What is eating my Agaves?

[GermanStar]

And what preventive measure can I employ besides screening? Four of the six plants pictured are in my backyard. I haven't seen a rabbit in my yard all summer, though the area is generally thick with them. AFAIK, all this damage occurs while I'm sleeping. Harris Antelope Squirrels, Rock Squirrels, Pocket Mice, and Kangaroo Rats are abundant, along with Pack Rats and Rabbits.

Heck, I stuck a tiny little A. zebra in the ground a couple of days ago, and something came along and nipped a leaf point off! Arrrrgggghhhhhhh!!!

[braveone2u]

Squirrels and birds love some of my agaves and aloes.

[Boo Hollow]

I have seen these types of damage from rodents, mostly voles and deer mice. The lack of rasping marks on the leaf surface would make me discount snails or slugs. A quick experiment would be to put a ring of chicken wire 3/4" openings around a few of the plants and a ring of 1/4" hardware cloth around the others. If you receive no more damage around the chicken wire enclosure, then I would assume larger rodents, if you still have damage but not around the 1/4" screened plants, then assume voles or mice. Look for scat (animal droppings) around the plant. Small elongated cylinders are more typical of smaller rodents whereas tapered fecal pellets or larger rounded droppings would be squirrels and rabbits respectively.

Examine the edges to see if you can notice any serrations as well. The weird weather here in the Bay Area of California has seen a population explosion of immense proportions of voles and mice and they have been having a field day with my dudleya and Astragalus.

[GermanStar]

There are all manner of rodents/rodent burrows throughout my yard, most from Pocket Mice, thought I've seen the odd Kangaroo Rat as well. I was not aware that these creatures dine on Agaves. Since most of the damage is confined to my smaller Agaves, your small rodent guess makes a lot of sense. I was leaning toward an especially brave rabbit (fenced yard/two dogs) making pre-dawn raids until I saw the A. zebra today. That damage is just too fine for a rabbit. I have a lot a small Agaves, I'm really not interested in screening them all. My large and even medium Agaves are not in danger, what little damage there is, is proportionately insignificant.

[Boo Hollow]

Most of the pocket mice and kangaroo rats (Heteromyids) prefer seed based diets with occassional arthropod desserts. Voles, on the other hand, prefer leafy vegetable matter and are hard to trap based on this diet preference. Voles will also frequently start clipping leaves when they are nest building. They are also known to enter into the bottom holes of pots and pull the dirt out and feed on the roots and bases of plants. There is a really good video on the web

YouTube - Vole Traps and Trapping Techniques


IT WORKS WONDERS!

[GermanStar]

Originally Posted by Boo Hollow

Most of the pocket mice and kangaroo rats (Heteromyids) prefer seed based diets with occassional arthropod desserts. Voles, on the other hand, prefer leafy vegetable matter and are hard to trap based on this diet preference. Voles will also frequently start clipping leaves when they are nest building. They are also known to enter into the bottom holes of pots and pull the dirt out and feed on the roots and bases of plants. There is a really good video on the web

That's what I thought, I'm not aware of any voles frequenting the Sonoran Desert. AFAIK, I covered all the common rodents in the area in my OP.

[agavegreg]

The damage you show looks just like the damage I get from the Desert woodrats that frequent my place. These are easily trapped in live traps using a dab of peanut butter, and then you can feed them to a pet snake.

[GermanStar]

I tried trapping for packrats a few months ago when this started, and the culprit passed on the peanut butter in favor of another Agave leaf. So.......I know that was a rabbit. OTOH, some more recent damage is likely not from rabbits, so perhaps I'll lay another peanut butter-laden trap where that is occurring. I dug up the A zebra and potted it, guess I'll try again next year.

[GermanStar]

Originally Posted by agavegreg

The damage you show looks just like the damage I get from the Desert woodrats that frequent my place. These are easily trapped in live traps using a dab of peanut butter, and then you can feed them to a pet snake.

Good call. Look what I just found. This Pack Rat nest is in my neighbor's yard, right up against the retaining wall that borders the part of my yard where the newest damage is occurring. I recognized many things from my yard in the nest, including plenty of nice fresh dog feces (yech).