Having hard time ID ing the culprit. Happens at night, one apple each night, no more, ripped out of zip lock bag with the same scrape or bite marks that remind me of a bird’s beak.
If animal then it has solved my electric Fort Knox, bad news.
At my place squirrels only come around during the day.
Bird scare tape only works when there is sunlight, and pinwheels when it is windy.
If there was only one apple a day, it probably is a small rat. It is very hard to trap, because it can PYO with all the trees around. That is why I wrapped the one foot high 1/4" hardware cloth with about 6 inches gap around the trunk of each tree with fruits. In my experience, only when it has no access to fruits on the trees it will go into the trap. It may eat more in a few weeks when it grows older.
Well that seems to fit the situation. I’ll see if I trap anything. Thanks. I do have some fruit laden branches that reach the ground- need to fix that. I’ve got hardware cloth cages on all the trees. Do rats climb or stay on the ground?
They can climb up to the top of the tree. They only stop if I cut off the top of the 1/4" hardware cloth because it is too sharp to climb over, but you have to be careful not to hurt yourself. After the rat is gone I would flip the uncut side to the top again.They will need some kind of protein beside the fruits, but rats are very picky, if there are ants in the trap they won’t get inside.
I was going to guess ‘possum’ - because the raccoons I’ve dealt with sample lots of fruit - ruining it all . . . not eating just one or two. I had a fox come by (saw him on my trail cam) but he didn’t try to get in and get any fruit. ? (ripe peaches)
Please note that no matter how hot it is, I always wear gloves, long sleave shirts, pants, and shoes with socks, when cutting or wrapping with the 1/4" hardware cloth. The animals avoid it for a good reason.
I see a small animal doing this. Raccoons take bigger bites. For me it was chipmunks. Rat traps with peanut butter then sunflower seeds pressed on. Leave the damaged fruits on the ground next to the traps. Chewed side down.