EARWIG is often overlooked. Because they are snicky. They come out at night like slugs and snails but the are smart and run away and hide. They hide in similar fashion to slugs in the cracks, under rocks/stones, ...during the day. They eat much bigger holes than flea beetle. Also they start with the parts of the plants close to the ground(like slog/snail) while flea beetles eat the top most leaves. Of all these insects, slugs damage is more severe. A big fat slug can eat a whole seeding in one sitting. Another thing is that flee beetles love peppers and eggplant, tomatillo .... all in the nightshade family. FB damage is only critical when seedlings are very small and not when on the established plant. One more thing: Slugs have chewing/eating pattern similar to caterpillars. The will not usually eat in hole or circular pattern. This post was edited by seysonn on Wed, Nov 6, 13 at 5:53

I've got a half dozen havahart type live animal traps but so far he's not gone near them. I've baited with lettuce, canteloupe, melon rinds, broccoli, and red beets but the bait goes untouched. I've gotten a few rabbits in the trap but none large enough to do any damage in the garden. I pulled up the chewed lettuce heads, used them for bait but it seems he only bites on a plant once, even in the garden, each time its a new plant that got eaten. I had 300 heads of lettuce, after this week I'm down to about 50 tops, and some of them have damage again now. At this time in the season, as the lettuce bolts, I basically just let it go to seed for next years crop. The problem is he's even chewed off the flowering stalks. I added a wire fence around the roof of the shed on one side today, I increased the overhang on the fence and sprayed the lettuce with some pesticide that I hoped would deter his appetite. I left the garden at 7pm to put some tools away, and came back in less than 5 minutes and four heads of lettuce were chewed down to the ground. The part that gets me is that it can eat that fast. I'm 300lbs and can't eat that much that fast. I gave the remaining plants a good shot of Malathion in hopes the odor deters him. I've grown a garden here for 15 years, this is the first year I've had anything get through the fence. I've had insect issues last year, but never a furry critter getting over the fence. I would have fully expected burrowing rather than climbing, so far, he's not even tried to burrow under the fence. This weekends project will be to install a proper gate or door, I poured a threshold at the point of entry so nothing can dig under, now I need to make an easy to walk through gate or door. The way it is now I have to take down a 6' tall upper gate and remove a fence panel to get in. The plan is to make a screen door from 1/4" rat wire which closes against a cement stop at the bottom and is hung from the adjacent fence post with hinges. I never thought a groundhog would be able to scale a 6' fence, but there's no other way in. Maybe I need to electrify the fence next. There has to be more than one of these things, but the only one on the trail cam was huge. I had to give the game cam back the other day, so I don't have the option to keep it up. I just can't figure how something so small can consume so much so fast, and not even leave any scraps on the ground. The eaten heads look like something just took a huge bite out the middle right down to the ground, leaving only the stump and a few outer leaves standing.

I haven't ruled the inside job out just yet. Though there's been 2 weeks since the last heist was pulled. I'm suspicious about the back corner under the bench. Now I have to make time and get down under there and lift a board or two and see if I can find tunneling. In between the two robberies, I did construct an exact fitting screen door made of hardware cloth. But I got lazy the other day and used the window screen instead.

As a transplant from the mid-west to the Pacific Northwest I've learned some of the signs of snails/slugs. We got doozies here in the NW! I suggest you grab a flashlight about an hour or two after dark and closely inspect the garden. They are elusive critters but if you see any of these slimy creatures you can place, near the veggies, an empty cottage cheese container with a hole cut in the lid 1/2 filled with beer to collect those near the garden. (These "beer party-ers" get drunk and drown!) Also Cory's has an effective and safe Snail/Slug product you can purchase and sprinkle just outside the drip line. You also can put a few tablespoons of the bait in a plastic pop bottle placed on it's side near the lettuce & basil. You should be able to find Cory's at your local WMart or garden center. Hope I helped you!