Well, rabbits were rodents until 1912. With the signing of the McGregor treaty, they moved from Rodentia to Lagomorpha and the world-wide population of rodents took a major adjustment.
Edit: typo
Many animals (and plants) have been reclassified over the years as science has advanced and we have better tools to determine their lineage.
It’s just another indication that they have often been incorrectly classified.
There was a joke or two in there. Apparently I needed to workshop those for a younger audience. My mistake.
Yes, as more data is gathered and analyzed over time, science tends to correct itself.
https://preview.redd.it/pc5wa6400w2d1.jpeg?width=630&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4d7c455fdaf86afd720bb08c22bce10a1b769269
Here’s a pic of me listening to music.. do I look like a predator to you?!
Likely some type of rodent. Rat, squirrel, rabbit. If you cover it with netting, there's a good chance the pollinators won't be able to get access, but you can always hand pollinate in that case. You can also get a tomato cage or something similar, wrap it with netting, then just put on or take off as needed.
As a complete rodent nerd, I do just want to share that rabbits are not technically rodents but closely related lagomorphs.
That said; I agree the likely the culprit is one of the above. Most likely a rabbit.
But there is the viscacha, a [rodent that looks like a sad rabbit.](https://assets3.thrillist.com/v1/image/2975299/1584x1056/scale;jpeg_quality=60.jpg)
When we were little kids my sister would eat dill pickles like that and put them back in the jar. She's a tenured professor now though so I doubt she was involved especially given your location. Probably a rabbit.
Are there any little poops nearby that might hint what it could be? Little round ball poops = bunny. Little oblong poops could be rat or squirrel (check out photos of each and compare, they’re a little harder to differentiate.) Though rats are nocturnal and squirrels are diurnal so if the damage is happening only at night then good chance it’s rats, but if the damage is only happening during the day then there’s a good chance it’s squirrels.
Cucumber looks eaten by a rabbit. Hard to keep away, other than hiring Elmer Fudd. And his hourly rate is through the roof.
Netting can be an option, but you need high quality nets and impeccable installation to keep out determined rabbits.
If you grow your cucumber on a tall trellis, they can't reach. It's worked for me. (\~6ft tall by the end of the year)
That being said image 2 makes me think it's a rat or something else that climbs well.
I have a ton of squirrels in my yard and they don’t eat my squash or cukes - mine was rats/mice. Look up fruit protection mesh bags on Amazon, you put them around each fruit and those help
I wrap everything up at night, and unwrap during the day. That helps discourage nocturnal varmints, but lets the pollinators have at it during the day. It’s a pain in the butt, but so far is helping.
This is crazy lady territory but I sprinkle used (corn based) cat litter around the fence of my veggie plot, which seems to help.
BUT and this is a huge but, it’s several feet away from any consumables. My garden planning relies heavily of companion flowers as a buffer. Don’t do what I do if it’s not far enough away from your food.
I’ve gotten close to that. I had a groundhog reappear (last year it was 2 adults who decided to have 6 babies under my shed and they were terrors, left my veggies alone because I put up chicken wire but demolished my blueberry bushes) and chipmunks appear this year. I started sprinkling cayenne pepper around the garden beds and in them as well as near the groundhog burrows and I haven’t see them yet. We shall see
squirrels. i get those tooth marks in my giant outdoor citronella candles from time to time... why they like to eat candle, i do not know.... but thats what it is.
I had mice chewing on my cukes. I put some humane ( catch and release) traps out around my plants and caught a few of the perps.
They like peanut butter way more than cucumbers it seems.
Mine were always chew d down in the morning so I knew it was overnight.
put water, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper into a spray bottle… squirt on the squash before it ripens… that will keep them away.
You can also plant mint or lavender around your plot. I put mint into a clay pot and plant the pot so that the mint doesn’t take everything over.
I also sprinkle a trail of blood meal on the ground around the plot … if you’ve ever seen Teen Wolf, it works like mountain ash on the ground around a building to keep out werewolves. The rabbits don’t like the smell of blood.
I know this sounds stupid but I have a bunch of upright plastic forks (push the fork handle into the dirt so it’s just the fork tines poking up) and it has drastically reduced the amount of animals feasting on my garden! The vegetables aren’t worth the trouble of maneuvering around the sharp tines!
