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Thorny Peppers

yemtol

yemtol

A stray cats has been digging in my pots,  Each night, it digs more extensively.  Unfortunately, money's tight until pay day, and I didn't think all my peppers would last that long.  The hair ball didn't seem to notice the crushed dried peppers or the hot sauce I tried first.  After searching the internet for ideas, I raided the kitchen for toothpicks this morning.  Used a whole box of them, but now my peppers have thorns.
 
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/8919163@N03/14160185298" title="20140604_084002[1] by Yemtol, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3863/14160185298_2e1412b634_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="20140604_084002[1]"></a>
 
I'll post again tomorrow with results.
 
Have you seen it to verify it is a cat? Sounds to me like something a squirrel would do.
 
Either way, a pellet gun or 22 will make quick work of them. Don't do the antifreeze. I saw a cat doe that way once. Very cruel way for them to go. (but it does work).
 
Don't know where you live, but in my community even pellet guns are against the law. And so is using anything deemed to be poisonous (long story about how I know this even though I didn't do it that I won't go into here.) Two things to try - black pepper and if that doesn't do the trick, "mark" them yourself. As Jeff said, it's not likely the digging was done by a cat, though that's not entirely eliminatable. Squirrels, chipmunks, GROUNDHOGS….. those are more likely culprits. When the rodents start digging around here (which is usually in the fall), I use a product called Critter Ridder - it's crystalized capsaicin plus black pepper. Just sprinkle it on the dirt. (Note they also make a spray, but I've heard it doesn't work as well.) You can just use black pepper along with the crushed dried peppers and achieve close to the same thing.
 
Lay duct tape across the soil (sticky side up) and see what you catch, or at least see what kind of fur is left behind.
 
If it is some kind of rodent, the smell of blood meal will drive some off.
 
I had cats using my pots as a litter box.
 
I went to the 99cent store and got a ton of mouse traps.
Set them upside down(set) in your pots.
The cat starts digging and sets them off.
Since they are upside down they jump up a couple feet,some land on others and they go off too.
 
It is funny as heck to watch a cat start to dig then set off a trap.That in turn sets off more...
 
Looks like a cartoon when the character goes over a cliff and hangs there for a while,running in the air before it falls down.
 
You'll be setting your traps a lot at first , if you have several critters around.
But after they set off a few traps you won't have to set most of them anymore.
Once the critters set a few off and get scared,all they have to do is see upside down traps and they stay away.
 
I put them upside down because birds were landing on the traps and getting killed.
I also didn't want a cat running off with a trap on it's paw or tail.It was a hassle finding traps all over the place too.
Cost too much replacing traps that cats ran off with...there are a LOT of wild cats here.
 
It's really funny to watch when the traps start to fly around all over the place.They do make a pretty loud snapping sound when they go off.
 
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