Ground Squirrel capture and removal in a semi-rural area, false spring, early planting and threats to the levee systems

  We are experiencing a false spring in Northern California when that high-pressure area moves in over the ocean just outside of the Golden Gate, it spells no rain until it leaves. It also brings in fair weather, it happens in February almost every year, people are most likely invading the nurseries and big box stores for summer garden plants, and flowers for the spring. I catch the bug as well, I resist as long as I can then I normally do something. This year I am starting my pepper seeds, cucumber, and acorn squash, they may just make it, the box stays 80 degrees F. during the day, even under clouds.

This is my seed starting table, I'm going to start sun drying oranges
and tangerines in it, I will blog about that in two days. 

 I started a video to demonstrate the germination length of time, the beginning date is January 18, 2018, 13 days ago, they have not sprouted. (I am unable to finish the video until I have an ending) I also set the peach tree I started a year ago from a seed out in the sun, it's still getting down in the low 40's after dark, as long as we don't have a prolonged stretch of frost it will be OK, I don't believe we will. The warm weather brings out the critters as well, it's 73 degrees F today, maybe some snakes will be out sunning after the morning shade subsides. I'm still looking for the one my neighbor saw last fall, it scared her fairly bad, they are actually harmless if you give them their space. She has a lot of plants around her home, it's really pretty, but it is also good snake habitat. So I look all over the place for snakes, I'm always on the lookout for them, they are a barometer of how our little eco-system is doing. (Little? It's a huge river system)
  The environment must be doing OK, as far as mammals are concerned, gophers, ground squirrels, and moles are abundant right now. The ground squirrels are the villains (in many ways victims of their own successes), that need to be controlled, they will rapidly dominate the entire area, people familiar with them are well aware of the problem they will become if left to their own resources. When they start to burrow in the levees, it is bad news, enough of them could easily cause a breach followed by flooding. I know how to control them, but it involves snakes and the ladies of the area do not want me to bring in any gopher snakes. I will not use poison grain, I was in charge of vector control as part of one job I had years ago. The company was situated on 180 acres, the production plant was on 80 of it, all fenced in with a cyclone fence. The company went bankrupt and was waiting for a new owner to take over, it took 2 years. Each member of the crew was assigned a specific list of responsibilities, mine was clearing the site of old tires (at one point thousands were buried), pallets, (boy the fire we had after we stacked 5,000 up, the fire department lit the pile), abandoned underground storage tanks, (another blog, maybe the next one, it's interesting) and last ground squirrels.

Coyotes can make a dent in the ground squirrel population but it
has it's downside as well, like hello, they are Coyotes, and being in a
semi-rural area may not be good. 

