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Post by ruffles on Sept 16, 2016 8:00:26 GMT -5
The stupid critters are taking over my yard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is there a pied piper available?
The abundance of yard rodents is destroying my yard. Voles are going through the iris beds like they own the place. They have destroyed 2 clumps of Paradise by digging out underneath and eating whole rhizomes leaving nothing but the crowns which can fall over. They've ruined a substantial section of Eye Bright as well. I am going through the beds, shoving soil back underneath other irises and punching smelly dryer sheets into their tunnels hoping this will deter them. I'd rather have borers!
In the back yard I had to dig up an iris bed in which chipmunks tried to make themselves at home. I actually found some kind of a nest of leaves and fine debris in the dirt. The irises have been replanted. The chipmunks keep UNplanting them as I return to find them dug out again. It is insanity!
It seems to be some sort of phenomenon around here. Whenever I mention the excessive abundance of critters around here, other people are reporting similar observations.
This is war! Poison is out! A. I have a well. B. A poisoned rodent will kill the hawk or fox that fetches it. Where are the foxes and hawks?!!!!! There are small Have-a-Heart traps for voles and chipmunks. Three are on order for me at a local Agway. According to the internet, the bait to use is peanut butter laced with oatmeal. These had better work!
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Post by meggie on Sept 17, 2016 1:05:34 GMT -5
Good grief!,I hope you find a way to deter these critters quickly! How frustrating for you!
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Post by ruffles on Sept 19, 2016 8:02:29 GMT -5
The traps were set out for a day but rain (very much needed) came in and set them off. It is raining again now. The traps are in the garage. Speaking of the garage, I bought some more dryer sheets. They are in the garage, in their unopened and wrapped boxes and my whole garage stinks.
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Post by ruffles on Sept 21, 2016 9:25:42 GMT -5
After some much needed rain, which set off the traps, they were put out again yesterday. This time a shelled peanut was added to the peanut butter. At this point I realized something has been tunneling in the butterfly garden. Most likely a chipmunk has eaten and destroyed the root system of a brand new perennial, Prairie Sun, which is related to Brown Eyed Susans. The whole plant has been severed from the ground at its crown. It put out a most cheerfully lovely bouquet of yellow blooms that lasted for a very long time. I loved this completely while looking forward to more of its beauty again next year. Absolutely not happy about this! A trap was left here. .......... This AM, the trap was on its side. It had been sprung. The door flaps were completely open. The peanut butter and peanut were completely cleaned out. So I know that the bait worked. It will be necessary to brace the trap with some plant stakes from now on. One of the vole traps was also sprung with the bait intact. The release is very sensitive. There's been a bit of digging in front of it. It's reset. .................... There was more/fresh damage in the iris bed yesterday. I desperately shoved a ton of new stinking dryer sheets into that bed. This is NUTS!
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Post by denise on Sept 24, 2016 2:57:43 GMT -5
Oh Ruff! This is crazy!! I know how frustrating it is to put much care into your yard and then have it destroyed. Would a hot pepper spray work? It's not a poison but it would deter them from digging around your lovely flower beds. I used one this Spring when the rabbits and chipmunks were reducing all of my annuals to just nubs. I got it at my garden center and it worked really well.
I hope your traps work and that those critters vacate quickly!!!
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Post by ruffles on Sept 25, 2016 17:08:26 GMT -5
Our last round of 80* days happened at the end of this week. I HAD to get the car washed + waxed for the winter. Also, the deck, 24' square had to be power washed. The days are so much shorter now but the job was finshed in 4 hours of nonstop spraying with the wand. The muscles over my right front ribcage were complaining. Oh well. This wasn't finished yet. In the process, a lot of the dirty water slides down the outside of the garage. This deck is the roof of my garage. So the very next day I was right back at it again, this time from the ground level. All three sides of the garage were cleaned. Yay! However, the rest of the muscles around the back of my ribcage joined in with those in the front and the whole batch of them were really mad at me. Figured I would sleep it off during the night. Trouble is that I woke up at 5:00 AM. My ribcage was in so much pain I would rather have had surgery! The thing is, the torso muscles are involved with every single move the body makes. Couldn't roll over, get up, sit down turn around, turn my head, move anything, any which way what so ever. If I sat upright in a chair, it didn't hurt as much, but still couldn't move anything, or go back to sleep. Anyhow....took some aspirin which helped and got to an urgent care place. It is muscle strain, pure and simple (not shingles + not West Nile Virus). Got some pain killer pills. YAY! Went home to enjoy a very slow afternoon of weeding. This morning/Sunday, I skipped the pain pills and am fine. It only took two to do the trick. Now I can get back to the voles, moles + chipmunks. Look out you little freaking beasties. I'm smarter than you are.
Don't know about pepper spray. The voles are eating from the bottom up. A spray would happen from the top down. Winter is coming. Voles don't hibernate. They will have a free reign under the snow for several months.
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