Every night a critter is taking my citrus.Taking off the tree and getting. As we are in the suburban area of the SF Bay Area, I think it is most likely squirrels, rats or raccoons.
Why I’m not sure: I have set out rat traps and haven’t caught anything yet - usually very effective. I’ve read that squirrels don’t feed at night, and finally, the trees are small and don’t get very many broken branches, so seems like raccoons may not be the culprit .
Any thoughts? Thanks!
I have no experience with rats. But that would be my guess based on the appearance of the fruit and your observations.
What are you using for bait for the rats? They like things high in protein. Also it might be hard to trap a rat around a tree unless there’s a wall nearby you could possibly set the trap. Rats are kinda smart, I’ve had them eat the stuff off a trap and not set it off before.
Do you have a trail cam you can set out to try and see what’s doing it?
Unfortunately don’t have a trail cam. I use peanut butter in the rat traps - has always been pretty successful. trees are backed by a fence so have the traps next to teh fence base.
Thanks - that’s my thought also, but usually catch at least one rat.