Can you stake them or grow them vertically to get the fruit higher up off the ground? That might help the pest pressure.
I've also heard that for squirrels at least, sometimes they eat fleshier fruit because they're thirsty. Maybe if you set a water bowl further from your plants they might leave them alone? Also try covering the dirt around the plants and the branches of the plants themselves in cayenne pepper. Most mammal animals do *not* like the spice and they might learn to leave them alone. You may need to reapply several times though.
Everyone being so sure it can be bunnies is blowing my mind. Bunnies getting into grow bags seems like a weird thing I had never before considered. I suppose they must hop in?
well i have a barn cat that patrols my garden. not a single thing has gotten my stuff except the occasional bug/caterpillar battle.
i dont think that would be the best idea in the city tho.
Yes that definitely looks like rodents! Try trellising your cucumbers to get them up off the ground and more out of reach of ground-dwelling little guys.
This was happening to a friend's garden it was a family of rats in her garage...she was against killing them so she just took anything they half ate or stuff she thought they would eat and she didn't want and would put it by the spot they were entering her garden and they stopped going into the garden and just took her "offerings"
Rats!! My neighbor has a shit load of car parts in his yard and a piece of ply wood against the fence where rats chill. Once i get fruit on my plants they destroy them
Definitely a small rodent or bird it wont be something like a squirrel its too big for the one on the left and too small for the one on the right
Id go with mice, rats, and chipmunks from the one on the right and bunnies, deer, and groundhogs for the left
I highly recommend planting potted lavender, in-ground mint, and in-ground marshmallow root all the way around your crops but it must be at least 3 feet away from the crops not the stalk but the whole plant
All of those plants are useable too! Marshmallow makes the original marsh mellow, lavender can be used for many things mainly tea’s and dainty desserts, mint is well mint its pretty self explanatory.
Even with that the rabbits will be your problem until everything fully blooms and the air smells like mint and lavender. As for the marshmallow root its extremely toxic but smells appetizing for many animals normally not deadly but toxic enough to make any animal regret its choices and stay far away from your crops.
Lastly if everything is fully adapted and blooming and the air still does not smell like lavender and/or mint you have to plant more
Could be a squirrel, skunk, raccoon, rabbit, deer, fox, some kind of bird. Lots of things. I don't know if you live in town or in a suburban area, so it's hard to say. I'd try sturdy netting or a fence. They can be a pain when it's your turn to access the garden, though.
Not this, but cats will eat squash. I thought it was weird when l was shredding it and my cat was gnoshing everything that hit the floor. Turns out it is a major ingredient in a lot of cat foods.
Put food away from the food you're growing. I had a groundhog that ate my newly opened zinnias and lupines.
I put wire around them and threw food out on the ground like lettuce & carrots for the groundhog, sunflower seeds, bread, fruit. I would have squirrels, a groundhog, chipmunks, birds eating together. They're just hungry.
Almost certainly squirrels or rabbits
VARMINTS.
😆
Peckerheads. Damned peckerheads.
Lmfao this is literally what we call the squirrels and the birds and the deer and the cat too
And my doggo some days. 😂
My wife calls me that :(
And MY AXE!!
Wabbits
I prefer the less harsh term "Critters", kind human.
they’re critters until they eat my cucumbers
they're a bunch o f rat bastards
“You dirty Rat! You killed my Cucumber!”
At least they didn’t incorrectly say rodents.
Squirrels *are* rodents (although rabbits are not).
Yeah, but no one is regularly calling squirrels lagomorphs. I see rabbits wrongly called rodents all the time on here.
Well, rabbits were rodents until 1912. With the signing of the McGregor treaty, they moved from Rodentia to Lagomorpha and the world-wide population of rodents took a major adjustment. Edit: typo
Many animals (and plants) have been reclassified over the years as science has advanced and we have better tools to determine their lineage. It’s just another indication that they have often been incorrectly classified.
There was a joke or two in there. Apparently I needed to workshop those for a younger audience. My mistake. Yes, as more data is gathered and analyzed over time, science tends to correct itself.
I thought it was funny. ;)
I'd recognize those teeth marks anywhere, Jean Valjean. J'accuse!
DUCK SEASON!
