Tiny Lemon Beavers?

Solaris

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Mine have recently exploded in population.

I surely have mice.

But I also have kids...and Cheetos and shit all over...that makes a much easier, better meal than a lemon trunk.

Lotta effort to go toward the smell of a predator for a shitty meal.

Maybe he's just daring!
Daring sourpussass...

Sorce

Or the little varmint's trying to get on a healthier diet, cut out all that processed food.
Spray some MSG on the tree, see if the critter comes back for more.
 

BunjaeKorea

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Probably done by a Himalayan Pygmy Elephant.....theyre common in America.....or my second guess is a mouse......or rat!
 

sorce

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Still no sign of mice, other than the bark removal, and the snake up sniffing holes in the lid....

Neither conclusive.

Still seeing Pill Bugs. And the connected cambium is only c-hair thick.

With so many ficus that I know to be nutritious and eaten, I can not see the attraction in this lemon, to a mouse.

Sorce
 

AZbonsai

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Uhhhmmm why dont you cut that snake lose on it! Problem solved.
 

rockm

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Pill bugs are physically incapable of chewing like that. It ain't pill bugs, which are a symptom of damp soil and low light.

This is probably rodent damage most likely. Mice don't give an F about much of what they eat. They eat drywall for Chrissakes. Cambium is a delicacy for rodents--it carries SUGAR. I've got squirrels climbing my big arakawa maple this time of year to bite off the ends of twigs to suck the sap. Happens every year as the sap rises in the tree. Sometimes looks like it has a crop of squirrel fruit hanging from it.

Set a mouse snaptrap there with some peanut butter/bacon and see what happens.
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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Pill bugs did this to my 4 year old cannabis bonsai, and to a shitload of other plants I had in a terrarium. 6 years of selecting and refining genetics.. They do this kind of damage, and they do it for real.
I couldn't believe it until it happend to all of my plants in there, just above the soil line. They shouldn't, they don't.. But they do. I don't know what kind of juices they excrete, but they went right through the bark.
There are no other insects in that enclosure, since it's running its own ecosystem. I have ruled out everything else.

I might suck at bonsai, but this is something I'm absolutely sure of: pill bugs do this, and they do it well. As soon as they get the bark separated, they will start chewing and digging down. Mark those words, I've seen it happen.
I'm not convinced there are mice that climb a meter up on varnished wood, fit through a 1.5mm metal mesh, pass a snake, to eat bark in a terrarium instead of potato chips left on the floor.
 
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GGB

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Did some research, there are also woodlice, an extremely close relative to pillbug. They don't roll up. But it says they (like pilbugs) are considered beneficial to the garden. It says both, at worse, will chew tender young stems. So I guess marijuana isn't a tree but has a tender-ish, in comparison, stem/trunk. Animals do weird things adaptation and evolution but it really doesn't seem like that's the niche these "bugs" fill. I like a good zoological mystery as much as the next guy. This thread needs a conclusion
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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From this source: https://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/ep120.pdf
They can feed on young, tender vegetation or fruit and can damage beans, lettuce, strawberries and other garden crops.

I have had other plants in there as well. Those were all heavily damaged as well. The really woody plants were left untouched.
If anyone's interested, I can set out an experiment with some citrus meyeri seedlings.
 

GGB

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Also tossing theories around ... @Wires_Guy_wires is from a different area of the world perhaps the pill bugs up there are a little more viking than our cowboy pill bugs. I keep reading that they compost soft garden garbage but bark is pretty legit
 

Tieball

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I always thought those were Potato Bugs. I never did know what they ate though...potatoes? I don’t know. I’ll have to watch for those bugs.
 

sorce

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The tree is hanging on by a thread....

I could pretty easily cage this off and still get the damage...

I been watching them in holes too small to be teeth marks...

Yesterday, one ran over one of those black algae pinhead things and the thing must have jumped on for a ride....

It sure is them bugs.

Sorce
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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Also tossing theories around ... @Wires_Guy_wires is from a different area of the world perhaps the pill bugs up there are a little more viking than our cowboy pill bugs. I keep reading that they compost soft garden garbage but bark is pretty legit

Haha lol! I did see one with a red beard carrying an axe. Maybe I should lay off that MJ..
 
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M. Frary

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If you think it's a rodent its only one because 2 would have killed it already set a trap at the base of the tree and kill it.
If you think it's bugs it's time to quit relying on mother nature and balance to fix the problem. Get a good powerful insecticide and kill them.
2 choices easily remedied in one trip to the hardware.
Quit fucking around.
 
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