Slugs and snails, no puppy dog tails BUT some ungrateful little bird (we feed the birds all year) is pulling my newly potted Lupins out.

Annette

Something little snuck through the chicken wire on my square foot garden soil and dug a 2" hole. Chippers? Voles? Kitty has been chasing the chipper that ate through the weather sealant on the garage to get to the bag of bird seed.

Good luck with the armadillos.

I've recently put up chicken wire around a few plants because of the rabbits. I've been here five years, and never before had any trouble with plant predation by the rabbits. Something has changed! I'm not thrilled, but they need to eat. I bought rabbit pellets. They wouldn't eat that stuff. So, I put in some lettuce seeds for them, out in the greater yard which is more their territory than it is mine.

I've also got the eight dogs. I think all but one of them has learned mom means business about not messing with her plants. I've got wire all around the yard to remind them of where they aren't allowed to go.

Lorna

Bunnies, bunnies, bunnies and more bunnies. So cute and so very hungry.

We never had this problem before, but we had an outside kitty. Our little two year old indoor cat is learning the ways of the great wilderness outside the door, but she is no help with the bunnies. Yet. Neither is the dog. He snoozes on the porch while the bunnies nibble a few feet from him. Argh!

I spray the bunnies favorite plants with a homemade spray...two eggs, a drop of dishsoap, and enough water for a quart. Blend. The effects last until it rains or you water.

Big spikey caterpillars are munching down on my roses. They're the ugliest caterpillars I've ever seen.

Mary

Nell, I have the same exact trap to get my groundhogs. None yet this year but I bet as the summer goes by a family will move into the den and the fun will start. I bait it with apples and once I used sweet corn!
Joann

Kangaroos eating the roses! Possums pooping on the deck. Sulphur crested cockatoos digging up and munching my broad beans before they have the chance to sprout!

What do you do with the armadillos after you've trapped them? I've never seen one of those before!

Deer. Aside from the nibbling, I have hoof prints all through me beds!

Rabbits are making me crazy. Actually I've only seen one but he/she is very active. The only Cypress Vine seed I got to germinate is now history, sigh. I am spraying with a mix of Texas Pete and water and that seems to help but you have to re-spray everytime you water or it rains. I got some hair from the beauty shop and I'll be putting that out today. Anyone tried the human hair thing? I have mole(s) also but I've given up trying to get rid of them.
VIkki

I've never seen an armadillo in person and it sounds like I don't want to!

Deer --- we're at peace with each other. They are even letting my KO roses bloom THROUGH the fence into the outer garden. I got bold today and tranplanted some garden phlox to the outer garden.

Rabbits -- one little bunny was sitting on the bridge inside the fence yesterday and I ran outside and ran him off since he was looking things over.

Bullfrogs -- there seem to be fewer this year. Could be since I planted creeping thyme in their favorite hangout spots on the rocks. I don't like it when they eat butterflies and goldfinch.

Black snake -- "Cecil" is alive and well and hopefully keeping the bunnies away. I haven't seen a single squirrel on the ground in the garden since it warmed up enough for Cecil to hang out. Cecil might have also taken care of the bullfrog population. I have an agreement with Cecil, too. As long as I see him in plenty of time not to be startled, we're okay with each other. I grew up with black snakes considered a necessity in a horse barn to keep the field mice under control. Therefore, I welcome a black snake in the garden. No voles here either.

Dragonflies -- they are back and once again, we seem to be mosquito free. We don't have houseflies either, but I don't know if I can attribute that to the dragonflies or the birds.

Barn Swallows -- more mosquito removers. We love watching them over the meadow in the evenings.

Honey bees -- they are swarming the blooms in our garden so whoever owns the hives should have plenty of honey. I'm amazed at how I work all around them and they just ignore me. They do get a little bit miffed when I trim the lavender or nepeta out from under them!

It's evening here and time for me to go mix up some Neem Oil with bio-detergent and water to spray the roses and cherry to ward off the upcoming Japanese Beetle attacks. I've barely found any of the grubs in the garden this year, so I hope they won't be as big a problem as last year.