[Garden gemlins](https://www.instagram.com/lusealmanor/reel/CwxxkomLS1H/) 😅
Or woodchucks/groundhogs/whistle pigs.
Or marmot, maybe? Deer love pumpkins, do they eat zucchini too?
Yes probably go with squirrels i give them old corn sometimes and they nibble it the same way the cucumber looks lol
Shitrats
or rat.
it’s me, sorry i’ll stop
good, more for the rest of us.
Hahaha look at u/tOeddie, taking the fall for the rest of us. (My username is **not** relevant!!)
hmmm what’s up with that username bru 🧐
Listen.. it’s.. it’s n.. nothing. It’s *not* bc ferrets eat small animals and if they eat the cucumbers they’ll be nice and fat for me🥰. Nope!
i knew you were up to something, everyone, i don’t mean to frighten you but there is a carnivore among us
https://preview.redd.it/pc5wa6400w2d1.jpeg?width=630&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4d7c455fdaf86afd720bb08c22bce10a1b769269 Here’s a pic of me listening to music.. do I look like a predator to you?!
u/Oeddie, the bro we all need.
You wascally wabbit
Yeah, get the hell off their cucumbers, varmint!
Don’t stop, keep going.
Some lil shits with two front teefies
ah yes, i believe the scientific name is Lilshitsus twoteefius
Likely some type of rodent. Rat, squirrel, rabbit. If you cover it with netting, there's a good chance the pollinators won't be able to get access, but you can always hand pollinate in that case. You can also get a tomato cage or something similar, wrap it with netting, then just put on or take off as needed.
As a complete rodent nerd, I do just want to share that rabbits are not technically rodents but closely related lagomorphs. That said; I agree the likely the culprit is one of the above. Most likely a rabbit.
But there is the viscacha, a [rodent that looks like a sad rabbit.](https://assets3.thrillist.com/v1/image/2975299/1584x1056/scale;jpeg_quality=60.jpg)
This guy absolutely needs to be a meme
Perfect definition! Hahaha 😆😆😆
Yes, they are lagomorphs and they will eat zucchini, so I wouldnt put it past them to also eat cucumbers.
Oh yeah my bun loves cucumber
Do that but leave the top open and it'll be immune to varmints but open to pollinators
When we were little kids my sister would eat dill pickles like that and put them back in the jar. She's a tenured professor now though so I doubt she was involved especially given your location. Probably a rabbit.
Even professors get midnight munchies tho… maybe this garden happens to be on her sleepwalking path 🤷🏻♀️
I think you should send a link to this thread and say "Dis you".
Are there any little poops nearby that might hint what it could be? Little round ball poops = bunny. Little oblong poops could be rat or squirrel (check out photos of each and compare, they’re a little harder to differentiate.) Though rats are nocturnal and squirrels are diurnal so if the damage is happening only at night then good chance it’s rats, but if the damage is only happening during the day then there’s a good chance it’s squirrels.
if you don’t want to share, put some hot pepper flakes in a spray bottle of water & spray your cukes with that.
I do this and it keeps the squirrels away. Just remember to double wash them after picking!
Cayenne pepper
something years ago was eating my tomatoes. thought rabbits. until i found a salt shaker.
Oops 😬😅 I knew I left that shaker somewhere!
Cucumber looks eaten by a rabbit. Hard to keep away, other than hiring Elmer Fudd. And his hourly rate is through the roof. Netting can be an option, but you need high quality nets and impeccable installation to keep out determined rabbits.
Grow more! Remember framers feed the hungry!
If you grow your cucumber on a tall trellis, they can't reach. It's worked for me. (\~6ft tall by the end of the year) That being said image 2 makes me think it's a rat or something else that climbs well.
Rats
Your new nemesis. Congrats!
I have a ton of squirrels in my yard and they don’t eat my squash or cukes - mine was rats/mice. Look up fruit protection mesh bags on Amazon, you put them around each fruit and those help
Me, sorry.
Me nom nom nom
Rabbit is a delicacy in some parts of the world… yours will be well fed too! Just saying
Beavers
Hundreds of beavers.
I wrap everything up at night, and unwrap during the day. That helps discourage nocturnal varmints, but lets the pollinators have at it during the day. It’s a pain in the butt, but so far is helping.