  At that facility there were, I want to say tens of thousands of ground squirrels, it was a very isolated plant. We didn't have a lot of choices how to deal with them, earlier the person in charge of "vector control" made a terrible mistake. We were overrun with cats, they were everywhere, some got into the switchgear and a breaker was destroyed after it was shorted out by one of the animals. I won't get into what direction he chose to "control" the cats, but let me say his wife was so upset she reported him to the county and the rest is history. His solution was extremely cruel, he must have gone home and told his wife what he was doing, no one on our crew knew, honestly. Another incident involved an owl, we were replacing the tubes in a big Steam Generator (HRSG technically), we always hired outside boilermakers to weld the tubes. One of them found on the ground a dead Barn Owl, it just so happened a county inspector was on site, we never tried to hide anything anyway but this poor guy was "caught". Well, to make a long story short he was exonerated because he had nothing to do with its demise, he merely "found" the bird of prey dead. That's always an event creating catalyst, "Bird of Prey". What it translated into was a complete shutdown of work until the cause could be determined, so it was sent to a lab, and we all cooled our heels for a month.
  Back to the ground squirrels, there were several "approved" methods of dealing with the rodents, one was Owls, that was why there were so many of them on the site. One was snakes, it would be gopher and rattlesnakes, and another was poisoned grain. The explanation for using poison grain (encouraged by the county), was the animals would eat the County supplied grain, get sick, go to their dens, die, then cannibalism ensued and the entire colony would be wiped out. Special piping had to be constructed from 4 inch PVC, and a tee fitting, place the grain in those things and they would come. Now mammal poison works on blood thinning to the point of internal bleeding and eventually death. It is said by "experts" that snakes are unaffected by it, their genetic makeup is different. This is the same area that was detrimental to the near extinction of the California Condor, at that time they were coming back, supposedly this poison grain would not affect them, OK. I would have much rather used a 22 caliber rifle or something, but regardless sometimes pest have to be reckoned with, so the EPA approved poison was used. Incidentally, I did not notice a decrease in the population, which means a natural course of action that could be continued is actually the best answer, more Coyotes, and snakes, that's the answer for that area.
  Poison is out of the question with me, and in our area would be extremely dangerous, we never did find out how the owl died, but I have my suspicions. So what are the choices, for sure we won't get the county involve, although it's a different one here, I would bet their method would mimic the one in the other county. Cats, Coyotes, Raccoons, Fox, and Snakes, of them all I prefer snakes, they stay away from people, they are efficient, silent, and when food supply disappears they go elsewhere. Cats are OK, but due to people here laying out rat poison, anti-freeze, and natural predators, I am reluctant to have another outdoor cat. We took good care of him, (our cat) he took good care of us, but one day he came home poisoned, it tore me apart, if we get a cat he will have to stay indoors. I don't mind Coyotes, what I do mind is Coyotes being around the house running through the area. My concern is centered around house pets, and livestock, I have been picking up Coyote scat lately on the levee, it's on the increase. More of the animals are moving in because there is more food available, I will never be able to control the Coyotes, what we can do is control the food source, ground squirrels, rabbits, turkeys, and pet food left out. Raccoons, Fox, and Snakes are uncontrollable, but there are not enough of them, what is a guy to do? I hear gunshots from across the road at a ranch, he may shooting ground squirrels as I write this. Dogs are a good deterrent to the squirrels, I have the honor of having a dog that has DNA from every canine that has ever existed, she does a good job of keeping them away from our levee. Although sometimes I can't tell if the holes are from her or the ground squirrels, probably 50/50.

Skunkpuppy, on watch, there's a lot for her to chase here. She's a
mean dang old dog too, have you ever had a pain in the rear dog?
But she is my good buddy, she kind of does what I tell her.

  We could trap them, but like I said earlier there are not enough traps in the world to control a large colony of them, I would not like to release them somewhere else with a levee, never mind it's most likely illegal to relocate them anyway. We have professional trappers that will trap the Beavers when they dig into the levees. He told me one day that they found a beaver den in the levee that was big enough to fit a 3/4 ton pickup truck in, that's a major threat. The good thing about hiring a professional trapper, state-approved, which means he must abide by all of the laws pertaining to trapping. With Beavers, Raccoons, and I'm sure there are more animals governed by the law that they must be trapped and released. Trapping in our state is regulated as well as where the release can be made, as far as the Beavers are concerned it's most likely on an island in the Delta, they don't kill them. (Follow this Link to read about requirements to become a licensed trapper in California.)
  I started out writing this blog about skinks, but that's the power of "skylarking" I drift off on a tangent regularly. I call it bringing the cows all the way around the pasture before going into the barn. It's kind of difficult to compete blogging in this day and age with the political stuff happening every day, us general bloggers are not at the top of most peoples list to read. I don't have any delusions about it, important things are happening and being curious people want to know and stay informed. About 75-100 people read my blogs every other day, I value each and every one of you. So I'm going to roll right into writing another blog about skinks, it's interesting how many animals come out to take a bath in the warm sun.

  Thank you for reading and sharing my blog, I'd like to hear from you, just say hi, I'd think that is great! Hopefully, this blog will add to your self-awareness, becoming a little more alert of what living behind a levee means in relation to preparing for a possible future catastrophe which the ground squirrels could easily create. One of the things I constantly remind myself of is that I am a temporary steward of this land, and so are they, in so being they are like everyone else, we're all merely trying to survive. Thanks again, and learn something new today.

jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com