Thief!

Manuel and I planted our garden a few weeks ago. Last week Manuel noticed that something had eaten one of our tomato plants. We didn't think much of it, and were grateful we still had 4 plants left. Yesterday I walked back to check on the garden to find that our zucchini, pumpkin, cucumber, and one tomato plant were missing. Gone completely without a trace of anything. I was so mad! Our first thought was Odie, but he has never done that before, and I can't imagine him eating just the plants. I called my aunt who is a very experienced gardener, but she lives in Iowa so we deal with different kinds of pests than they do. My uncle said that it "sounded like a Sam..." which did cross our minds, but Sam is never in the yard by himself, and I'm pretty sure we would have noticed plants lying around the yard. So we all concluded that while it was a weird thing to do, it was probably Odie eating the plants.

Then today Manuel and I were driving around the neighborhood when I saw what I thought was a gopher, standing up in the middle of someone's yard. I pointed it out to Manuel and we sat and watched it for a second. Manuel informed me it was a Rock Chuck. As soon as I saw it I realized that was the culprit. So when I got home, I got online and pulled up pictures and information on rock chucks. Here's what I found out: Yellow-bellied marmots (also known as the rock chuck) live in the western United States, including the Rocky Mountains. Their territory is about 4-7 acres around the number of summer burrows. They live in colonies which can be anywhere from 10 to 20 marmots. They eat grass, leaves, flowers, fruit, grasshoppers and bird eggs. (Information found on the wikipedia website).

So that's what we're up against. A pest that burrows, can climb trees, and has a taste for garden plants. I have never seen them before, so maybe this is their first year here, but I'm pretty sure it won't be their last. Now we have to figure out how to rock chuck proof our yard!