Pull them as soon as they begin to turn orange/pinkish and finish them on an indoor window sill. If you have to have "vine ripened," then you'll need to invest in a very secure net/cage structure or a guard dog/cat.

I had slugs, so I went out several nights to remove them from the area and put down some slug pellets and Sevin. Then, I had birds eat the tomatoes. After the birds poked a few holes in them, ants and gnats finished them off. 100% of my tomatoes have been eaten by pests this year. :-( I've never had this happen before. I'm going to invest in some bird netting, and I'll try the window-ripening method. Thanks.

I used sluggo and the kids made a bird feeder away from the toms. Kept the grassoppers down and away from my crops. This was in Colorado.