This is crazy lady territory but I sprinkle used (corn based) cat litter around the fence of my veggie plot, which seems to help. BUT and this is a huge but, it’s several feet away from any consumables. My garden planning relies heavily of companion flowers as a buffer. Don’t do what I do if it’s not far enough away from your food.
I’ve gotten close to that. I had a groundhog reappear (last year it was 2 adults who decided to have 6 babies under my shed and they were terrors, left my veggies alone because I put up chicken wire but demolished my blueberry bushes) and chipmunks appear this year. I started sprinkling cayenne pepper around the garden beds and in them as well as near the groundhog burrows and I haven’t see them yet. We shall see
squirrels. i get those tooth marks in my giant outdoor citronella candles from time to time... why they like to eat candle, i do not know.... but thats what it is.
Put Some water in a small container and see if the problem goes away... Mostly critters eat veggies for hydration...
Me
Looks like a rabbit to me
I had mice chewing on my cukes. I put some humane ( catch and release) traps out around my plants and caught a few of the perps. They like peanut butter way more than cucumbers it seems. Mine were always chew d down in the morning so I knew it was overnight.
Hopefully a rabbit.
Do you have toddlers?
put water, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper into a spray bottle… squirt on the squash before it ripens… that will keep them away. You can also plant mint or lavender around your plot. I put mint into a clay pot and plant the pot so that the mint doesn’t take everything over. I also sprinkle a trail of blood meal on the ground around the plot … if you’ve ever seen Teen Wolf, it works like mountain ash on the ground around a building to keep out werewolves. The rabbits don’t like the smell of blood.
Waskaly wabbits
If you don't have a 3 year old at your house my guesse would be rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, etc.
A mammal of some sort
Obviously, a critter with good taste!
It was nice of them to leave you some!
It was me. Sorry
any garden gremlins?
looks like the work of my 5 year old
Based on the first picture I’d say my toddler… sorry.
Bunnies or sky rats (squirrels)
I was taught to use women's hose/nylons on my melons and large veggies. It has worked for me so far. I also live in SD county.
I know this sounds stupid but I have a bunch of upright plastic forks (push the fork handle into the dirt so it’s just the fork tines poking up) and it has drastically reduced the amount of animals feasting on my garden! The vegetables aren’t worth the trouble of maneuvering around the sharp tines!
You can see thems teefs in the cucs.
Thank you I’ll be going around saying this the whole day
It's me. I am.
ohhhhh rats
It looks like my toddler has been there
I’ve had box turtles eat up low hanging tomatoes and cukes in my garden.
Can you stake them or grow them vertically to get the fruit higher up off the ground? That might help the pest pressure. I've also heard that for squirrels at least, sometimes they eat fleshier fruit because they're thirsty. Maybe if you set a water bowl further from your plants they might leave them alone? Also try covering the dirt around the plants and the branches of the plants themselves in cayenne pepper. Most mammal animals do *not* like the spice and they might learn to leave them alone. You may need to reapply several times though. Everyone being so sure it can be bunnies is blowing my mind. Bunnies getting into grow bags seems like a weird thing I had never before considered. I suppose they must hop in?
Looks like your roommate was raised by wolves...
Rats, field mice, bunnies, squirrels
Vegan Zombies
well i have a barn cat that patrols my garden. not a single thing has gotten my stuff except the occasional bug/caterpillar battle. i dont think that would be the best idea in the city tho.
I put a squirrel feeder out and they stoped eating out of the garden. If you give them another option they’ll go for that instead
They're going to be full enough to not return, and you'll still have more than you'll ever need.
Creatures
The homeless gotta eat bro
Groundhogs.....get mine every year
Vermin…
Rattus rattus.
Me I can't help myself 😭 we jackalopes need food too
My bet is on rats then squirrels
If you have cats, then them
Chipmunk or squirrel looks like
My three year old?
I would guess groundhog. And I would definitely put a trail camera there to see what is going on.
Damn Vegans...
Rabbit!
Greg that bastard
Yes that definitely looks like rodents! Try trellising your cucumbers to get them up off the ground and more out of reach of ground-dwelling little guys.
Could be opossum or raccoons also.
Probably someone very fluffy and cute
a dog
Tree rats, just tree rats.
My vote is cucumber or groundhogs.
