In an urban setting, rats are a distinct possibility. In my semi-urban location, it would be squirrels (the primary culprit) or birds.....crows will pick off an entire berry easily.

Also rabbits, raccoons and even turtles if you have them like we do out here in the country

Dave.

Have you thought about covering the plants with bird netting? I do that with my strawberry planter and it's worked well so far.

Terrapins are fond of ripe strawberries too.

Blue jays crows Ravens

Yes, netting is required or something will get them before you do. For me, my dog is primary suspect. Also groundhogs.

Thanks, all, for your thoughts. I'm guessing then that it's the scrub jays and ravens--but it seems amazing to me that they NEVER drop a berry or take bites/peck any of them or disturb the mulch. They pick the berries just as a human would and they take EVERY ONE that's totally ripe. I'm sure we have some rats around but again, I'd expect to see a bit of mess around the plants. No dogs, turtles, terrapins, etc, and the bunnies, which I've never seen here, couldn't reach up to the hanging baskets.I really would hate to think that it's my neighbors, so I'll have to decide that we have VERY clever, very tidy, very observant birds in our neighborhood. ? : (

Last year, I tried the bird netting. And I hated it so much I swore I wouldn't use it again. My berries are in hanging basket planters along a chain-link fence, and several hang from metal chains. The bird netting caught constantly on the fencing and on the hanging chains, to the extent that tho the birds didn't get into the berries, I couldn't either, without wrestling. When I had to move the netting around because I moved the berries to sunnier locations, it literally took me hours to untangle it and replace it. I know bird netting would work just fine for rows of berries in the ground, over hoop frames or another structure, but I couldn't figure out a good method to use it on my baskets along the fence. I'm now thinking of the row-cover fabric instead. I've also found something I had imagined doing myself--drawstring plant-cover bags made of the row-cover material, which is used to protect fruit trees, etc, from bugs and also from frost, but the ones I've found are all far too big, or far too small (meant for bunches of grapes, say) to suit my needs. And tho "one" could certainly craft these, I know I'm not going to get around to this any time soon.

Do any of you grow berries in hanging baskets and have a system that works well for you? What do you think of the light row-coverings, cut and wrapped/clipped around each basket? That's looking like the best bet at this point.

Sheba

Birds should be the primary suspects but so many other critters are possible even deer, chipmunks, or neighbors.

Well, we have a lot of birds, a few squirrels, and likely some rodents, plus a neighbor's cat, but mine is a tiny urban garden. We have no deer here or, sadly, chipmunks. There are in fact some coyotes in nearby Golden Gate Park and other parks in the city, but they are definitely not getting into my or my neighbors' yards.

I've just ordered a bolt of tulle . . . . I'm going to try again with the netting concept, but this time with tulle, hoping it isn't the GIANT pain in the butt that was the normal bird netting. I had, by the way, tried using decoy plastic snakes and put up some shiny whirly spinners. I thought this had done the trick, as there were no losses for 2 weeks, but then, just as my best most promising yield of berries came ripe, they all vanished at the point of perfection, and that's when I wrote for advice. : (

Thanks, all. I'll report back on the success/lack of with the tulle netting. Unfortunately, our weather has changed back to "normal" summer weather (cold, foggy), so I may not get good ripening now, anyway. We normally get a warmer spell in Sept. or Oct. so things may be on hold until then.

Sheba

Probably rodents. Wharf rats are common in maritime areas and they love fruit, even coming out during the day to sit in full view on the branches of apple or fig trees when mature fruits are present. Otherwise it is natural for native rodents to eat strawberries, which are also native to the region. If you try to screen the plants and your guests are rodents it will have to be something sufficient to keep these out. They can pass through tiny openings and of course are able to gnaw through barriers.

Do you or the neighbors have a dog? The only time I've had a pest get into the garden and leave no trace of the fruit behind, it turned out to be my dog. Eating a whole ripe cantaloupe every morning, rind and all! Stinker.

Who doesn't love garden fresh & ripe strawberries? But a vegetarian (well almost) dog eating cantaloupe? What kind of dog is this?

He's a golden retriever. Actually, cantaloupe is a common favorite of both dogs and cats. He likes strawberry hulls a lot too. But the REALLY crazy thing that my dog craves is kohlrabi. He sits at my feet and begs for the peels when I'm chopping it up for my salads.

LOL, the very best dog I ever knew was a golden. Never tied him up cuz he was a stray that adopted me. Followed me to the school bus then would run to the school where classmates would feed him their lunch out the window. Until someone let him in the school. Oooops.

Enjoy your dog while he's still here.

I grew up with a cat that loved raspberries. There were never any berries on the canes within her reach. She like cantaloupes as well - my mom would leave them on the counter for a day or two to ripen fully and the next morning there would be a large hole in the melon and about half of it eaten.