I hate killing anything - even spiders! But occasionally, it's either them or my plants. I'll take the camera when I check my trapline today - I set it to catch a vole (I think that's what it is) that eats my collard greens at night. It's completely cleaned them out! Something also ate two whole tomato plants - gone, nothing left, just the stub. What on earth would eat tomato plants (don't say a slug - I can't bear the thought of how big that would be to eat two whole plants in a sitting!)

Deer will eat the tomato plants, but usually only the young tender tips. Most years they prune ours. : ) How big were to plants Jacki?

Well, looky who I found. This vole must be tired because I found him sleeping on a stepping stone.

Wow, I didn't realize they were such sound sleepers.

'Let sleeping voles lie.'

You've got that right!!

Is that a vole? Or a mole? Two different things.

I'm being over run with mice $%#^&*& little suckers!

There's a saying: if you see one mouse at night, you have a mouse; if you see several mice in daylight, you have an infestation.

So far, the four new traps I bought yesterday didn't catch anything, although I did catch a small mouse in the greenhouse. Yech. I hate them. There is Hanta Virus in B.C., so it's not out of the realm that we would have it here. I usually don't see Deer Mice, just House Mice, which don't have it. I'm usually 'live and let live', but not in my house, and not mice that may be infected with a contagious disease.

And we just came up with a case of the plague in Eastern Oregon in a cat. The fleas that spread the disease come from rats and mice, etc. Every one needs to keep their pets (dogs & cats) free of fleas.

The voles are bigger than moles and run around during the day. They do different types of damage. There are different types too. I really don't like any of them!

Bummer to hear about the diseases those critters are carrying. Hope you both stay clear of any problems related to it.

Our dogs and cat get treated with fleas stuff every month. And we don't seem to have many problems with rodents here.

I just re-read this, and I'll answer your question about the tomato plants now Lynn! The plants were a good size - they had several tiers of leaves, and the stem was about 1/8 of an inch across. They were completely disappeared, so it had to be something bigger than a mouse - a chipmumk, possibly?

Yes, the chipmunks at my friends house keep her from planting tomatoes. They eat the entire plant even if she gets the great big tomato plants.

These were eaten right from under row cover and everything, and I know that chippies will crawl underneath anything. They're not scared.

What a bummer. I don't have them here in the low lands, but lots of them up in the hills just outside of town.

I adopted an outdoor cat this past winter and have had 0 problems with small critters since. (Last year the chipmunks and robins got 90% of my red currants and raspberries.) She spent the winter living 'rough' under the house next door to me and when I figured out that she had no home, I started feeding her. Realizing that she must have been someone's pet previously (she's very friendly) I took her to the vet and had her tested for all the outdoor-cat-nasties (all negative) and got her her shots. She has her very own house (large dog travel crate with the door taken off) and gets fed twice a day. She follows customers all over the gardens and they are quite taken with her. So, I have a greeter and critter catcher all in one.

Kate that is a treasure of a cat. My old girl, Susie, is slowing down now and does very little hunting. She used to have breakfast waiting for us every morning.

Pretty sure mine eats 'em - I rarely find one as a gift. Just as well, my youngest house cat brings me live ones in bed. Joy!!

Oh no.

What a magnificent gift......NOT...