My Yard Smells Like a Taco

Vaughn McMillan

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ABQ NM
We have a few neighborhood cats who like to use our flower beds as their litter box. Since BB guns tend to get the SWAT team called to your house these days, that idea was out. We also tried a motion-sensing sprinkler, which worked to some degree, until the cats figured out how to walk around it. The latest thing LOML is trying is chili powder.

Now the yard smells like a taco. :rolleyes:

Taco Flowers 800.jpg
 
I have two opinions on how to handle this.
First, since they are there every day anyway, and Im sure youd rather have them not messing up your garden, put a bowl of milk or food in the garden, maybe they wont mess where they eat.
If that doesnt do it for you, or you dont want the cats there period,
bear traps.
 
I've been keeping a tally on the ground squirells, rats, and rattlers.

Got 1 rattler yesterday. First one I've seen since 2008.

About a dozen rats, half a dozen mice, and 20 ground squirels...

Rats and mice taken care of by traps. 15% of ground squirrels by traps.

The rest of the ground squirrels by pellet rifle.

The rattler by the little single shot .410 my dad gave me in the late 1960's...

I'd consider myself lucky to only be dealing with cats... :rofl:
 
...I'd consider myself lucky to only be dealing with cats... :rofl:

I'd consider myself lucky to be able to use a pellet rifle or .410 shotgun around the house. :D Actually, for cats, I'd rather use my little Daisy BB gun. It's weak enough it won't even leave a bruise, but it'll still get their attention. ;)
 
I have a few suggestions for you Vaughn. I don't know much about woodworking, but I do know something about gardening:

Suggestions to keep cats out of your flower beds without an Uzi:

1. Put down some chicken wire in the beds.
2. Sprinkle some citrus fruit peels in the beds like lemon, lime, orange.
3. Sprinkle some human hair--will also repel squirrels and deer--I know it sounds ridiculous but I've done it with hair swept up from the local salon.
4. Create a special "litter box" area with sand that will attract them to that area and only that area.
5. Get a cat. Having your own will often repel others.

Personally I don't mind the cats. I'd rather have the cats than the mice. I used to have a problem with mice--until I got 2 humane society cats. No more mice. :D and they were wonderful cats too.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions, Cynthia. :thumb:

1. Dunno if I could sell SWMBO on the chicken wire idea. Would it go above or below the bark mulch? We did try some flexible plastic spiky mats made to repel cats, but they just worked their way around them.

2. That could be real doable. We have a large lemon tree that produces fruit year-round.

3. That's another one I doubt I could sell to the Warden. Out of curiosity, does dog hair work?

4. Hmm...another one that might be workable.

5. Three dogs is more than enough critters for now. ;) Plus, to be effective, it'd need to be an outdoor cat, and LOML wouldn't want to risk having coyote bait. (Outdoor cats don't last real long around here.)

Thanks again...some good food for thought. And none of it smells like tacos. :D
 
Vaughn, just think how good it is going to smell when you actually "cook" those cats!!!!!:eek::p:rofl::rofl: Man, I couldn't live there where a BB gun can't even be used in your own yard. I just went through a hundred rounds out back through a 9mm I just bought.:thumb:
 
Vaughn, see if you can rent some coyotes. It is my understanding that when coyotes frequent the neighborhood the incidence of cat trespassing is reduced....

Oh, there are a few side effects. You might hear some loud cat screams but they only last a second or two.
 
Got any batteries laying around??? A few clips, section of wire, and you have an electric fence. VERY effective.

Of you could just snare them. I've eaten Mt. lion, lynx, and bobcat....pretty tasty stuff.....kinda like chicken..:rofl:
 
ok vaughn my take on cynthias thoughts.. the hair idea doesnt work in my area at all for deer repelling so i dont see it working for cats..the lemon trick might because of the citrus smell.. but the best one i see is the sand trap..cats love to do there thing in a sandy spot.. and the own a cat would work but you dismissed that idea so let us know what works.. and how can your neighbors see you use a bb gun out back?????you got vegetation on both sides..
 
For Me since I live in the great state of Texas we can use our guns here. Also it doesn't hurt having 7 dogs and one animal trap. That thing has caught many a stray cat and dog along with a few possums. My wife is good friends with the animal control person and has no problems getting the animals picked up the same day.

The other thing you might want to try is moving the sensors around for the sprinklers to keep the cats off gaurd.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, Cynthia. :thumb:

1. Dunno if I could sell SWMBO on the chicken wire idea. Would it go above or below the bark mulch? We did try some flexible plastic spiky mats made to repel cats, but they just worked their way around them.

2. That could be real doable. We have a large lemon tree that produces fruit year-round.

3. That's another one I doubt I could sell to the Warden. Out of curiosity, does dog hair work?

4. Hmm...another one that might be workable.

5. Three dogs is more than enough critters for now. ;) Plus, to be effective, it'd need to be an outdoor cat, and LOML wouldn't want to risk having coyote bait. (Outdoor cats don't last real long around here.)


Thanks again...some good food for thought. And none of it smells like tacos. :D

Maybe if you got a couple of coyotes to hang around... they usually get along with dogs okay.......:dunno::dunno::rofl::rofl:
 
I've heard cayenne pepper works better than chili...little hotter for them when they lick their feet. Might keep the pups out of those areas though, might mess with their noses.
 
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