Birds? Mice? Rats? Squirrels?

[korney19]

I can't tell if this is one critter or two, but it got me mad as hell! The bite marks were facing away from me, and about 2 feetmup on the plant, and toward the center of the plant... a trap between this plant and another was found snapped and upside-down...can a mouse or rat actually be climbing the plant, sitting on top of a fruit, and eating the top off??? I think I know the answer to the "physical" question but am asking the "probability" question. There's also a tiny spot at 12 o'clock, the rear of the fruit, at tomato shoulders height. This tomato is about 5" dia.

I also had a fruit of a dwarf Variegated eaten but it was on the blacktop in the main aisle... This makes the score:
MaterMark 6
Rats............3
Bait: Great Value Honey Roast P.B. (Creamy)

[Susan66]

Originally Posted by korney19

I can't tell if this is one critter or two, but it got me mad as hell! The bite marks were facing away from me, and about 2 feetmup on the plant, and toward the center of the plant... a trap between this plant and another was found snapped and upside-down...can a mouse or rat actually be climbing the plant, sitting on top of a fruit, and eating the top off??? I think I know the answer to the "physical" question but am asking the "probability" question. There's also a tiny spot at 12 o'clock, the rear of the fruit, at tomato shoulders height. This tomato is about 5" dia.

I also had a fruit of a dwarf Variegated eaten but it was on the blacktop in the main aisle... This makes the score:
MaterMark 6
Rats............3
Bait: Great Value Honey Roast P.B. (Creamy)

Hi Mark- The answer to your question is yes, they will. Given that in my garden it is probably mice or voles rather than rats, I have the sort of damage you show and describe often. The fence keeps out the rabbits and woodchucks, but the little guys slip right through. Haven't had a woodchuck dig a hole under the fence, but my Dad planted big patches of clover as trap crops for woodchucks and rabbits years ago, and the 'chucks are staying close to the clover. But it seems like your traps are working pretty well, really. Who knew there were so many rats that close by? Of course if there's a good food supply, they multiply--fast!
It would be nice if your neighbors would fix their fence so your dog could do his job....
I've taken to picking my tomatoes at first blush so I get more of them. Tossing a few half-eaten ones every time I pick now. Mind you, I have plenty. Planted too many plants to begin with. Since TomatoFest three more varieties have started ripening.
Susan

[korney19]

Thanks! I'm up to about 7-3 score...

September 1st was first day nothing caught. I trap was snapped though. I'm attracting brown sugar ants to the Honey Roast peanut butter.

The garbage truck didn't shake the tote enough and some dead rats are still in the bottom! Wow, does it stink!

Since I have lots of cat litter buckets, I think I may make a drown trap that they climb a ramp to the top & fall off into the water when they go to get the bait...

[Scooty]

Poop. They took a really nice Peach Blow Sutton, from the side I wasn't looking at....

[korney19]

Originally Posted by Scooty

Poop. They took a really nice Peach Blow Sutton, from the side I wasn't looking at....

You start seeds, nurture plants for 7 weeks, harden them off a week, prepare the garden for weeks, plant them, wait for flowers, wait for pollination & fruit set, wait another 6+ weeks for the fruit to ripen, FINALLY you reach in and... what the #$^#*&!! SOMETHING BEAT YA TO IT!!

[slugworth]

don't forget the watering and weeding

[korney19]

Originally Posted by slugworth

don't forget the watering and weeding

Yes! But I'm on drip fertigation and have a bad leg/knee/back/etc so when the weeds get a couple feet tall I can reach them!

I have slowed down on rats and last catch was a bird...

Three traps with no rats in over a week; the brown sugar ants are having a field day with the peanut butter!

[b54red]

I am having the same problems the critters are getting far more than me. I think it may be a combination of squirrels and birds. The smaller holes made by birds and the chewed up ones done by squirrels. I have my rat station baited and in my bed that is seeing the most damage and I haven't seen any dead rats so I assume it is squirrels because every time I set the bait station out if there are rats they come running and then end up dead all over the garden.

I used to try trapping but after the first week or so the rats would get wise to the traps and the squirrels are far too cunning around here to fall for any kind of trap. They need a pellet to get their attention. Even my yard full of rodent hating dogs can't seem to keep them away. I think the dogs are just not as smart as the squirrels. The problem has been made much worse by the long dry spell we have been in that causes too many critters to seek moisture from my tomatoes and even my bell peppers.

Bill

[jtjmartin]

Last year I started an all out war on squirrels & deer. I had a small garden last year and I'm not sure that I got any good tomatoes. I enlarged my garden a lot last fall and kept repeating my goal to get "one good tomato" this year.

I used Tenax deer fencing and its worked great - no losses inside the fence to deer this year. There are so many deer here that they don't grow very big.

I started trapping squirrels in the winter when there was less food available. I got creative with wiring food items to the trap, placing peanut butter in small bowls in the trap, and covering the peanut butter with tortillas so that the squirrels had to "dig through" the tortilla thereby setting off the trap.

I always thought we must have a family of squirrels around us but after all the trapping there were still plenty to see! I think thinning them out just reduced the feeding pressure.

I've had some losses this year - but not many - and plenty of tomatoes!

[Gardeneer]

I am thinking about putting up a deer fence neat year , re enforce the bottom part against rabbits.
Initially I will need like 100 foot running perimeter (+/- 20%). I want something that is dependable..

[jtjmartin]

My garden space is a rough 50' X 50'. I bought this Tenax C fence for 3 of the sides. I was able to use existing trees to string the fence using a guide wire at the top. It blends with the woods in the background really well.

The front of the garden is behind a row of tall ornamental grasses so I put up very cheap deer fencing from Tractor Supply. No intrusions at all this year even though the garden is the only really green space around with our lack of rain.

Our cats seem to keep the rabbits away.

[korney19]

It's pouring like crazy, maybe tne rain will ease rodent pressure.

Before it started raining, I found lots of nice ripe tomatoes, none were bitten or eaten.

One trap was upside-down, triggered but empty. It's closest to the vacant house next door that only has a crawl-space, no basement, and it's wide-open.

I brought the traps in for rebaiting. Maybe I'll try a new bait...Maybe peanut butter for the glue and Coyote or Matt's Wild Cherry stuck into the PB? That tortilla chip idea sounds good too...the first catch I stuck a kernel of Honey Select corn into the PB and worked great!

[jtjmartin]

Back in the 80's I was involved in rodent population studies (mostly mice and squirrels). We would spoon a chunk of peanut butter in our mouths and then shake in dry oats and chew them together. We would walk down the trap line and bait a lot of traps.

I tried this recently but I think I ate more than the squirrels got.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by jtjmartin

Back in the 80's I was involved in rodent population studies (mostly mice and squirrels). We would spoon a chunk of peanut butter in our mouths and then shake in dry oats and chew them together. We would walk down the trap line and bait a lot of traps.

I tried this recently but I think I ate more than the squirrels got.

Interesting.

[korney19]

Originally Posted by jtjmartin

Back in the 80's I was involved in rodent population studies (mostly mice and squirrels). We would spoon a chunk of peanut butter in our mouths and then shake in dry oats and chew them together. We would walk down the trap line and bait a lot of traps.

I tried this recently but I think I ate more than the squirrels got.

Do they prefer regular or quick oats?? lol

And what were the results of the studies?