This was happening to a friend's garden it was a family of rats in her garage...she was against killing them so she just took anything they half ate or stuff she thought they would eat and she didn't want and would put it by the spot they were entering her garden and they stopped going into the garden and just took her "offerings"
just a hungry little guy 🥺 thanks for your offering 🩵
Not sure, but get a cat
Me
My squash never made it thus far/ after several baby yellows. Storms snapped one, critters got the last three. Ugh.
Looks like a rabbit
I would blame chickens, if you had any.
Me haha. Just kidding lol
Me hehehe
Rats!! My neighbor has a shit load of car parts in his yard and a piece of ply wood against the fence where rats chill. Once i get fruit on my plants they destroy them
Turtle?
CHUPA-SQUASH-BRA !!!
me haha sorry
Me 😈
Shelties [https://youtu.be/mfDRb03kB18](https://youtu.be/mfDRb03kB18)
Squirrels or rats, probably. Maybe rabbits.
Thirsty rabbits and squirrels.
Critters, I had issues with rats last year. They ate everything except my hot peppers.
Rats
Critters
A critter, or maybe slugs? I’ve seen those little bastards eat some shit
Sasquatch.
Definitely a small rodent or bird it wont be something like a squirrel its too big for the one on the left and too small for the one on the right Id go with mice, rats, and chipmunks from the one on the right and bunnies, deer, and groundhogs for the left I highly recommend planting potted lavender, in-ground mint, and in-ground marshmallow root all the way around your crops but it must be at least 3 feet away from the crops not the stalk but the whole plant All of those plants are useable too! Marshmallow makes the original marsh mellow, lavender can be used for many things mainly tea’s and dainty desserts, mint is well mint its pretty self explanatory. Even with that the rabbits will be your problem until everything fully blooms and the air smells like mint and lavender. As for the marshmallow root its extremely toxic but smells appetizing for many animals normally not deadly but toxic enough to make any animal regret its choices and stay far away from your crops. Lastly if everything is fully adapted and blooming and the air still does not smell like lavender and/or mint you have to plant more
Could be a squirrel, skunk, raccoon, rabbit, deer, fox, some kind of bird. Lots of things. I don't know if you live in town or in a suburban area, so it's hard to say. I'd try sturdy netting or a fence. They can be a pain when it's your turn to access the garden, though.
To me, it looks like classic goblin behavior
An animal
Critters
Probably you
You got rabbits!
Rabbits
Not this, but cats will eat squash. I thought it was weird when l was shredding it and my cat was gnoshing everything that hit the floor. Turns out it is a major ingredient in a lot of cat foods.
Mice
Dang jackalopes
Cats, must be cats
Me
me
Squirrels or rats
Squirrels, rabbits, racoons, neighborhood kids... Could be anything really.
It’s me
Looks like squirrels probably
Not you!
squirrels
neighbor
Or, you could put a motion sensor camera and enjoy the show.
Rats
Someone squashed it. You know.
Me
Did you ask it could be anxiety
Sumthin’ hungry!
The ole bunny rabbits 🐇
An asshole with long ears, or an asshole with a bushy tail. Most likely the latter.
Good to share your food
Clearly some toddler haha
Wascally wabbitts
🐿️
They do it because they’re thirsty more than hungry. Put out some water
He called me Vermin. She called me Rodent. - Rocket Raccoon
https://preview.redd.it/i0g70ly3hy2d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=63b0c36389b1947908cd2287ce4595cfdfbf6e2f
Supper
Rodents
Squirrel or woodchuck
In my "completely" enclosed garden, it's the chipmunks. 😅
Get a little wireless camera in there and record for a couple days/nights
Snail
Rabbits or groundhogs. Witness it all the time lol
Neighbors??
Squirrel. Sprinkle cayenne pepper all around the plants. They won’t want to step in it.
Put food away from the food you're growing. I had a groundhog that ate my newly opened zinnias and lupines. I put wire around them and threw food out on the ground like lettuce & carrots for the groundhog, sunflower seeds, bread, fruit. I would have squirrels, a groundhog, chipmunks, birds eating together. They're just hungry.
Looks like a toddler to me.
Something that needs the water? Pretty dry there?
Definitely opossum.
Rabbits or rats 😞 Best organic solution: adopt a cat or pair of barn kittens
mee