A rat ate all the peaches off my tree this year and coons and possums would do the same. Sorry.

That's so weird. We've had them for 4 years wiht no problems!

I had my peach tree for years too, with no problem either. Then a rat made it's home close by and found the tree. It is a small tree and I was going to pick all the fruit the next day. When I went out there, there wasn't a piece left, and nothing on the ground. It was like they were never there. We set a trap and got the rat.

Probably animals. A human would have had to use a flashlight on such a moonless night. All my muscadine grapes disappeared in one night last week and my figs were also getting hit every night. I got coon #2 yesterday. I'll be checking the trap for #3 as soon as daylight arrives.
These Hav-A-Hart traps are the greatest thing since sliced bread! I have NO sympathy for people who whine about animal depredations, but refuse to do anything about it.

We have a Havahart. Not afraid to use it. We were having the neighbors cats sitting under the bird feeder at dawn. We would catch them and hose them down for a few minutes. Only one came back. I never thought of a rat. Are they noctural?

Brute, what do you do with the raccoons after you catch them? The whole cage and animal has to go in your car/truck, right, to relocate them? I don't like that part. Kinda scares me. And then, where do you take them to let them loose?

Zackey, what kind of bait did you use to lure the cat into the cage? I'm giggling about the hose. Does wet cat smell like wet dog, LOL?!

Carol

Carol

I never got close enough to smell it! That's hubby's job! He get sick pleasure out of wetting them down. It is illegal in most places to transport a wild animal. You could be putting them in a dangerous situation and you might be taking the mama away from her babies. I try not to mess with wild life. I enjoy seeing them. We used to have two pet raccoons. They were still quite wild, but they brought us through some rough times having them as pets.

love_the_yard,
What do I do with the coons? Uh...well, yes...ahem.
Let's just say they go to a place where there are no fleas, ticks, rabies, alligators, speeding cars, animal control officers, traps, or grumpy old men with .22 rifles. In this new place, there is an endless supply of tropical fruit and rows of trash cans filled with all kinds of goodies, re-filled daily. There are attics filled with comfy insulation to den in, and nobody minds. And best of all, this good life lasts forever!
I really don't know if such a place exists or not, but it's nice to think so, right?

I always relocate the coons...from above ground to below ground.

Unfortunately, I suspect that brute and bamboo rabbit are correct that that's the only real solution. We always have plenty of raccoons and other critters around here, but we had one big old silverback raccoon that became so aggressive they were afraid of what he'd do, so they got a trap and (per the county, zackey) relocated him about ten miles up the island. It took him about a month to work his way back again, even with a nuclear plant in the throes of a major upgrade as one of the obstacles he had to negotiate.

So the Havahart is used... to make it an easier and/or more convenient shot?

Zackey, rats are primarily nocturnal.

There are two major rat species in the South. One of them is the roof rat, a.k.a. the fruit rat or citrus rat. They love fruit. I believe that one or more of those got my grapes this year, too.

Norway rats are bigger, and like protein foods. However both kinds of rat will eat darn near ANYTHING. They aren't picky.

We have a mini Havahart for rats. We picked all of the grapes and juiced them. What an awesome flavor! Nothing like store bought. I used canned cat food for bait. I guess that would work for rats too? My silly cat doesn't care much for canned food. I've heard of cats and dogs finding their way home, but not a coon!

Yes, the cage trap makes dealing with coons much easier. From time to time me and a coon will blunder into each other in the yard, or if I heard its activities and snuck out of the house, rifle in hand. When that happens, I'll run forward, stomping my feet and making "woofing" noises. Maybe because of the jiggling flashlight beam or the stomping, the coon thinks I might actually catch it, and runs straight up the nearest tree.
Then, I shoot him out of the tree. A noteable exception to this rule was a big male that me and my neighbor dubbed "Supercoon". When Mike would tree this varmint, he'd holler for me. No matter how we shined our flashlights, we could never see his eyeshine up there. We never could figure out how he was avoiding our lights. Then, after we had both given up and went back into our houses, he would climb down and do something that would make us mad all over again. He was also smart enough to take the bait out of a cage trap without tripping it. He gave the whole neighborhood fits!
I finally came up with a trick he'd never seen before and succeeded in bagging him. I was both relieved and a little sad that a worthy adversary was finally vanquished. Supercoon was a neighborhood legend. People talked about him for years.

Marshmallows make great bait for the coons.....they love them and they are not attractive to cats at all. The coons are just a pest....yes they have a cute face but just a pest. Same goes with those bushy tailed tree rats. My 3 acres is fenced to keep the deer out and I went as far as to put chicken wire along the bottom to keep the possums and dillos out......the coons just climb over and at that point they are fair game.

Dang squirrels found my figs this year. would not touch the green ones but just as soon as they got ripe, they were gone. And you know they have to stay on the tree to ripen. I know it was squirrels because I chased them out of the tree, not that it did any good, during the day.

My poor fig tree is getting clobbered! Yesterday I took a break from hurricane prepping and walked over to that side of the yard. Three squirrels, two woodpeckers, and two mockingbirds came blasting out of the tree and scattered in all directions. Although a bird net was draped over the tree, all the ripe figs were ruined.
Apparently the woodpeckers have learned to merely sit on top of the net and allow their weight to cause the net to sag enough to reach fruit.
Good Grief!
Those varmints are lucky that all my attention is now devoted to hurricane preps and I don't have time to deal with them now.

Late to this but I lost all my grapes this year as well - I first thought it was birds & put up flash/scare tape, then I thought it was rats & put out bait, but the grapes kept disappearing & the bait was untouched. Then hubby told me he saw a possum climbing in the vines 1 night.

Grrrr...

Here's UF's info...

Here is a link that might be useful: Opossums @ IFAS

Carol,

How was it getting up in to the vines?? Up the main stem?

I know we have possums and coons. Haven't seen any rats, but I'm sure they are out there. Don't have the bucks right now for an electric fence and I kinda figured netting wouldn't work well. So I guess we have to be more diligent and pick often and early. The wasps are the first pests and have kept me from picking them on time. Thanks for all the input! Sorry to hear you are gearing up for the hurrincane, brute! We had 15 inches of rain from Debbie. Hoping we don't get too much from Isaac. We are under flood watch until this evening because we have gotten rain 18 of the last 24 days.

Bamboo rabbit, you guessed it!