First Time my fruit has ever been eaten by something out there

[natsgarden123]

Very neat eater....  this has never happened before...

[HMHausman]

I've never seen that level of thoroughness in a pineapple eating.  Racoons will clean a mango completely.  Birds will peck their way into a fruit and take it right down to the seed.  But this fruit looks like it has more thorough, behind the core removal of the sweet flesh.  I suspect there are some insects involved in this theft.  Maybe not initially.  But once the fruit was torn open by birds or racoons, I think that some insects finished the job.  Am I seeing this corredctly? Is the flesh completely gone behind the core?

Harry

[Patrick]

Holy cow! Thats a sweet treat.  Looks like racoon damage..

[Jackfruitwhisperer69]

Hi Natsgarden,

Yikes These critters went through the works to savour ever last bit of your pineapple  I hope this doesn't happen to the others...6 month wait...for an eaten pinapple !

[natsgarden123]

No insects involved for sure. This was a beautiful intact fruit which was going to be picked today. I've been checking it every day and it was perfect. This happened last night. Doubt bugs unless they are incredibly fast...

[fruitlovers]

Mice and rat's damage to pineapples here is very common. They are small enough to crawl into the fruit and chew it behind the core like that.

[Bonakyon]

Looks like the work of rodents... But could be fruit bats as well. Keep an eye on other ripening fruit. Fruit bats love papayas and fruit that are higher up. Rodents will consume low lying or mostly ground level stuff... I'm leaning toward rodents on this one but if there aren't any other fruit ripening at the moment in the yard I wouldn't discard fruit bats.

[fruitlovers]

Looks like the work of rodents... But could be fruit bats as well. Keep an eye on other ripening fruit. Fruit bats love papayas and fruit that are higher up. Rodents will consume low lying or mostly ground level stuff... I'm leaning toward rodents on this one but if there aren't any other fruit ripening at the moment in the yard I wouldn't discard fruit bats.

Fruit bats in Florida??

[Bonakyon]

There are a lot of invasive reptile species in florida. Bats are the favorite food of some snakes. If the snakes were brought in... Could not the fruit bats have been introduced as well..?

[cbss_daviefl]

Sorry to see that.  I have been leaving my pineapples out until they hit the peak, very fragrant for a few days, without issue.  I guess the rodents haven't figured it out yet.

[Jack, Nipomo]

Fruit has characteristic damage due to tree rats (roof rats, rattus rattus).  Sweet fruits they will eat the inside leaving the peel, as in oranges.  In a lemon they eat the peel, leaving the fruit hanging without the peel.  Husks of oranges or other sweet citrus fruits are a telltale for this rat.  It is nocturnal, arboreal, and rarely seen.  In my macadamias the nuts are eaten by chewing a hole in the shell.  Look carefully at the fruit to see if you can see the parallel lines of the rodent's teeth.  This rat is not the Norway rat, but an import nevertheless.  If traps are used for arboreal rats, designs must be implemented to protect birds. Poisons cause secondary poisoning.  Last year I trapped 50, this year I am up to 32.  Quite familiar with the little beasts. Sorry about your pineapple.

[natsgarden123]

I have been growing pineapple for 10 years and this is the first time I have ever seen anything like this...

Doubt its a bat since  I have never seen a bat here....I haven't seen any rats ever in our neighborhood ever, although they could be lurking.

We do have a very large population of squirrels, raccoons and possums. 

We put bricks on the garbage cans so the raccoons can't get in; maybe this is their revenge...   Would a net help?

[natsgarden123]

Just picked 2 of my babies a few days early.... to save them from a similar fate! The one on the left could have used a week ( Ill let it sit out )-the one on the right is ripe.


 

[Carbo]

....I haven't seen any rats ever in our neighborhood ever, although they could be lurking.

  Now that surprises me to no end.  South FL, like most warm, wet regions, are crawling with rats.  I'm in Broward and just yesterday my cat brought me one in the garage and I had another go for a trap in the attic baited with good ol' Slim Jim.  You may not see 'em, but I guarantee they are well populated in your area.

[natsgarden123]

....I haven't seen any rats ever in our neighborhood ever, although they could be lurking.

  Now that surprises me to no end.  South FL, like most warm, wet regions, are crawling with rats.  I'm in Broward and just yesterday my cat brought me one in the garage and I had another go for a trap in the attic baited with good ol' Slim Jim.  You may not see 'em, but I guarantee they are well populated in your area.

oh yuck.. rats.  I have honestly never seen one and Im happy about that.

