Squirrels Love Pumpkins

As I walked downstairs this morning I told Helaine I had seen a squirrel standing on our front steps next to a pumpkin she had put out. The pumpkin was bought to be carved, though it hasn’t been yet.

It’s not unusual to see squirrels, especially this time of year. Normally, they’re moving around, gathering acorns. This year acorns are in short supply.

A few minutes later, Helaine called to me. “You’ve got to see this!” On the step, the squirrel was eating the pumpkin. He had gnawed in and there was now a hole large enough to stick his face in.

Another squirrel came by and the two fought. It seemed this pumpkin, larger than both of them combined and with plenty of room for more holes, should have been enough. Squirrels must be territorial.

We get pumpkins and sit them out on our front step every year. Usually, I carve them for Halloween. You would think a carved pumpkin with its smell more easily carried on the wind would be a more compelling attraction, but we’ve never seen anything like this before.

Attracting more squirrels is bad. This pumpkin will have to go and I suppose we’ll have to rethink the whole pumpkin thing next year.

4 thoughts on “Squirrels Love Pumpkins”

  1. Squirrels *are* territorial, they do not live in groups and they do not get along with each other, especially when food is involved.

    You can still keep pumpkins, just put them in the house rather than outside (or the garage). Chances are if the squirrels hadn’t discovered it, slugs would have, and either way you’d still have a holey pumpkin.

  2. Pumpkins are a great decoration, and a bit of a target for squirrels…as well as bugs, slugs, and birds…

    If you want to deter the squirrel, spray your pumpkin with an alcohol-based hairspray [Rave, Aquanet, etc.]. Not too much, just a quick even coat will do. If you carve out the pumpkin, spray the inside too. I generally recommend carving 5-10 days before Halloween.

    **[Do not light a candle until the spray dries]**

    Good Luck.

  3. Let ’em keep working on it. You just might end up with some groundbreaking squirrel art. Dogs, cats, & elephants paint, so why not?

  4. Hi, Geoff! My best friend Leah told me about your website, and I must say that it’s rather funny! How’s ‘Nutti’ today? My husband sent out recent pics to Stef’s e-mail. Hopefully you got to see our new bundle of joy. She’s doing very well, and so are we. (Minus the lack of sleep). So how does it feel to know that your daughter could (if we still lived in CT) babysit for her former babysitter??? ; ) Take care. Hope to hear from you and Helaine soon. -Nicki

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