Jennifer's problem is almost certainly mice of some kind. If they are house mice, as is likely in an apartment building, they can be controlled with D-Con, but field mice seem not to be interested in this bait. Traps baited with peanut butter are also effective. I have wire over a few pots but it's difficult to get it secure enough to exclude mice, and the plants can't grow up very well through wire with a mesh small enough to keep out the mice. I had an awful time with mice in the bulb frames last year but this year they have not attacked yet. I set a lot of traps before leaving on my vacation recently and found only one sprung (no mouse) when I returned. I hate setting them because they are so poorly made that it's very hard to set them without snapping one's fingers occasionally. (Is there a gadget to set mousetraps with?) I've tried the sticky pads but they are useless, anyway useless in cold temperatures. There is a strychnine-laced wheat bait available, but I am afraid to use it for fear a mouse would die outside the frame and be eaten by some carnivore, which would then be poisoned. We will now hear from members of PETA. I can take it. I just handled a steaming email from a Canadian complaining that our book title "Bulbs of North America" was "false advertising" and arrogant US imperialism because it did not feature the bulbs of Canada (in fact, they're all there--about a dozen, I think--but all of them occur in the US as well). Jane McGary NW Oregon