Doggone critters!!!

[NancyL]

We had a very mild winter in MD and the voles have gone bonkers. I had some chewing of my hosta petioles by chipmunks but the voles have gone where they have never gone before. We spend the summer in Michigan and before we leave I plant our old vegetable garden with dahlias and put up an extensive trellis system. It is a lot of work to dig and keep the tubers each year, invest in new ones and then put up the trellis and weed mat. This year they burrowed into the garden and slowly demolished every single dahlia ( 35 or so). This photo is what it looked like when we left and I am sure it will be the same when we return home plus more weeds of course. I guess I will return to putting in some slow growing heirloom tomatoes in bird netting hoping for something to look forward to on our return.

[morgansrgr8]

Well I set a trap in the chicken coop last nite. I didnt think I would catch anything. If it was a mink they arent easy to catch. What I did catch was the biggest rat I have ever seen. We have once again been targeted by a group of large rats. They did the same thing last year. I guess I am not meant to raise baby chicks. I refuse to raise them to feed the rats. I have 3 little ones left and I am putting them into a cage every nite. I hope the rats dont find the little bantam sitting on her eggs. She only has a week to go till I can move her and chicks into a cage. She is so small that she can only cover 2 eggs. A rat can carry her away no problem. Now at least the rats know its not as easy a meal as they thought. Hopefully they move on. Thats the only down side of living next to a creek. All the migrating rodents. GRRRRRRRRR

[boops]

poor little chicks

[twoblackdogs]

My deer have been relentless. I've never had deer damage so much this year. Granted, I've never seen it this dry and so HOT. There's nothing for them to eat. I sprayed everything w Liquid Fence, left for vacation and came back to a yard of green stalks. That, coupled with a week in the 100s and no water makes my garden/yard look very sad. I feel for the farmers who dealt with frosts and now drought.

[isadora]

We keep setting a trap hoping to catch the groundhog that raids the hostas occasionally but the box turtles keep getting in there and tripping it. They love cantelope too!
.

[ShortShadows]

I did not know I would create such a diversity of opinions. I do not advocate killing living creatures and like the thought of a symbiotic relationship with nature. I can tolerate rabbits, deer, chippies having a meal on my plants without too much distress.(I've even been known to feed them in the winter). I even tolerate the bullsnakes that have been re-introduced into our environment to help control the dasturdly pocket gopher. But I cannot grow, potatoes or rhubarb in my garden. When SEVERAL pine trees have been totally stripped of their roots, hostas have disappeared, entire plantings of spring bulbs have been eaten, I am not going to take consider it a live and let live situation. Whatever it takes to rid my garden of the creature I will do. If I could dig the critter up I would as my county has a bounty on these pests!
Sorry to disappoint some of you but I have invested alot of time energy and money into my garden and will do my best to maintain it.
Sign me,
Short Shadows

[Bob Scott]

I'm a great lover of wild life but unless it's an endangered species it's gone if it gets in the garden.
Not to start any "stuff' but how do those here that have a no kill policy feel about slugs, snails, weevils, beetles, etc that invade the garden? Are they pests or another critter to leave alone?
Because of the butterflies and birds that are attracted to my garden I use no pesticides. I'll hand carry a spider outside if I catch it in the house. I've moved Praying Mantis, lady bugs and larva to areas that will do better for my garden. I DO spend a bit of the day drowning Japanes beetles, etc.
My best buddy has 100 acres in Ill. I spend a lot of time there. When they bought it some 15-20 yrs ago his wife said from the start that there will be no hunting or killing of any sort. Even fishing in the pond is catch and release. I have absolutely NO problem with that. I enjoy watching the deer, turkey, coons, snakes, etc. Then a coyote stalked her Yorkie in the front yard. Now it's Kill On sight for coyotes.
Do we pick and choose out of compassion, ethics, morality or what suits us?
Again, I'm not trying to start a disagreement. That's not my style. Just stating my thoughts!
I did natural earth work with terriers for years. One ground hog can destroy a 1/4 acre of beans when the beans start coming up. then there's the damage they do to farm equipment when it breaks through their shallow escape dens in the middle of a field. The farmers loved us. We killed those on the farms and relocated those that people asked us to relocate.
Same with coons in a hay barn. They can really mess up a LOT of hay, not to mention the health issue that can be caused from horses eating said hay.

[boops]

Interesting reading everyone's views on the critters. Luckily I don't live in a really rural area or own a farm or nursery. If a varmint is destroying crops, expensive gardens etc. you have to do what is necessary but whatever means to control it. nuf said

[morgansrgr8]

Well I am still having chickens killed. Yesterdays was done in daylight. Pulled the chickens head through the fence and just ate the head. Then I am my own worst enemy. One of my littler chickens got into the back room and set off a rat trap. Luckily its still alive altho it has a huge headache. I am tired of everything killing my chicks so tomorrow they will find a new home. I will miss my chickens. Still up in the air about that decision. Dont know if I can give them up. But I hate them being killed by random. I suppose I could just keep my older hens and not try to raise anymore little ones. That has been a disaster for the last 3 years. Hubby just shakes his head when he saw me sitting in the house holding my chick while he recovered from his headache. And he laughs when he sees me stalking some critter that has chewed up one of my hosta. I guess I am a little emotional right now. This weather is just making everybody crazy. I wont know until tomorrow comes what will happen with my chickens. Its a hard decision for me to make.

