ght it was migrating birds that were pecking the oranges open and eating the fruit. I finally put the puzzle together. The cat that was living here (the one that bit and scratched me) brought a couple of dead rats, over the space of a few days, to the door and left them for us. I went online and found that the rats are roof rats. They do live in trees and shrubs, plus attics and crawl spaces under houses, and will eat oranges. I also read where people asked if they could feed oranges to their pet rats. The answer for them was that if male rats eat oranges, the d-limonene builds up in their kidneys and causes cancer. Too bad it doesn't work that way on the female rats. I have never seen any rats running in our yard or trees as they are nocturnal, but I suppose that's what I have. The house on the other side of the fence that's next to the orange tree has been empty for the last couple of years and maybe that's where they came from.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
What's Been Eating My Oranges?
For the last three years I have had something eating a few of my Valencia oranges. I find little bits of peel on the ground and a few days later an orange that looks like the one in the picture falls. I always thou
ght it was migrating birds that were pecking the oranges open and eating the fruit. I finally put the puzzle together. The cat that was living here (the one that bit and scratched me) brought a couple of dead rats, over the space of a few days, to the door and left them for us. I went online and found that the rats are roof rats. They do live in trees and shrubs, plus attics and crawl spaces under houses, and will eat oranges. I also read where people asked if they could feed oranges to their pet rats. The answer for them was that if male rats eat oranges, the d-limonene builds up in their kidneys and causes cancer. Too bad it doesn't work that way on the female rats. I have never seen any rats running in our yard or trees as they are nocturnal, but I suppose that's what I have. The house on the other side of the fence that's next to the orange tree has been empty for the last couple of years and maybe that's where they came from.
ght it was migrating birds that were pecking the oranges open and eating the fruit. I finally put the puzzle together. The cat that was living here (the one that bit and scratched me) brought a couple of dead rats, over the space of a few days, to the door and left them for us. I went online and found that the rats are roof rats. They do live in trees and shrubs, plus attics and crawl spaces under houses, and will eat oranges. I also read where people asked if they could feed oranges to their pet rats. The answer for them was that if male rats eat oranges, the d-limonene builds up in their kidneys and causes cancer. Too bad it doesn't work that way on the female rats. I have never seen any rats running in our yard or trees as they are nocturnal, but I suppose that's what I have. The house on the other side of the fence that's next to the orange tree has been empty for the last couple of years and maybe that's where they came from.
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I know that its been a while since your post, but how did you remedy this problem? I could really use some advice since we just recently acquired this same situation with our orange tree. I have trimmed the tree dramatically already but the rats persist and return. Which is totally creeping out myself and our kids. Thanks for your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI have posted an answer to your question---May 26. Thanks for your question!--Gard'n Judy
ReplyDeleteI am having the same problem, we have been in our house for more than 21 years and have not had this problem, at least not to where i am noticing. this is the first year i am seeing this problem. I have to admit i have a brown thumb.this tree which i don't know what kind of orange it is, it looks like a navel orange and is extremely juicy and sweet, we also have a tangerine tree sweet as well. we do nothing to them, not even feed them. it just produces the most amazing fruit. however we do have tree rats the whole neighborhood has fruit trees so it's hard to get rid of them, but still have not had this issue with the fruit being eaten. I would like to know what to do. I would appreciate any advice you could give. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry that it has taken me so long to answer your question--and I really don't have an answer; we still have the tree rats. They nested in our attic last year, where we tried to poison them, but that didn't work. If your fruit is not being eaten, you really don't have a problem! You could call an exterminator, but the whole neighborhood would need to be exterminated.
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