Help! Something is eating my Junipers and more!!

[EricInSD]

My junipers are decimated It started with a large tree that I got at auction that was still recovering from spider mites. It has almost no foliage left! That same night the rodent ate my largest Giant Sequoia seedling too. I put out two rat traps and ordered some more from amazon. The next night it ate my other three Sequoias and started on my nana. I put out 8 more rat traps. That didn't help. He got to one of my nana's and a pre bonsai itoigawa that I just got from my teacher

I moved most of my trees and put out an electronic repellent (makes supersonic sounds). Last night it got to another nana and my best Sabina in a totally different location.

I just got some mouse traps but I'm not at all confident that will help. The junipers will come inside tonight.

It's definitely some kind of rodent. I've read that cayenne is a good deterrent. Can I put it on top of the soil or will it have a negative effect on the trees?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

I recently built this rock garden outside my large window. You can see the Sabina that was attacked in the front, the nana on the left and the big one in the back right( all pre-rodent). I am devastated.

 

[hampton]

I’ve had success mixing a couple oz of Tabasco into a liter pump sprayer and hitting the perimeter of my benches. Seems to keep the chipmunks and squirrels at bay.

 

[19Mateo83]

Are you sure it’s a rat? Squirrels can do some bad damage too. I use one of these small animal traps to catch and relocate squirrels that are digging, eating or chewing on trees. Bait it with in shell nuts like pecans, walnuts or peanuts.

https://a.co/d/c2i4DfC

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I was drying habanero peppers long ago and a pet hamster got out of its cage. It ate a small chunk.
I will spare you guys the gruesome details but it ended up killing itself.
Capsaicin seems like a good deterrent for rodents. It's soluble in oil, so an emulsion of habanero or carolina reaper oil would probably be pretty effective as a deterrent.

 

[penumbra]

I bought a huge bag of dried hot peppers off Amazon years ago. It works well as a deterrent but it is messy. Now my primary go to is fox and coyote urine granules.

 

[BonjourBonsai]

What about wrapping or covering them in bird netting? That kept rodents off of my tomatoes.

 

[BonjourBonsai]

Nice garden by the way

 

[Srt8madness]

I was drying habanero peppers long ago and a pet hamster got out of its cage. It ate a small chunk.
I will spare you guys the gruesome details but it ended up killing itself.
Capsaicin seems like a good deterrent for rodents. It's soluble in oil, so an emulsion of habanero or carolina reaper oil would probably be pretty effective as a deterrent.

Are you kidding - share the gruesome details. Did it jump off the counter or something? Tiny gun?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Are you kidding - share the gruesome details. Did it jump off the counter or something? Tiny gun?

It chewed out its own stomach because it couldn't bear the pain.
Tiny gun would have been so much better.

 

[shimbrypaku]

Man just read your post, gruesome is right.

 

[EricInSD]

Are you sure it’s a rat? Squirrels can do some bad damage too. I use one of these small animal traps to catch and relocate squirrels that are digging, eating or chewing on trees. Bait it with in shell nuts like pecans, walnuts or peanuts.

https://a.co/d/c2i4DfC

I'm fairly sure it's a rat or a mouse. I saw a critter on my Blink camera but it moves fast! We do have the occasional ground squirrel here but lots of rats. I literally just installed a kit on my pool heater after repairing $200 in damage after a rat stripped some wires and shorted out the igniter. Its been a bad week!

 

[BonjourBonsai]

after a rat stripped some wires

Why do they do that?! I had a mouse chew through wires on my furnace once. No heat or hot water for three days!