In a message dated 12/31/2005 2:14:50 PM Pacific Standard Time, pbs-request@lists.ibiblio.org writes: > Date: Fri, 30 Dec 2005 16:20:30 -0800 > From: Jane McGary <janemcgary@earthlink.net> > Subject: Re: [pbs] REPLY: Moles and other Geophyte predators > To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> > Message-ID: <5.2.1.1.0.20051230161248.010e6468@mail.earthlink.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed > > Ernie O'Byrne and his authorities are indeed right about the Townsend's > mole eating bulbs. They eat plenty of tulips and crocuses here. > > My preferred mode of attack, other than the dogs (which catch them often at > night), is the Giant Destroyer, which is a stinking smoke flare that you > light and shove down their runs. I don't know whether it kills them or just > offends them, but they do depart for a while. The very name of the device > is satisfying, too. > > Of course, the territorial animals soon come back, their population always > replaced by new ones from the forests and fields. You could probably get > rid of them in an urban setting, however. > > In a catalog I see a battery-operated rat trap which is supposed to > electrocute the rats. I wonder if it would work for squirrels? Can a few > batteries really electrocute a small animal? It's $70, but I may invest in > one just to see. I noticed a squirrel streaking across the field the other > day and suspect it may be what's after my crocuses, though they're far > enough from trees that I didn't expect squirrels to approach them. (The > local squirrel species, the Douglas squirrel, named for David Douglas of > plant-hunting fame, is smaller than the European and eastern American > species.) So far my desperation maneuver of putting dishes of sunflower > seeds in the bulb frame has forestalled any more digging of crocuses, but > it's not a really good idea. > > Jane McGary > Northwestern Oregon, USA > I tried the battery-operated rat trap...the devise never caught a single rodent, we have gophers and roof rats which live in the neighbors ivy...they raid the vegetable garden. I have chosen to grow all off bulbs in raised beds with hardware cloth wire attached to the bottom. Fred Thorne Santa Cruz, CA