GreatLakesGardener said:I dream of a veggie garden completely enclosed in 1/2 inch hardware cloth. :D
Grasshoppers are eating everything here! This year I have used the Nolu biological bait and I like to pretend that it is helping somewhat...
Toni--you don't want either fleas or ticks.
Ticks, for example, can have the bacteria that cause Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme Disease. Fleas can have the bacteria that cause plague.
Here are a couple quotes from your linked article:
Subtitle
Plague often carried by fleas on prairie dogs
In the article
It is spread by fleas on rodents, most commonly prairie dogs, he said.
Do not feed prairie dogs or other rodents -- this attracts them to your property, brings them in close contact with other rodents and increases the risk of disease transmission. Do not directly handle any dead rodents. Keep pets away from wildlife, especially dead rodents. Don’t let dogs or cats hunt prairie dogs or other rodents. Don't allow pets to roam freely. Treat all pets for fleas according to a veterinarian's advice.
It is that fantastic semi-arid, high desert thing that you have going on there that keeps fleas relatively limited to their host populations rather than hopping about all over the environment looking for their next meal like more humid areas. But obviously, you do have some infected fleas in CO, otherwise you wouldn't be having cases of plague.
