A rodent

Thursday, 17 Jul 08 (posted about 3 months ago) Sunny 31°C / 88°F

I just saw a small rodent-type thing climbing my sungold cherry. It was about a foot off the ground, scrambling around a branch that had a lot of tomatoes on it. I ran outside to scare it away, and I didn’t get a good look at it. It’s brown and about the size of my fist. One of my tomatoes was half-chewed.

Short of calling an exterminator, I don’t know what to do. Ideas? I didn’t plant this garden for rodents.

Want to comment?

Flight wrote:
ARG! PESTS!

Posted on 18 Jul 08 (about 3 months ago)
Katxena wrote:
I just saw it again! It knocked down a bunch of green tomatoes. I ran out and scared it away, and then hung strips of tin foil on the tomato cages to hopefully scare it off. I’ll go dig around in the Christmas decorations later and see if I can find any bells to hang up.

Whether that will work depends on what kind of rodent it is. I used to live in Arizona, where we had pack rats – shiny tin foil would have attracted them rather than scared them off. I don’t know what kind of rodents Maryland has.

I’m home from work today because I have strep throat. I’m supposed to be recuperating, not chasing rats!!

Posted on 18 Jul 08 (about 3 months ago)
Cmagnus wrote:
You could always make pepper tea. Get some hot peppers, a kind that will cause you pain if you rub your eyes after chopping them up. Chop a bunch of them up, add some garlic for good measure, and soak them in water overnight. Strain them into a spray bottle. Spray plants you don’t want eaten liberally. If it rains, reapply spray. The hot pepper tea will dry onto the plants rodents will not be too happy about eating them. This doesn’t work on birds, because birds don’t have the right sensory apparatus. There are probably more precise recipes online if you hit google.

Posted on 18 Jul 08 (about 3 months ago)
Katxena wrote:
I’ll try that cmagnus — I’m also going to brush my cats and sprinkle their fur around the garden. I figure the scent of a predator might also deter the little jerk.

Posted on 18 Jul 08 (about 3 months ago)
Verthandei wrote:
Chipmunk? (If you are from AZ it would be kind of like a ground squirrel.) There are no pack rats (aka woodrats) (that I know of) in the east – I believe they are mainly desert and drier upper elevation dwellers. I don’t think any native rodents will be attracted by shiny things (though crows might be…) They might not deter them though, either.

Posted on 18 Jul 08 (about 3 months ago)
Judith505 wrote:
That’s awful Katxena! I wish I had something helpful to say, but I don’t. Let know how you fair with this.

Posted on 19 Jul 08 (about 3 months ago)
Katxena wrote:
I’ve not seen any kind of chipmunk around here, just squirrels (I grew up in Oregon, so I’m familiar with chipmunks). I think it’s probably a rat or a mouse. I just watched it run across the patio – it’s really, really fast, so every time I see it, it’s just a blur. Except the two times I saw it on the tomato plant, when it was all tiny feet. I’m going to mix up some of cmagnus’s recommended pepper spray in a little bit, and I’ll spray it later tonight.

Thanks for the sympathy Judith. I really appreciate it.

Posted on 19 Jul 08 (about 3 months ago)
Katxena wrote:
So I went to work today (have to make up for being sick) and saw a chipmunk in the parking lot! I’ve never, ever seen one here before. Figures! I saw the little jerk last night in the neighbor’s garden, and it looks like a plain old mouse.

I’m cautiously optimistic that the pepper spray did the trick. I mixed up a batch yesterday, then sprayed the lower part of the sungold with it. I also sprayed the perimeter of my yard. I haven’t seen the jerk or any broken tomatoes since I sprayed.

I’ll wait until tomorrow to make sure the sungold doesn’t suffer any adverse effects, then I’ll spray the rest of the tomatoes with it.

Posted on 20 Jul 08 (about 3 months ago)
Ves wrote:
You could set mouse traps or rat traps….make sure they are where your cats can’t step in them. I used to have to trap mice in a country home that was built like a sieve (not just a metaphor; there were places where you could see daylight through the walls, or hold you hand up and feel wind coming through). My ex trapped 12 rats and we never had them again, but the mice continued, even though our cat laid a dead mouse at the door every day, sometimes twice. So ex trapped, and after he left, I had to do it myself. I confess I couldn’t handle removing dead animals from the traps. I just turned a plastic grocery bag inside out over my hand, picked up the whole trap, reversed the bag so the trap was inside, tied the bag shut, threw the whole thing away, and bought new traps when needed.

Posted on 20 Jul 08 (about 3 months ago)
Ves wrote:
Or import a nice big fat hungry snake <grin>.

Posted on 20 Jul 08 (about 3 months ago)
Katxena wrote:
A snake would be fun — but since my home owners association won’t even allow a compost pile, I doubt they will allow a snake!

I’m trying to avoid using traps, because I would be squeamish about the dead bodies too. I’ll definitely keep it in mind if this continues to be a problem.

Posted on 20 Jul 08 (about 3 months ago)
Happibun wrote:
You are having a bad time with pests. this and Squash Vine beetles :-(

Posted on 20 Jul 08 (about 3 months ago)
Katxena wrote:
Yeah, and earlier this summer mosquitoes and cabbageworms. My neighbor also has a garden, which is as small as mine — but I assume that our combined plants are attracting the pests.

Posted on 20 Jul 08 (about 3 months ago)
Cmagnus wrote:
I’m not sure that a chipmunk would actually eat tomatoes. I know I have chipmunks and they haven’t touched my tomatoes or eggplant. They seem to just dig holes at random locations in the garden for no particular reason. Also annoying, but it hasn’t made me go out and buy a snake… yet.

Rats on the other hand… when I had my balcony garden I had these little rats that would climb to it and eat tomatoes. One took one bite of a thai chili (100000-350000 scoville units) and they never bothered the peppers again. Eventually the apartment maintenance people trapped them all. That’s one of the downsides of having a house, I guess.

Posted on 21 Jul 08 (about 3 months ago)