Do you have any extra liner under the rocks?? If not I think you will have to make a change to your pond. If you want the rocks to be in the water the liner needs to extend beyond the rocks and above the water line you desire. What I (and many others) have done too accomplish this is to extent the liner beyond the rocks and above the water line and then use a mix of additional rocks, including smaller rocks and gravel to cover the liner edges.

I have a lot of plants and I buy peat and perlite in bulk. Lowes or just about any big box store or nursery has bails of peat moss. Premier was the brand on the last 2 bails I bought. The name Turba or Tourbe is often on the package. Google "sphagnum peat moss lowes" for an example. Plain perlite without fertilizer may be a little harder to find. Nurseries carry it but you may have to visit several before finding the 100% perlite. The brand "Ferti-lome" comes to mind. No do not place a nepenthes in full sun. Under a tree in a hanging basket would be perfect. 95 is not a big deal. Here's the search results I got. http://search.gardenweb.com/search/nph-ind.cgi?term=root+cuttings+nepenthes&forum=carnivor&forum_name=Carnivorous+Plants Pick any with the word "propagation" or "cutting" in the title. With a quick glance the 5th one titled "Nepenthes Propagation" has techniques and links to other websites explaining how to.

I too have a similar problem, but possibly a little more complicated. Rats can be heard knawing in the ceiling/floor between the first floor and basement. There is no obvious entry from outside, except for a dryer vent, which I covered with hardware cloth. The only visible sign of any activity occurred under a bathroom sink in the basement, where bags of bar soap were decimated. This cabinet is a good distance from where they can be heard, meaning they somehow have the run of the walls. I tried glue traps, and the ROUS proudly left a beautiful two footed print with tail, just to add fuel to the fire. It was definitely a Norway rat, huge, and unphased by my trap. I called two exterminators, one was a friend who said the drier vent was the only apparent access, the other said he couldn't do any thing that I couldn't do cheaper and offered no additional insight into possible entry points (didn't charge me either for 1.5 hours spent looking around). The friend put out some bait which lead me to believe we had won, when no more activity was heard for about six months or so, with a smell two weeks after, and finally, a swarm of flies, (no kidding) by the tens of thousands. I continue to feed them pb under the sink in spring traps that no matter how I arrange or set, they are always triggered and eaten. I now included additional poison under the sink, but it hasn't been touched, nor the spring traps since adding the poison station (I guess it is scarey and new). I still here them/it under my bed in the floor knawing most mornings, but I'm helpless to counterstrike. Except for perhaps unknown underground tunnels leading through the brick walls (not likely), neither I nor anyone else can find how access is gained. I was told that this type of rat wouldn't be able to gain access from the roof, hmmm? There would likely be other locations accessible throughout the house if this were the case, and there would be evidence. I have thought about loading a shotgun with squirrel or rabbit shot and firing off a few rounds into the ceiling from below when I here activity, but then the repair work would probably be as much as just tearing out the ceiling to investigate in the first place. I have never seen any evidence for rats, outside of the bathroom cabinet and constant knawing, but I am beyond aggregated and would appreciate any suggestions available. I'm leaning towards the earlier suggestion to just burn it down.

You have a couple of options - reduce the light (so the plants use less water,) or provide them with enough water to last 1 - 3 weeks. Herbs and flowering plants need a lot of light, so setting them in the bathtub may not work for them, although it should be fine for the ferns. You can set your plants up with self-watering systems, which may mean less work for you even when you're home, since you won't have to be watering every few days. Or if you like the way you're doing it generally, try this: When you get ready to go away, move the plants away from the windows 2 or 3', and set each of the pots in a dish. Water your plants, and allow a runoff of 2 or 3" to build up in the drainage dish. You'll just leave the water there, it will provide the moisture for the soil. When you come back, remove the plants from the water (if there's any left,) and allow the soil to dry out enough so that it is barely damp, or however it usually is when you water normally. The plants will not be harmed by sitting in wet soil for a couple of weeks. This is basically what happens with self-watering systems, unless you have one of the sophisticated ones that have moisture sensing devices that release water only when the soil is dry. Roots don't "sip" water when they need it - they're little gluttons, and will suck up whatever is there, for as long as it's there.