Viburnum damage

What could be causing damage to this Viburnum rhytidophylloides? This damage was on main stems five or six feet from the ground.

Scott

Only two things do that, bunnies and deer. So, unless you have giant bunnies, it's deer raking their teeth on your bark. I would never have thought they do this, until I watched them do it one evening.

Well, there is a third. He could have giant Nutria but they're not that far north. I've never seen Bambis doing that and I've never heard mention of it before until now but I'd believe it. Deer dental floss? Maybe when they rake their teeth the bark gets between their itty bitty teethies and loosens up left behind bits of our other plants?

Maybe you could try talking to the Bambis about this destructive behavior-
http://www.deerdoctor.com/gallery_detail.cfm?tbl=486&sct=69&ID=272&rID=256&rpage=products

That deer must have some gapped up teeth. Maybe he was telling you he needs a new grille? LOL


Sorry

Porcupines?

Resin

DGers?

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/677896/

Squirrels?

Since deer only have bottom teeth in front, I guess that won't work for this limb.

Maybe it is squirrels. That makes the most sense so far. The damage that sapsuckers make never looks like this, right?

Scott

Not uniform enough for sapsuckers. One could use their holes as a straight edge.

Doesn't look like the squirrel damage we get here, way to orderly. Squirrels chew rough irregular patches and leave the edges all around with small tattered strips. One squirrel in one go will tear up a rectangle about 1 1/2 x 3/4 on a limb large enough. Doesn't take em long to do it either, maybe 3 minutes.

Just found the Peterson Field Guide "Animal Tracks" (Olaus J. Murie) second edition. Pages 350-351 are black and white drawings of various wildlife bark damage/gnawings. Twelve different ones are identified. The closest one, is "Pits of sapsucker in a willow stem. Pits are up to 1/8 wide." What size are those chomp marks? The largest similar ones are moose bite marks. Seen any moose in Cinci lately?

As kandlmidd pointed out, the sapsucker's holes are uniform, but the ones in decumbent's picture are in a nice straight line... along the length of the branch, instead of accross a tree trunk. I wonder how big that branch is, too.
Take a look at the picture in this link



http://tinyurl.com/yjxp8v

The Peterson Field Guide pictured the sapsucker damage running parallel with the branch on a small diameter branch. With the damage being five to six feet off the ground I vote for a sapsucker, perhaps one just a tad disorganized. Might have looking over it's shoulder waiting for decumbent to show up with a twelve guage.


Found some sapsucker damage shots

www.umanitoba.ca/afs/hort_inquiries/miscellaneous_sapsucker.html


This message was edited Jan 13, 2007 11:41 AM

Are nutria the same as beavers?

Closer to muskrats...

Tastes like chicken...

Nutria is the fur from the Coypu (Myocastor coypus), a large South American rodent escaped from captivity in some areas

Resin

Yikes, rats!!

Jumbo imported rats with correspondingly jumbo teeth that grow continuously throughout their lives just like a porcupine or a Norway rat. They have to gnaw to keep their teeth in check. If they don't trim their teeth on our precious plants, they can't eat. When they are gnawing, the cheeks sort of fold in behind their incisors to stop them from swallowing chunks of their "grinding material". When they are actually eating, they are able to chew because their cheeks aren't folded in behind their incisors any longer so only the cheek teeth are making contact with your lush foliage and other garden offerings. Has something to do with their jaws. Needless to say, if their teeth overgrow, the animal could end up dead.

Shall we pass around some Nutria recipes for our southern sufferers?