I live on a farm in VA and have finally had to give in and allow someone to come shoot these guys. I quite love them, and have huge respect for the grand daddy, who has lived at this farm longer than I have, surviving total bulldozing of the old garden, complete rebuilding of the old farm house (under which he also used to live) and my 2 Border Collies. Besides, they remind me of my beloved Lhasa Apso who has passed away. HOWEVER, I've been living here for 10 years and starting 2 years ago, the GH (who has since created quite an impressive giant condo complex under a pile of old wood from the old razed barn) finally started annihilating my garden. Despite what some people here have posted I can tell you, they are quite smart & have a keen sense of hearing. GHs live in burrows underground (like a cave). It always has more than one entrance/exit. They generally come out early in the morning and at sunset. I have an entire wire cattle fence, along with electric hot wire all along the entire bottom perimeter of my fence to keep my dogs in (who like to constantly dig under and run away whenever they hear thunder, gun shots or just feel like it!). This hot wire is set for the highest level of shock, and will keep a horse or bull away! This is only 1 foot away from the GH woodpile den. My garden is inside this fence and then inside yet another fence, which is also hot wired at the ground level. Yet, the GHs know full well how to go around the fence, burrow under the fence, whatever. All I know is they have started again eating every tomato I have that starts to ripen and will absolutely take every melon we are growing. And they could care less about my Border Collies who know the word "Ground Hog" and will dive and dig at the hole if you say that to them. The GH just goes somewhere in his condo complex and doesn't give a hoot. I should say though that my 2 dogs are 2 goofy lovebugs and routinely take their balls & toys to the cows and any other critter in hopes they will play, and would never hurt any little critter intentionally (unlike most farm dogs.) If they did encounter the GH, they'd probably offer him a tomato. After years of only seeing the old grand daddy GH, last week I saw him showing the ropes to a little one. Last night my farm tenant came over with a high powered rifle and shot the old guy, but also said he saw another giant one (probably the mom) and a smaller one. There is likely a huge family under there. It made me feel guilty and wistfully sad, but at the end of the day, not only would I be fighting a losing battle of the garden, wild animals carry disease, fleas, ticks with Lyme, if cornered they have huge claws & fangs, and the holes they dig can cause someone (or my dogs or cows) to break their leg. If you are going to try a humane trap (which I did), they are extremely smart and you will have a long wait and will have to create the trap to mimic a hollow den or they are not dumb enough to go into a metal contraption - LOL! I agree with the hunters posting above that if you are going to shoot at it, get someone who knows what they are doing and will kill the animal humanely and put him out cleanly. Shooting at him with a BB gun is cruel, as it will not kill him, just cause wounds, suffering and illness. Hope this helps! Now I'm also on the case of the bunnies, voles and whatever is now eating all my blackberries! ARGH! LOL!!!!

Yes I agree, that white one with the green throat and a bit of green veining is remarkable - good contrast with the yellow anthers. Of course they're all pretty, and the bargain is a great find. Alana

Larry, It is amazing how fast you go from wet to dry soil, but it happens with our clay soil too, so I understand it. Emma, Look for products labeled worm killer or caterpillar killer at any big box store, nursery or farm store. Then, check the label and it should list Bacillus thuringensis 'kurstaki' (often abbreviated as Bt or as Bt 'kurstaki') as the active ingredient. Be careful which plants you spray it on. I try to avoid spraying it on any of the flowering plants that I have planted for the butterflies because I don't want to kill them. I'll link a photo of one such product, but there are many brands available. Mia, As far as I know, cutworms will eat anything, but prefer young, tender vegetation like young vegetable, herb or flower seedlings. I have seen them attack some surprisingly large plants at times. If you have army worms, which often seem active at about the same time, they'll eat any part of the plant. I found an army worm at the top of a 3' tall potato plant eating the top-most leaves. Emma, We have oodles of birds here too. Our hummers have been eating us out of house and home, but I am not complaining. At first I put up two feeders and then kept adding more as more and more birds showed up. We're up to six hummingbird feeders now and my days often start with me making a batch of nectar first thing in the morning to refill the feeders. This is a really good hummingbird year so far. Actually, it is a great bird year. In addition to the ones you mentioned, we have lots of blue jays, mockingbirds, scissortails and phoebes. The purple martins have babies in the houses and I love listening to them chirping right outside my garden shed. We have put in a new vegetable garden out back so I have more room for more stuff. I am planting a specific section of it for the hummers and butterflies, and already have planted a 'Bubba' desert willow, 'Balboa Sunrise' trumpet creeper to climb the fence, and several lantanas back there for the butterflies and hummingbirds, along with many other flowers, veggies and herbs, It is amazing how fast the hummingbirds found the hummingbird feeder in the new garden....probably within an hour of me hanging it there. It is roughly 100' from the next closest feeder. The butterflies found the new lantana plants about 2 minutes after I took the plants out of the car. I had to shoo the butterflies away long enough to get the plants put into the ground. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Example: Caterpillar Killer with Bt 'kurstaki'

Thanks everyone...What a face Peter yes its different. HI Tina this OL just loves finding all these little creatures on the block Yes I am lucky. And Bev just picture your Canna lilies under one of the Gum trees near the bird bath, so beautiful Thanks: We get lots of Caterpillars here Pam which is surprising with all the birds around, the Butcher Birds get all the moths and the Noisy miners like to get the bugs off the gum trees yet none of them will eat the caterpillars so strange: You are lucky Jules looking after a TFM Owl that would be a wonderful experience. My two blue and one white Wisteria are Sinensis Chinese, Crazy thing to do in Dec when the temp has been in the mid thirties for a couple of weeks. Would you believe my chooks do not like the green caterpillars , oooohh but they sure like the lawn crubs. How is your mother to be coming on should not be too long now, best of luck for that wonderful advent. Yes it is a wonderful life Heather and Lifes wonderful here too. Marion I used to feel that way to, but not anymore those Caterpillars are quite welcome to 1/4 of everything but they are so greedy they want it all. We have lots of tall gums trees here Marion , most of what I have planted are still short, lack of rain I wish they would grow. Hi GH if I put a little frog on that cassia that may cause a problem, would you believe that those caterpillars are longer than the frogs and wouldn't that make a good pic one of those in the mouth of a tiny frog. No chance of the Owls finding the frogs ( I hope ) too much camouflage and up different ends of the block, I went out and had a look they are gone now...MM.