I have a problem with my mango trees and hoping you could help me or direct me to some place where I could get some help. I live in South Florida and have three small (8 ft to about 18 ft. tall, 4" to about 7" trunk diameters)mango trees in my back yards. It appears that some night animal is climbing up one of these trees -- one about 6" trunk diameter -- and eating up several mangoes (they are still not ripe yet) almost every night and just dropping many more to the ground. If it goes on unchecked, we won't have any mangoes left in a month or two. This morning I found two mango seeds on the ground completely without any meat on it and the mango skins also completely down to the skin -- very neat and clean and no pulp attached to the skins at all! They may be rats, raccoons, or some other night-time creatures! Can you please help me with this problem. How would I find out what's getting up on the trees and eating/dropping the mangoes? And, how can I stop this? Thank you so much. PKM
Leaving the skin could indicate roof rats. See page linked to on this thread. http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?p=89460#post89460
Would possums eat mangoes? A very effective way of keeping roof rats, possums, & raccoons off our bird feeder has been a large galvanized steel cone made out of sheet metal purchased from a big box hardware store. Now fixing it to a live tree is a little more difficult than attaching it to a steel pole, but it could still be done.... - the cone needs to have at 24" flare to stop critters from reaching over it and climbing up. - wrap old rags around the trunk to protect the bark where the top of the cone meets the bark. - assemble the cone on the ground...use tin snips to cut it to size and drill holes along the seam to put nuts and bolts in when assembled. Also drill three holes near the tip of the cone so it can be hung on the trunk. Then disassemble so it can be put on the tree - reassemble the cone on the tree. - screw three small STAINLESS steel eyebolts into the trunk at the upper margin of the rags. - hang the cone with wire from the eyebolts...this will stop it falling down and stop the raccoon from pushing it up the tree as it climbs. Though detailed, the instructions are not comprehensive. You may still want to make adjustments if you find something isn't working quite as planned.
Thank you so much for your nice, helpful, detailed idea. It sounds like an wonderful idea. And it could be anyhting - including possums! Is the central idea behind this contraption is to provide a smooth, sliding surface that's hard to climb? And, the flare to stop it from going around somehow? Now, a couple of points to make sure I understand this. 1. This cone will be simply placed (resting) on the ground, around the tree trunk. is this right? 2. The 24" flare -- is this on the bottom of the cone or on the top side of the cone? 3. Would you really need 24" - sounds quite a bit. I assume the idea of the flare is so that the creature could not go around it to climb up the tree. 4. Why a cone? Is this so that it is hard for the creature to climb up? Would a cylinderical structure do the same thing - smooth and polished surface should stop it from climbing up - wouldn't it? Again, thank you so much for such a creative idea. PKM
Sorry, one more point. Instead of drilling into the tree trunk for the eyebolts, I could just hang the gadget from the nearby branches using some strong ropes, and still serve the purpose to keep it up. Couldn't I? PKM
With ropes holding it up leading to branches would some creatures be able to climb the rope itself to the top? What a friend of mine did to prevent creatures climing up his tree is put spikes into the ground at an angle away from the tree. Nothing so far has been able to reach to tree for fear of injury. 1) spikes need to be tall enough to reach well over the largest suspected animal 2) spikes need to be close enough together to stop the smallest suspected animal 3) make sure you dont have children or "playful" pets this has worked for him 2 years running \|/ -O - /|\ <--- bad drawing, but something to that effect. as a side note, i seen an electrical device in a local grow shop that emites a (silent to humans) noise that keeps most animals away. something else to consider?
The problem with hanging the cone from a higher position is that the stronger animals are able to push the cone up the tree, potentially damaging the bark. By keeping the anchoring or hanging point close the cone, it also acts as a stop for upward travel. Your trees don't sound like they have a large enough diameter to work but a simple wrap of sheet metal works on larger trees because the animals claws can't grip it. On small trees, hugging the tree as they climb, racoons could get by this obstacle.
Another solution is to hire a nuisance animal trapper. A lot of people don't know that services like ours exist - they think "pest control" = bugs + chemicals, but that's not what nuisance animal trappers do. You can get rid of the rat problem by hiring a trapper (like us - blatant plug - NeighborHelp Referrals' Affordable Trapping 239-465-9291 Naples FL - Collier County FL - and ask for Ken) to get rid of rodents that are nesting on the property (using old fashioned traps and knowhow) and setup bait stations (which we can do or you can do yourself) which will remove them over time. The raccoons can be trapped via live trapping using cages and removed to a far away location that's set aside for the purposes of releasing them. Just letting you know that such a service exists! Kenneth Udut NeighborHelp Referrals' Affordable Trapping 239-465-9291 Removal of rats, racoons, armadillos, opossums, bees, Collier County FL - Naples FL
Ensure that the metal or plastic sheath is at least 6 feet from the base of the tree, many rodents can simply jump up to that height, and if there are other nearby trees that rodents can jump from or a building , your problem will persist...
