With rare exceptions, ants are not a pest that needs to be eliminated, they are excellent for your conditioning and aerating soil. Fire ants are something most people don't want in their gardens, but they aren't harmful to plants. Holes in the leaves could be many things. If tiny holes, probably flea beetles. They are self limiting and usually don't so much harm and are pretty much gone by this time of year. Big holes could be a number of things; a picture would help. There are a number of worms that will destroy garden plants; Bt applications, like Dipel, are specific to caterpillars and won't harm anything else.

Normally, petzold6596, I would agree with you that a Terrier is always good for small rodent-hunting. However, I have a pit bull mixed with black lab & Rottweiler. (By the way, don't let the pit in her fool ya...she's got a heart of gold). I tell her "Lucy! Wanna go gopher-hunting?" (Because we hunt spiders a lot & she LOVES it!) But she has no interest in it. It could be my own fault though...I trained Lucy to not chase cats, & have been desperately trying to stop her from chasing squirrels. (It's possible, I promise. She's really smart & sometimes won't chase them! Well, whenever my back is turned!! Told you she's smart!) Anyway, thank you all for your helpful hints. I'm going to try every one of them one by one. Hmmm, I wonder if Lucy's feces and/or urine would work like the fox urine?...oh, I guess it if WOULD work, the gopher wouldn't be there in the first place because Lucy's "stuff" is all over the hill! Thanks!

Actually, it starts to come up fairly early in Spring. Try to remember where you saw it in the summer and you'll find it in the same general area the following Spring. In many areas it's considered invasive. Once you are able to ID it, you can use it, even when it's still young.

Years ago we discharged the patients with the oral liquid antibiotic instructing the correct dose and how often and what to do if you skipped a dose or the child vomited. About 70 percent of the time the moms would call saying they did not have enough medicine . On each dose they gave just a little more .Each bottle only held the maximum dose to be given over the ten or 14 day requirement.They ran out on day 8 or 9. This is no different when using garlic or other natural things to rid the animals of worms. People tend to overdose!!!!! I use garlic on my dogs and plan to do this with the chickens. I do not dose any dog who weighs less then 20 pounds with garlic. I actually rotate them on and off the garlic . The mosquitoes leave them alone. I also test for heart worm and have been negative for 8 years. The key to any effective medical program is observation. You titrate the dose and watch to see if it is efficacious. As I see it Ivermectin and garlic are both toxic and you need to be vigilant . Just cause one dog tolerated the interceptor or ivermectin does not mean every dog can use it. I have had goldens who go ataxia on heartgard so we went on interceptor. I prefer the garlic due to the price and effectiveness. When we lived in Europe we did not use heart worm medicine. when we moved to California they placed the aussie on ivertmectin . I told them she was drooling, ataxia and out of it..... They insisted I keep giving her the heartworm med. " yes she had the gene> Why is lipitor bad for women? Some women can not tolerate this med. It is no different with canines With any drug or food each living organism processes it differently. YOu are not tossing treats to your pet when you give the monthly heartworm medicine. Just as you check your face in the morning, You all need to do a health check on the animals. I told my neighbor that I have two packs of coyotes . He said it is unnecessary to take his cat in. Just as the neighbor thinks there is no harm to the cat others do as they please with drugs and overdose. They think a little more won't hurt. I use black walnut. I use it sparingly. The dose is drops NOT an entire dropperful. I use garlic and this too is used in small doses and rotated. When people ask what the dose is I tell them to use the interceptor or heartgard. I do a tick check after each outing. It takes a minute to do each dog. I only posted cause some know what they are doing in using black walnut and garlic. I just found worms in my free range chickens. I can give piperazine or ACV or garlic. THe piperazine will mean to toss their eggs . Apple cider vinegar will be placed in their water. I will sprinkle garlic powder on their feed as soon as I know how much to give. OK descending from my soap box