[boops]

What about a fence with smaller holes around the chicks? I put pieces of wire mesh in my suet feeders so the grackles can't get their beaks in. why not try that around your chickens?

[morgansrgr8]

They have already dug under the foundation of the barn. Smaller chicken wire is around the yard over fencing. Its not strong enough to stop much. A dog broke the chicken wire and pulled up part of the fence 2 months ago. We live right beside a creek and it just brings in all the critters and you never know when they will strike. Been fighting this for 4 years. Its breaking my heart seeing dead chickens all over the place. Whats after them now seems to just chew off the heads. Such a waste. Last year after the gardens were done I let the chickens clean up the rest of the garden. In a weeks time I lost 5 chickens to a hawk. If its not one critter its another making a meal out of my chicks. Not worth the pain to raise anymore. So far the old chickens havent been bothered. I have one old lady that is 9 years old. Her arthritis is making it hard for her to get on the perches anymore. I do worry about the bantams tho. have 5 of them but they seem a bit more critter savy. At the moment I have one due for chicks on Tuesday. If she has any I plan to give them to a kid up the street. I dont want them to die here. On a good note. The chick caught in the trap is moving around now. Still a little dazed but looks alot better. He has almost lost his life a few times already. At hatching his hatchmates scalped him. He never has regrown all his head feathers. He's a fighter tho.

[boops]

Wow-you must be very busy. Not allowed to have chickens without permits here.

[rockNhostas]

Linda, it sounds like a weasel or a mink is doing that. Both will remove the heads. We lost all 5 of our pheasants in one night years ago, and we trapped a small mink.
Without really understanding how you are set up, our coop was constructed out of utility fencing...I think it was with the 2x4" hole spacing. The top was covered so that we didn't have to worry about hawks. After the mink got in, we got some 1/2" galvanized mesh and reinforced the coop with it. We dug it about 10" into the ground surrounding the entire enclosure, and above ground was about 2 feet of it which ran around the entire coop. We fastened it tight to the 2x4" fencing. Then we got some new pheasants and had them for years with no more attacks.

[Bill Meyer]

For my part I'm not big on killing anything bigger than mice and voles here in the garden. I confess to actually relocating two chipmunks that had taken too much interest in the tomatoes. Other than those two, I haven't seen any damage to the hostas or other plants from chipmunks, squirrels, or any other small mammals other than rabbits and groundhogs. Rabbits have occasionally cut a few petioles and dropped the leaves, and the groundhogs ate a lot of other plants but never touched the hostas. Only the groundhogs and raccoons have to find some new place to live.

Deer, however are another issue. I would happily kill the giant rats if I could figure out how to get rid of the 150+ lb. remains. There are some strange ideas out there about deer, and we had an experience here about 10 years ago with neighbors that feed deer.

They were feeding the deer through the winter into the summer and stopped after complaints from most of us who live near them. When they stopped feeding them the deer came here and ate every hosta to the ground in a few days in early July, virtually destroying the garden and leading us to put up a fence the next year. By feeding them the neighbors got the once people-shy deer used to browsing around the houses. The deer ticks, which carry Lyme disease here, were on us every day. Carol did get Lyme but I escaped it.

People have some weird ideas about deer, and I have no idea where those ideas came from. Deer have become a major pest animal in this country, mainly because we have expanded their habitat enormously. While the lack of predators may be considered part of the problem, I really think those have been replaced by hunters and cars. I think I saw that 50,000 deer a year are hit by cars in Pennsylvania alone.

My sister worked for the Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Forestry Service sent someone to educate NC managers about the deer problem. They explained that the national deer herd had increased by up to forty-fold since 1900 almost exclusively because of our creating more habitat for them and removing predators like cougars and wolves. Deer habitat is mainly forest edge, which we create more of by cutting roads and housing into forest land. More edge = more habitat = more deer. Lots more deer. We have caused a population explosion of them.

People like our neighbors add to the problem by feeding them, which increases birth rates and survival in droughts. More deer mean more car accidents, some fatal, and more Lyme disease, not to mention what they do to gardens and landscapes. The sheer numbers of deer are destroying plant populations in the wild leading to areas in national parks where nothing grows below about the six foot mark. Just trees and dirt. Adding to an existing problem of gross overpopulation by feeding them, and by feeding them around houses at that is irresponsible and illegal in many places. If your neighbors were feeding rats, would that be acceptable?

