Shake-Away or Shake & Stay?

Like many homeowners, living with neighborhood critters is an everyday nuisance. If you're like me, you have squirrels, chipmunks, voles, moles and mice running amok in your backyard.

In the past, I've tried animal friendly Have-A-Heart traps to remove these pests. I've tried various noisemakers and scarecrow-type objects. All to no avail. I was having no luck. By chance, I was in my local gardening center and struck up a conversation about garden pests. I inquired what they might recommend for removal of said critters. I was told to use a product aptly named Shake-Away.

Shake-Away is a product that works in a very unique way. It preys on the said critters innate sense of fear. The granular powder in Shake-Away (depending on which critter you need to remove) contains the scent of the critter's worst enemy, the Coyote, Fox or Bobcat. I decided to give Shake-Away a try and purchased two different versions of the product. One was for voles, moles and mice and the other for squirrels and chipmunks.

So, did the product work? Yes and no. The Shake-Away product seemed to work well for voles, moles and mice. I definitely noticed a drop off in the amount of their activity around my home. On the other hand, the more damaging squirrels and chipmunks could absolutely care less about the Shake-Away powder I spread around their boroughs and the trees they frequent. In fact, they were probably snickering at my feeble attempts to prevent them from entering my yard.

So, what do *you* do to remove pests from your back yard? Let me know. I have a few other tricks up my sleeve. I'll let you know if they work.