels of squirrels, then sends an electric spark that causes an explosion. The shock waves kill the squirrels and collapse their tunnels.
(Excerpt) Read more at komonews.com ...
I want one.. wow.
We used to have a Rodenator Pro on the farm. It works OK for ground squirrels, but in Nevada the fire hazard was simply too high most of the year.
The way you get the gas mix adjusted correctly is to get a joint of handline or a 3” PVC or ABS pipe. You stick the business end of the rodent blaster in the pipe, open up the propane valve and hit the ignition switch. You keep adding O2 to the mix until you get a “boom” that sounds like you lit off a cannon. Then you’re good to go blastin’ squirrels.
You don’t, until you pop the thing off. That was one of the problems when blasting gophers (as opposed to squirrels) with the thing. You’d occasionally light off a charge and the gopher tunnel would be directly under your feet.
This sort of thing was another reason why I like White boots, and not these cheapo import work boots. I want a lot of leather and mass between my feet and the outside world on a farm.
When you’re overrun with ground squirrels, you have a few choices on how you get rid of them:
1. Poison.
2. Flooding/drowning.
3. Fumigation, eg, using auto exhaust down the hole.
4. Blasting, per the above.
5. Shooting, but this is viable control only if you have a LOT of time.
I’ve had to kill THOUSANDS of ground squirrels on a hay farm, sometimes as many as 800 per season. Their reproductive rate is prodigious and they’re rather destructive.
Squirrels are nothing more than rats with a good PR department.
I agree.....I would never hurt them, and yes I do feed them in my yard.
There are the common grey/red squirrels that are up in trees, and then there are about a dozen very common ground squirrels, especially in the high desert west, where trees are few and far between.
The type of ground squirrel I used to kill in great numbers was the Belding Ground Squirrel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belding%27s_Ground_Squirrel
Now we have this invasive species, English Red (Eastern Red?) squirrels I think they are called, and they have displaced most of the greys. They are cute and furry (less so than the greys IMO) but otherwise a pain in the kazoo. They tear stuff apart like yard furniture and so forth, and the chewed a big hole in the lid of my trash can.
My cat used to keep them away til he got ran over a few weeks ago & now they are everywhere. My schnauzer likes to go after varmints but the little squirrels don't turn him on like the larger greys do. I try to run them off and they barely acknowledge my presence.
New cat being raised but it'll be a few months before he's big enough to do his job. So I'll have to see how that blowing them up thing goes, I might need to do that. A friend of mine used to do that to moles, making booby traps using caps, batteries, and steel wool. I'd be out at his place & hear the "bang" come from the field and we'd laugh "there goes another one". And a self cleaning trap unlike the storebought ones - just pick up the battery pack and move on to the next one, add more hookup wire as needed.
I would put the caveat out there that you MUST eat any animal you kill.
I want to know why they have to have a special machine? When I was in Germany, back in the day, I watched them pour gasoline down rat holes at the city dump of a small town we were stationed close to(nothing else to do on a Sunday!)and then a match thrown down the hole after the fumes built up for a bit. Blooey, no more rats. It was an effective, and inexpensive way to accomplish the same thing they are doing with these squirrels. I will be their machine for blowing the squirrels up cost the tax payers some big bucks!
I believe these are ground squirrels, not so tasty as a Fox or Gray squirrel. I ate a few as a kid and didn’t much care for them. Gray squirrels on the other hand are quite tasty and we hunt them every year.
Greys and Reds don’t live in holes in the ground, they are tree squirrels. You might want to buy a .177 pellet gun, they will take care of the problem. If you don’t want to do it, get someone else, I am sure someone will volunteer.
Red squirrels are just nasty.
Sorry, don't do rats or mice, but could try squirrel. Will still kill them all.
What kind of squirrels?
The ones I know about live in trees!
Gophers & woodchucks & chipmunks & moles live in the ground
Mark
Back before color TV, Computers. Video games, Pong and SUVs the young Bender Family would put 5 gallons of Hi Test in the 54 Chevy, load the two kids in the back seat, the Hi Standard K100 9 shot 22 under the seat with 100 rounds of hollow points and head east to Kneeland Prairie and take turns killin Digger Squirrels on the cattle ranches along the county road. Good memories but no photos...
Used oxygen and acetylene on gophers and ant beds
Caution!!
Tree squirrels are considered game animals in most states, there is a bag limit as well as a season. Most states don’t allow air rifles to hunt game animals.
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