Generally feeding wild animals is a bad idea. It may seem on the surface to be kindness but the problems it causes outweigh the temporary good. Feed pest animals and their population will increase. If you are trying to "bribe" them by getting them to eat what you want them to eat instead of your plants it won't work. The end result is that you just increase the population there beyond what could exist naturally. Gardens are already providing enough choice food to cause a population increase locally so feeding them even more will just make for an even worse population explosion. We are bordered by wooded areas here and I can tell you the mouse and vole (and chipmunk) population is far higher in the garden than out in the woods.

I'm curious why you mention strychnine. I don't believe it's really in use much anymore. I found where it had killed 146 dogs over a 16 year period in the U.S., or less than 10 per year. That's really not many considering there are estimated to be 78,000,000 dogs here. Granted it's one of the nastiest ways to kill things, but what I've seen our cat doing to chipmunks would certainly match it for ugliness. Actually I would say the cat is worse - some of it too unpleasant to talk about like some animal horror movie. Other poisons can be pretty unpleasant too. I don't think strychnine has much persistance in the environment, and I've never found much of anything on the issue of poisoned animals killing other animals that eat them. The latter is probably more myth than reality. There might be some situations where that happens but it isn't common.

I think the interesting issue here is what people count as vermin - where that line is drawn. With bugs, I think we could all agree that ticks and mosquitos are something to kill on sight. No soft feelings for them, but who would kill fireflies and ladybugs? With mammals, are there any here who would want to help mice, rats, or voles survive? I think deer belong in that category - just pests with no redeeming side.

........Bill Meyer

[rockNhostas]

I agree on the deer, Bill. There are way too many, and they are persistent pests, both rural and in the city. My family has been affected by Lyme Disease and Anaplasmosis, me having Lyme myself. Our family has also suffered the loss of a close friend due to a car deer crash. I would like to see the numbers drastically reduced. Around here, the hunters complain about the wolves taking all the deer, and I just don't believe it. The deer are not disappearing, they are being fed by people and their habits are changing. Huge problem. On top of that you just can't convince people to thin the herds during hunting season, as a great many of them hunt only for trophy racks.

I am lucky that I can have a big fence. I feel sorry for people who have their gardens raided because of restrictions for fencing. It really is the only way to keep them out. Losing some garden plants in no way compares to the human losses though. I can't drive anywhere around here without encountering deer on the roads, even during the day. I would love to see less deer around. Not sure what the solution is though as people are the biggest part of the problem.

[ShortShadows]

When it comes to evening predators I have a GREAT solution. The product NITE GUARD really does work. It even works on deer. It is a blinking red light that runs during the night. It works on birds of prey as well as mammals like coyotes, fox, deer. A friend of mine has been using it all season and the deer stay away from his hostas , tomatoes, etc.
I believe I posted about it several months ago. It was developed by a pheasant farm in my town that was plagued with night predators. Heck, it is guaranteed to work
Short Shadows

[ShortShadows]

To reply to Bill's comment..... I have lived out in the country for about 16 years. I have had pocket gopher problems on and off over that time and have had little success in controlling them. I almost cut my fingers off with the traps, the smoke bombs are worthless, poison bait not effective. Sooooo, I went to my local hardware store and asked fo rtheir advice. The person told me that he had a gopher problem and used the strychnine and never had the problem again. To me that was a SALE!!! Interestingly enough I baited 4 areas of disturbed earth where a tunnel was located. One of the four had germination of the grain laced with strychnine. The other three did not. I am assuming the three tunnels were active and the gophers ate the poison.
As I am trying to replace my topiary pompom scotch pine destroyed by the gopher beast I do not feel in the least bit guilty about killing them.

[morgansrgr8]

Well the decision was made for me. It went after my duck. Poor thing survived but the back of his neck is a mess. If this thing will go after a grown duck the adult chickens are a target too. So I went to a neighbor about a mile away and he said he will take them in. I havent been able to catch it and it has even started taking them in the daytime. I will miss them but at this point they are mostly pets since we cant even eat the eggs anymore. We give the eggs away to family and only get to use the eggs for covered dish get togethers. I am glad that they will be close and we are good friends of the neighbor. I can go visit my chickens any time. My flock was 5 laying hens, 5 bantams and about 9 or so young roosters. Oh and Ducky. I was told if I wanted to try again after the mink is caught I can get them back. So for the time being they will be safe. Thankyou for the support and advise. This mink is a smart one.

[boops]

Someone else mentioned the night guards. They aren't expensive, actually on sale for 17.99 each at the website. Don't even need batteries. they are wireless, solar items. Work at night. google it. I think its a great idea for a coop.

[morgansrgr8]

The chickens are in their new homes but not before losing 3 more. The friend that took them has invited us up Sunday so I still get to see them. Now to consentrate on catching that varmint killer. I know where it fishes.