whats eating my fence?

I've been reading about nocturnal omnivores that like bee larvae, such as black bears, skunks, raccoons, etc. Are you able to discern claw versus teeth marks (and size) in the surrounding wood? Any evidence of scat or paw prints on the ground? I can't tell from the pictures.

I didnt think to look for any excrement or paw prints...will look again.
something is really gnawing the boards down but I see no teeth/claw marks. Looks like the wood is scraped or just chewed away.

the vermin picked out the most difficult board to replace in this style of fence as the verticle 1x2's are glued to it!

I defer to the experts, but in my experience woodpeckers leave more uneven surfaces and scattered holes - like pecky cypress - not scraped like that.

I defer to the experts, but in my experience woodpeckers leave more uneven surfaces and scattered holes - like pecky cypress - not scraped like that.

yeah...that's what I am thinking...I mean I am home 24/7 and its mostly quiet in my house/studio and surely I would hear a wood pecker. and I would think 4 dogs would notice something chewing on their fence so it must be happening in the evening...which means what...Raccoon?
Bear? (yikes) what else would climb the fence and chew the crap out of a board for a little morsel of larvae? Squirrels are not nocturnal...are they?

yeah...that's what I am thinking...I mean I am home 24/7 and its mostly quiet in my house/studio and surely I would hear a wood pecker. and I would think 4 dogs would notice something chewing on their fence so it must be happening in the evening...which means what...Raccoon?
Bear? (yikes) what else would climb the fence and chew the crap out of a board for a little morsel of larvae? Squirrels are not nocturnal...are they?

Ninja squirrels can be:

Ninja squirrels can be:

I just showed the pics to Bdarg. His first comment was "squirrels"- apparently has had to repair damage that looked like this. When they decide to nest somewhere, nothing gets in their way.

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My bet is on squirrels also. We battle them here. They chew into the attic, try to girdle my Red Oak tree - constantly chewing on something.
Try slivers or cut up bars of soap in the holes (which they may have started for nests?).
We kept one from killing our tree by strategically placing motel soap bars around. They hate the smell of the soap!
Had to put metal in corners of roof sites where they were entering - that made them mad! :nono1:


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My bet is on squirrels also. We battle them here. They chew into the attic, try to girdle my Red Oak tree - constantly chewing on something.
Try slivers or cut up bars of soap in the holes (which they may have started for nests?).
We kept one from killing our tree by strategically placing motel soap bars around. They hate the smell of the soap!
Had to put metal in corners of roof sites where they were entering - that made them mad! :nono1:


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ah SOAP! great idea !! a little full strength Dr Bronner's should slow the little buggers down!
thanks!

I just showed the pics to Bdarg. His first comment was "squirrels"- apparently has had to repair damage that looked like this. When they decide to nest somewhere, nothing gets in their way.

thanks Jenny & Bdarg!

Ninja squirrels can be:

So it seems... I must have a whole community of them! tearing it up big time!

yeah...that's what I am thinking...I mean I am home 24/7 and its mostly quiet in my house/studio and surely I would hear a wood pecker. and I would think 4 dogs would notice something chewing on their fence so it must be happening in the evening...which means what...Raccoon?
Bear? (yikes) what else would climb the fence and chew the crap out of a board for a little morsel of larvae? Squirrels are not nocturnal...are they?

Well in this case, squirrels don't have to be nocturnal do they? You (and probably your devoted dogs who are focused on you during waking hours ) aren't going to notice a li'l squirrelly luncheon taking place on a fence yards away from house & studio, right?

Squirrels could be out there munchin' the munch out of your fence all the doo-dah-DAY! At my house, there are gazillions of squirrels and the only time we give those hoards a moments notice is when they intentionally scrabble loudly around on the screen enclosure taunting the gatos, just lookin' to drum up some squirrel-gang entertainment... as in:
"Ethel!! Ethel!! Baby watch me eff with these stupid cats!!! Ethel Baby, nobody can beat me in a cat fight!!!
Squirrel TAIL rules Cat Tail like rock beats scissors ...!!" :lol:

ah SOAP! great idea !! a little full strength Dr Bronner's should slow the little buggers down!
thanks!

Motel 6, that should drive away anything.

ah SOAP! great idea !! a little full strength Dr Bronner's should slow the little buggers down!
thanks!

I'm not familiar w/ Dr.Bronner's, but I've heard 1st hand that bars of Irish Spring (knotted into pantyhose) are a successful deer deterrent.

One of the blog commenters had suggested a rubber owl. That reminded me of a trick my mom used to deter pigeons from nesting in their haylofts:
she hung rubber snakes in the barn windows and from the rafters. She swears she hasn't had to deal w/ pigeon poop on the hay for decades!

One thing is certain, those creepy rubber snakes hanging all over the place have freaked out 4 generations of little kids in our family! :lol:

If you use fake animals, you need to move them around frequently or the animals you are trying to deter get wise and ignore them.