Right now I am very peeved: rodents have taken over our yard and garden, and are eating the vegetables I have so carefully planted, watered, and weeded for so many weeks! They nibbled off the broccoli, the carrot tops, most of the blueberries (still green), and have started in on the pea vines. We have never had such a problem with these pests in the 25 years we've lived here. I wonder why there are so many now?
Identifying them has been a challenge. I think they are pocket gophers, but some of the holes and mounds could be the work of ground squirrels or voles. I plan to contact our local extension office and ask questions. Many suggestions for getting rid of assorted rodents are available online. So far I've tried putting Juicy Fruit chewing gum down their holes, and we have rodent repellent stakes that emit a noise that is supposed to keep them away. Until this year, it worked. Perhaps they have grown accustomed to the sound and don't care about it any more.
We have two cats, but they have only caught two of these critters, as far as I know. They left a corpse on our deck, and I took a photo of it:
My husband has tried shooting them, but they are very fast, and he has problems with tremors in his hands, so that hasn't worked out very well. If we can't reduce their population, I suppose they will eat everything I have planted. It's very discouraging.
I am definitely on the warpath.