On a sad note...one of our little hummingbirds (the male) got caught up in a spider's sticky web. My husband buried his tiny little body this morning when he found him. We wandered why he wasn't out in the garden with us this morning dining on all the blooms. Hopefully, the female will stay around. Perhaps another male will show up.

Cameron

Chipmuncks are now EVERYWHERE since Kitty Boots is gone. They are wrecking havoc . Also we now have a mouse in the wall of the sunroom. I called a specialist and he suggested a trap. His former college advisor lives next door. He said get HAVOC and put it out carefully and it will "get " the critters. I can take the chippies but no mice in my house. What do ya'll do for chippes and mice ? c

Caroline, I didn't have any problems with mice until a developer began working on a large vacant tract of adjacent land. Suddenly there was an infestation of mice.

I live-trapped twenty mice in one month! I had several dogs at the time, but they didn't seem to pay any attention to mice in the house. So, I adopted a pair of kittens (brothers). I have to admit it was unpleasant to find mouse carcasses which had been kitten prey. But the cats turned the tide. It took a few months of kitty presence in the house for the mice to decide to move out and stay out. I think you need to adopt a cat, or two.

Lorna

We have a little rabbit with a big appetite. One of the ferns that just been planted looks naked - all leaves are gone. It's amazing how much such a small creature can consume.
The cat that lives next door walks around with authority in my yard, and occasionaly jumps at something. Mice? Chipmunk? Whatever it is - I am greatful for this "natural pest control device".

Well last year it was all out war on grasshoppers and what I think were either HUGE grasshoppers or locusts. This year so far those darn slugs keep eating my daylilies. They look so bad. Oh ya and huge red ant piles in my flower beds! Ooo they drive me crazy! Last year I bought stuff that within minutes killed them, this year it hasn't done a thing to them. It's terrible!

I have rabbits but for some reason they don't bother my plants and we have deer right outside our little subdivison but they don't come inside.

Rabbits are our main critter problem. We found putting rabbit fence around the bottom of our sheds sure helped a lot. They can go nest somewhere else!

We also fence a small area where we really don't want the rabbits in. I had a friend fence a large area in one time, and she fenced in the rabbit! LOL. I didn't ask how she got rid of it.

trailrunner, I had mice in my kitchen just a few weeks ago! I put out old fashioned wooden snap traps and seven dead mice later, the problem was gone. It's important though to get them before the next generation breeds, because mice teaches their children how to get in and they pass the knowledge on.

According to my contractor, most houses have the occasional field mouse (assuming you in a rural enough are which I am). It's just that normally, they hang out where you don't see them.

I live in a totally rural area and my house is over 100 yrs. old (read: full of holes). Normally we battle mice all the time but this year there were only a couple of them. I would say that rabbits are going to be our next big problem. There are masses of them this year. Our coyote population is really down in numbers. Apparently they have a disease that is going through all of the dens and when you see one they are so mangy and skinny that you wonder if they will make it over the next hill. They are nuisances in their own right but they did at least keep the rabbits in check.

I read through a catalog called White Flower Farm last night. They have a section on Alliums with a little blurb claiming that Alliums repell many rodents and deer from gardens. They have some beautiful hybrids pictured, unfortunately rather pricey. I'm thinking I could toss the remainder of my seed packet for chives around the hollyhocks, which the rabbits keep mowing down. Chives are small and won't ruin the look I want for that area of the garden. I'll be interested to see if chives can save those poor hollyhocks.

Pianolady, I laughed heartily at the story of your friend fencing her rabbit in, rather than out. Silly woman! (Thinking of the Trix TV commercial. "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.")

Lorna

Throw some rubber snakes around your garden. It will take the rabbits awhile to figure out that they aren't real. My black water hose serves a similar purpuse (when the real black snake isn't out). We keep the hose out in the garden near the black-eyed susans and coneflowers until they are sturdy. Of course, some birds will be driven off by the rubber snakes, too.