What Animals Eat Tomatoes?
What Animals Eat Tomatoes? Obviously, the type of animals that eat tomato plants depends on where the tomato plants are in terms of geography. The sort of tomato plant ‘predators’ you find in Texas may be a little different than ‘predators’ of tomato plants in North Dakota.
Anyway, all sorts of animals really do enjoy a tasty, ripe, garden-grown tomato – arguably as much as we humans do. But the animals that eat tomatoes – the standout tomato ‘predators’ include squirrels, groundhogs, chipmunks, birds, deer, and raccoons.
If your tomato plants are staked (which they most likely will be – either that or caged) and you notice the damage occurring at the top-most side of the fruit, it’s likely going to be a climbing rodent predator – chipmunk or squirrel.
There again, could be birds. But birds typically peck at fruit so it tends to be quite easy to figure out if it’s birds that are causing the damage.
If you have fencing surrounding your tomato plants and the fencing is impenetrable, again, chances are decent that either squirrels or chipmunks are the hungry culprits.
Animals That Eat Tomatoes
Groundhogs?
If you have fencing in place, fencing is a very good deterrent against groundhogs.
Further, groundhogs will go for the easy fruit – the low-hanging tomatoes.
Another point to note is that groundhogs will chew the fruit from the base upwards.
Deer could be the culprit. You’ll know if there are deer in your vicinity.
If it’s deer, you’ll need to cage in your tomato plants so it’s impossible to get at the entire plant.
If it is damage caused by squirrels or chipmunks, there’s perhaps only one available option:
Set out a cage trap beside your tomato plant crop and bait it with peanut butter. Peanut butter tends to be a favorite for many rodents, not least squirrels and chipmunks. So they’ll likely go for the peanut butter before being tempted by the tomatoes.
You can get eco-friendly traps for squirrels and chipmunks – a two-in-one solution if you will – over on Amazon.
