rcn--
You need a couple of big, fat Black Snakes.....I wonder if there is a farmer nearby that would trap a few and move them over to your garden?
Just a frivolous suggestion.....Gita
Ravenous Rabbits and other Garden Pests Part #2.
Ewww...LOL!!! We've already got those disgusting things - forgive me but I'm not fond of snakes! Fortunately we don't actually "see" them often but every once in a while they'll surprise me :( I still remember my first encounter with one when I moved to VA. Saw one basking in the sun at the top of the driveway at the nursery - freaked out and ran to get a friend to kill it. He walked up the hill armed with a 2x4. When he came back I asked him if he killed it and he just laughed at me - told me it was ONLY a black snake and they're "good" snakes - what???? Then a week later Rick's mom called, freaked out because they had discovered one in the ceiling of their basement. He went over and removed not one, but TWO and had me take a picture of him with them curled around his shoulders - yuck! I've gradually accepted them and even avoid driving over them when I see them crossing the road because I now know they are good snakes - BUT I still don't "like" them!
rcn....LOL i would be the exact same way. LOL i would just imagine them eating one of my voles and i would be happy to let it live, but just not where and when i can see it. LOL
debi- thanks for your story. I am finding new holes. grrrrrrr. Like rcn, I am afraid to use poison. I'm dosing them up with mothballs today and hoping that if I squish the tunnel closed with mothballs in, they'll get a toxic dose. But they probably have a backdoor.
We don't kill snakes either--see one about once a year--but wouldn't you know, one of the few times my step mother visits, we almost step on one in the veggies bed!
Thank you Debi_Z. If I ever get time to garden again, I will look into it. I read about them but had dismissed the idea as they were in so many different locations. It's definitely worth a try..
Only ONE Summer did I have a black snake! Never seen one before (in 35 years) and haven't seen one since....
I was out in the back yard and saw, what I thought was a branch down from my maple tree. So I went to pick it up--and freaked out--It was a 4' black snake!
I ran in the house and grabbed my camera, and for the next hour I followed it along my side bed and then to the front of the house and took pictures.When it got to the front bed--it started climbing into my old, sticky Juniper bush. I was like--"Oh my God! What will it do next??"
So there i am--between the house and the dead side of this 35 year old Juniper bush--crouching under the overhang, camera in hand--trying to see where the snake had gotten to--all the time praying it would not lunge out of nowhere in my face.
Since I could not see it, I got out of the back of the Juniper and started poking around the front of it. These are pretty large bushes....All of a sudden I see TWO heads!!!!!
YIKES!!! Where did the other one come from?????? So, back I crawl behind the bushes and after a while the two of them slither down--all intertwined--and start heading towards the concrete porch to my front door. And then--to my horror--they both disappear into the foundation of the porch--still all twisted around each other......The hussies!!!!
I ran in the house and started looking up Black Snakes....called the University of MD Co-Op service and asked about these snakes....
Finally, I calmed down and realized they were "good" snakes, but now I had visions of a "litter" of baby snakes next year and also sheer fright, in case they found an opening in the foundation of the house and made their way inside through some of the cinder blocks.....Oh, MY!!!! That would have been a disaster!
I wanted to close off the hole--but then figured they would DEFINITELY find their way somewhere else--so I left it open....
After a while--I calmed down and thought it might not be so bad having a few snakes around to eat all the Chipmunks and the baby rabbits and the few mice that chose my home as theirs.....THEN--I NEVER saw them again---NEVER!
After last years invasion of the rabbits--How I wished I had one, big, fat one around.....
So--warning to the squeamish ones--there is "Blackie"....This was in 2006.
Got a bit close to it in this shot--and he/she coiled up!
Here it is--full length--heading for the Juniper....
AWWW! The two lovers--so "tight".....Like---they are really into each other.....literally!
"Home" they go--right under my Porch!!!! Ewwww....
Ewwww is right!!! We had a couple "linked" once at the nursery house. The dog frightened them and they climbed up the gutter onto the roof, STILL intertwined! They continued along the roof's edge and fell back to the ground on the other side. None of this fazed them a bit - they were still together as they slithered off into the grass!
OK folks, time to adapt new tactics in guerilla vole warfare! This week it will be mouse traps. Went to HD and they were 2 for $. Drove over to the BigLots and got 4 for $. Figured I'd start with 24. I'm going to check Ebay because I think that I will be tossing them critter and all. Brought home a jar of cheap peanut butter too, creamy not crunchy!! Would be nice to get a load of that peanut butter that was recalled heh heh.
LOL @ baiting traps with recalled PB.
I haven't had much luck with snap traps outside... they seem to trigger without catching anything... hope you do better with them!
Critter, I'm hoping that I don't catch anything but voles. They are persistant buggers!
If the trap misses, the Salmonella still kills!
Gita, I suspect that some of your furry friends have hopped on over my way.
Or could it be the first meal of the season for a Groundhog????
Nah, groundhog would have pulled up the entire plant and left it in the driveway... THat's a lot for a bunny to munch, though, since Bergenia leaves don't seem very tender to me... could it have been a deer?
Thought with a new Season--we could all move over to a new place so we can have some continuity as we fuss and complain about the critters..../We went to here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/977562/