[H]omer wrote:
:: I have little monsters in my potting shed.
::
:: They only come out at night, and they cause utter mayhem.
::
:: Due to space considerations, I sometimes keep some of my
:: houseplants in there; specifically Aloe and Spider plants. The wee
:: monsters seem to really have it in for the Spider plants. They
:: don't eat them, but what they do is quite bizarre.
::
:: They dig all the earth out of the pot, scatter the earth all over
:: the shed, then dig up the gravel (drainage) at the bottom, and
:: carry it off with them - up to the top shelf. We're talking 1cm
:: granite chips, in some cases.
::
:: They also chew through any plastic or Hessian bags, and make little
:: piles of it in a separate location (still in the shed).
::
:: They completely destroyed my entire collection of fertilizers -
:: bone meal, fish bone and blood, slow release nitrogen, etc. - all
:: of it.
::
:: Seems like very unusual behaviour for, say, mice. What would mice
:: do with granite chips?
::
:: So what are these little monsters?

It can't be anything other than mice (or possibly rats)...the fish, blood
and bone speaks for itself - it's organic, IE food, the other bags may have
smelled similar and so they were ransacked, the hessian is a new bed, the
stone chips don't make sense unless there is water impregnated in them? - if
there is no other source of moisture in there (and no escape), maybe they
were trying to get a drink?
At a best guess I would say it's mice, not rats, rats are ravenous creatures
and need lots of food, mice are more easily satisfied and 'stash' better
(you may find some or all of your FB&B and bonemeal if you do a thorough
search) mice are very determined and will toil all night to get one thing to
another place for no apparent reason...maybe they are building a mini
rockery?

:-p


--
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we.
They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country
and our people, and neither do we."
- George W. Bush, 5.8.2004