Would you find that offensive as well? Squirrels can be as destructive as their cousins, the rats. I don't harass them on my place, but they are common food for some of my neighbors.

gun from a friend and went into the woods. Cut up the squirrels in the bathtub and mother cooked them into a stew without vegs. Ate for two days. Thank you, squirrels.

Now I'm going to head out and pick everything ripe!!

.... don't worry. But if you are seeing damage then pick a little early and let 'em ripen in a south
or west facing window.

Then one year they started going after them. They would pick them, take a bite & throw the tomato on the ground. One even left a particularly nice tomato, minus a bite, on a fence post. I haven't grown tomatoes since. I never got very many for the amount of water I used so now I just spend extra on heirloom or farmer's market tomatoes.

That is a very cute pic in the OP!

happened with my parents. For years no problems with them. Then the last maybe 10 years they grew tomatoes the squirrels would get one and take a couple bites then drop it on the ground. They didn’t even bother to eat it all! My parents gave up on growing them too. My husband and I tried growing them too and not only did we have squirrels, but deer as well. Tried growing them in pots on the deck, but that just didn’t do well in pots.

when they had a garden, had problems several years ago with them getting a tomato taking a few bites and then Dad would find it on the ground. Made him so mad. They quit gardening in their eighties because it became to difficult for them physically.

One actually crawled under my car a died.. Poor guy..
m

Were going over peak of house and thru screened attic fan vent. Had someone replace with rodent screen and knock on wood haven’t had any more. Doves on roof by solar panels now.

I have a friend with a very nice garden, and he is in a constant state of war with them. The little bastards ate his magnolias again this spring.

the pop shifted from red squirrels to smaller grey ones. they were able to get out to the ends of branches the fat guys couldnt reach.
a couple years i put out dried corn cobs on a spike, just as bids were forming. it distracted them.

it's not the fruit they're after, it's water. run a hose drip. should solve the prob.
you know you cant do this.

.. saucers under planters that have water in them 95% of the time, and lots of cupp plants that hold water. They are
finishing the fruit too. 2 of my neighbors have bird baths too and one is next door and one is 2 houses away.

they wipe out my birdseed every day. I just add more.
My neighbor has built a huge enclosed, fenced-in raised box for her summer garden. Nothing gets in. (chicken wire)

Birds cannot sense hot pepper, and will enjoy the birdseed.

Raccoons pick out the sunflower seeds and leave the rest.
I have done the baffle tops before, I may try it again; in the meantime I just refill when I get to it. and try to stop the steal!
I eventually will try a tall thin pole and clear overhanging branches so the critters don't hang upside down to get to it like they do now.:

I have a ground squirrel that eats all of my tomatoes, and chews holes in the sides of my eggplants and cantaloupes. He has also eaten entire squash plants just days after planting, and chews the leaves off my pepper plants.

I just have a small raised bed garden, so there is not enough produce to feed the both of us.

I’m at my wits’ end.

I put out birdseed and water, which he is welcome to. I even happily feed the tree squirrels.
But stay out of my garden, dammit!

ground hog that has been coming up on our deck eating our moss rose that is in a flower pot. That’s the only thing he eats. I think there must be a lot of water content to those flowers and that’s why it’s eating it. I wish it wouldn’t, but it’s been so hot I am okay with it. We do have a container on the ground with water, but I never see him go to it.

If you have a garden it will get into it and it will tunnel under sheds, decks, our garages you have.

thing we grow are flowers on our deck and small area in the yard that is fenced in. We have had ground hogs living at the far end of our property in a tiny wooded area for at least twenty years. We also have many deer that come through our yard. They have been around thirty years-the entire time we have lived here. We live in a suburb, but there is a large wooded area across the street from us and a smaller area of woods in a field behind our house. Luckily the neighbors enjoy seeing the wildlife that visit our yards.

Hit the new plants I just potted. But they dig into the soil and disturb baby plants. They bury their nuts. They don't them though. They decimated my new strawberrys, they have taken out my impatiens and finally gotten in to my new basil. I am just about to put out that cayenne pepper