[phantomcrab]

I've seen this many times before on citrus and pineapple and the culprit (or one of them) is tree rats (aka fruit rats). They are nocturnal and you don't see them often. Not much a problem for me since there is a nesting pair of sharp shinned hawks in a pine tree down the block, screech owls nest next door and some neighborhood cats roam at night. I find beheaded rats and rat parts on a weekly basis around my yard when the owls occasionally drop them. Solution: put up an owl nest box and cage your ripening pineapples.
There is also a nesting pair of bald eagles a few miles away that visit from time to time and decimate the squirrel population but that's another thread....
Bald Eagle with squirrel breakfast

[natsgarden123]

I've seen this many times before on citrus and pineapple and the culprit (or one of them) is tree rats (aka fruit rats). They are nocturnal and you don't see them often. Not much a problem for me since there is a nesting pair of sharp shinned hawks in a pine tree down the block, screech owls nest next door and some neighborhood cats roam at night. I find beheaded rats and rat parts on a weekly basis around my yard when the owls occasionally drop them. Solution: put up an owl nest box and cage your ripening pineapples.
There is also a nesting pair of bald eagles a few miles away that visit from time to time and decimate the squirrel population but that's another thread....
Bald Eagle with squirrel breakfast

Great photo!

[fruitlovers]

There are a lot of invasive reptile species in florida. Bats are the favorite food of some snakes. If the snakes were brought in... Could not the fruit bats have been introduced as well..?

Snakes and other reptiles mostly introduced by the pet trade, and when people get tired of them they let them loose. Not too many pet stores in USA selling fruit bats!

[Dangermouse01]

This was a beautiful intact fruit which was going to be picked today. I've been checking it every day and it was perfect.

That's the way it usually is with my pineapples. The day I go out to pick it, I find that something has got to it the night before. Usually chews the heck out of it, or drags it away closer to cover for the feast. At least about 95% of the time I can recover the top and at least get another plant.

DM

[zands]

This was a beautiful intact fruit which was going to be picked today. I've been checking it every day and it was perfect.

That's the way it usually is with my pineapples. The day I go out to pick it, I find that something has got to it the night before. Usually chews the heck out of it, or drags it away closer to cover for the feast. At least about 95% of the time I can recover the top and at least get another plant.

DM

So why not cage in hardware cloth AKA 1/4" steel mesh

[Bananimal]

Sorry for your fruit loss Nancy.   I recently saw a rat in the yard.  I think this could be the type of critter that got my Pickerings sitting close to the ground.  Have been experimenting with my Havahart one door trap by tossing in different fruits to the back of the cage just beyond the trip paddle.   First was a whole Tommy Atkins.  Each day found some of the fruit eaten but the door was not tripped shut.  When all the fruit was eaten I removed the pit and threw in an old apple.  Same thing --- took the critter 3 days to finish that one.   There is no way a big fat old racoon, or a rabbit, or possum could chew on the fruit and not step on the paddle.  So it  must be ratz.

A couple of years ago I tried setting a plastic rat trap on the paddle with peanut butter packed in the bait hole.  Caught everything in the book.  Rats, possums, birds, a squirrel and a rabbit.

Guess I'l try this setup again.  Hate to do it -- it can be messy.  If you try this setup I'll bet you'll find you got rats.

Keep bringing in the fruit a little early.   Dan

[Jack, Nipomo]

Tree rats (fruit rats, black rats, palm rats, attic rats,  roof rats, etc) are rattus rattus, an arboreal rat, nocturnal in nature.  Few people know they have them until they experience some fruit damage. Many attribute the damage to other critters, but the damage is classic.  See http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw120.  In April we had over 100 people at our place for a CRFG tour.  I showed them a trap, rat damage, and how to control them.  Folks duplicated the trap arrangement, hung them in their trees, and caught many tree rats.  E-mails went around with photos, measurements, and rat competition.  These rats rarely go on the ground, living in trees.  The traps I use (20 of them) are normal rat traps screwed to an 8 ft 1X2.  Trigger baited with a macadamia nut (drilled for attachment) facing down.  A deck screw is attached to the opposite side of the trap at the top of the pole enabling it to be hooked up in a tree.  That's it.  But....birds will get killed too, so I encircle the trap with 1/2 in hardware cloth, open at both ends.  Rats get in, caught.  Birds stay out.  Sometimes predators will eat most of the rat-on-a-stick, but usually are simply dropped into a hole for future fertilizer. The link shows the considerable problems caused by these rats.  A neighbor has them in his attic and NO pest control operator has been able to get them.  He is afraid of poison resulting in the stench of death.  So he hears them running around every night.  They are there, even if you don't see them.  The reproductive rate is fast.  Good luck with this worthy adversary.

[Jack, Nipomo]

If the link doesn't work for you, Google "tree rats Florida"

[natsgarden123]

My husband swear its squirrels:  -we have huge families of them- they are ornery : they will run in the street and stop right in the middle- defiant and daring y one to run them over.

[Mr. Clean]

My husband swear its squirrels:  -we have huge families of them- they are ornery : they will run in the street and stop right in the middle- defiant and daring y one to run them over.

...some times you have to take the dare...

My sympathy on the loss of your pineapple.