Between weather, animals, insects, fungus, bacteria, and even viruses, it sometimes seems like all out war trying to raise fruit. There is an old adage about nature getting a third (or is it two thirds) of your crop, but when there is nothing left, its them or you. Get Victor rat traps (same company as Hav-a-Hart) but make sure that you place them where neighborhood pets cannot get injured or killed. I twist-tie peanut half-shells to the trigger, fill the shell halves with peanut butter and embed an assortment of raisins, dried cranberries, dates, and peanuts into the peanut butter. I set three of them in my blueberry cages where smaller animals were tunneling in or squeezing through the chicken wire, and killed chipmunks, mice, and moles as fast as I could reset the traps, which was three times a day. I had one go off as I was walking back into the house from resetting them. After three days, the traps remained empty for weeks. Do not buy Tomcat brand traps. They have a different trigger that is so tight, I would often find the peanut shells licked clean, still twist-tied to the trigger, and the trap still set like I had been visited by Speedy Gonzales How useless is that? Without the fencing to protect pets, I set them on top of trellis posts and cross arms, where cats and dogs cannot reach them. I get an occasional cat bird or cow bird up there, taking a break from stealing me blind of raspberries and blackberries, but mostly chipmunks and squirrels. If your state and local regulations and neighborhood configuration allow, a Gamo Whisper pellet rifle will take care of squirrels. They come in .177 and .22 caliber and have the muzzle velocity of a .22 rimfire cartridge rifle. The Whisper model has a silencer that takes away a little of the noise, but with the right pellets breaking the sound barrier, (up to 1,200 feet per second) you still get a "crack" as the pellet travels down-range. With the scope that comes with it dialed in (not an easy feat), I can repeatedly hit one of those green metal garden fence posts at fifty yards, making squirrels an easy target if they are standing still. I'm not a hunter or a cruel person by nature, but there is something to be said for the satisfaction of waking up in the morning to find squirrels jumping around your peach trees like they were on a jungle gym, blowing one out of a tree at 50 yards and watching the rest scatter. A more humane approach is to string up old CDs with fishing line or string so that they spin in the breeze. The flashing movement seems to help a little. I bought "Bird Scare Tape" that was supposed to do the same thing and ironically found that the sparrows had stolen it to build their nests in the eaves of my house.

A big THANK YOU for the "bucket of death" idea!!!! I have lost a season's worth of strawberries (wouldn't have hurt so much if they hadn't taken just a couple of bites and gone on to the next berry and even ate the green ones); I probably don't need to include the holes there. I thought our drought conditions were hurting a lovely Korean Spice Bush; odd, the other plants are doing well. Since every place else in the bed is open ground, under the bush things are hidden, so I looked and yup, there was a hole. Have been seeing a chipper for a while but never connected it to tree damage. And have been weeding and finding only the outer skins of crocus and hardly any larger ones. And my little fritilaries are down to three. That HURTS! The last straw was hearing noises from the air vents. I live in a mobile home with the skirting insulated. The little buggers are getting in somewhere. When my cats sit at the vents for an hour they are either listening for mice and apparently chipmunks. It wouldn't take them much to get inside here from underneath. I tried snap traps but kept catching birds hungry because of the drought. SO: went out and bought me a bucket and some seed and made me a "bucket of death". And guess what? Caught one first night! I noticed that there were a few spaces in the floating seeds; that's a good indication of a dead chipper. I also checked along the back of my home where the ground meets the concrete slab and behold, a hole under the stairs (in the general direction of said noises). Took a waste basket and did the "bucket" thing again. I used a 2x6" board for the one out front; stuck a few seeds onto the end with PB but those weren't touched. Out back I just put a few seeds on a step. Haven't checked that one yet though. Weather will soon be turning cold and I don't want to share my home with these destructive critters, not to mention their fleas and ticks and diseases.

RAT ZAPPER CONTINUES TO WORK Like many on this thread I too felt guilty about eliminating chipmunks ... but have become increasingly frustrated and desperate when the population exploded and over ran our property and garden areas. Destructive, brazen and invasive is ALL an understatement when I see what these cute little critters have become. Granted the "pool of death" (the bucket) does work, but I found, at least for me, a cleaner, more convenient way to eliminate the munks ... the RatZapper ... no bucket to maintain/seed to replenish. I bought my first "zapper" back in May and eliminated 21 munks in approximately 10 days. Since then I bought 2 more and now there are almost 50 critters that no longer make their home in the area around my foundation, sidewalks and retaining walls. I place a little pile of sunflower seed at the back of the chamber and flip the switch. And location seems to be important. Under shrubs and near visible, active holes seems to be most effective. While I feel I need to eliminate them I want to do it as humanely as possible, and since it is illegal to relocate them in the state of CT, the Hav-A-Heart trap presents the dilemma of having to "off them" yourself and watch them die. An animal control professional I spoke to (off the record) indicated that "electrocution" is the fastest, most humane and cleanest way to do what has to be done. Interestingly, an Ohio State University critter/pest management site I visited indicated that 10 chipmunks or more per acre is considered an infestation population. I have caught almost five times that number in two areas, so I assume I am dealing with nature being way out of balance, at least as far as the chipmunk population. If you're getting more and more desperate, try the Zapper, it has worked for me.

Oddly enough, a smaller species of the Oriental Lillies has no damage at all. No deer here in our 55+ mobile home park. The squirrels and chipmunks wouldn't allow it LOL. I think a rabbit might be eating one of the hostas. Hard to believe the difference in wildlife activity from 4 miles away where we lived for 8 years before moving here 2 years ago.