Who ate all the Suet Block

[Sahbster]

Can anyone shed any light on this puzzle.

I have a suet block feeding cage, secured with wire to stop it flapping open.

I have used 2 suet blocks in it since I first put it out in January. The first block lasted approximately 2 months, the second one had only been nibbled around the edges. Then overnight the second one has been entirely consumed.

I have only ever seen one starling at a time pecking at it. It has been studiously ignored by the squirrels, various finches, robins, collared doves, magpies, wood pigeons and sparrows. Any ideas who ate it ?

:confused:

Do mice climb trees ?

[fruitgums]

Mice do indeed climb trees and I took a photo of one climbing my pear tree :)

[Sahbster]

Thanks for that, must've been a (mouse)house party for them to have finished 9/10ths of it off in one night though.

Cheers

[brigitte]

The woodmice climb the trees in our garden to get at the feeders attached to them - so yes, mice may well indeed be the culprits!

I would suggest foxes, as ours have helped themselves to another neighbour's suet blocks, but they weren't in cages, would imagine yours would be opened or chewed if foxes had tried to get into them. The regular dog fox here regularly helps himself to things around the bird tables, and he clambers about in the surrounding bushes to reach what he wants. Watched him do it!! We are rather bemused at that one, as he gets any amount of food put out for him, but he still sees the need to eat the suet blocks and bird seed..:rolleyes:

Surprised the squirrels have ignored yours - they demolish the ones here pretty quick - 9 out of 10 times you look out the window, there is a squirrel on one of the cages.

[Sahbster]

Brigitte,

The suprising thing is the suet block was in a cage attached to the side of a 'defender' feeding cage on a branch of the apple tree approx 7ft from the floor. The cage was still wired up shut. I can understand that mice had eaten it, but it all disappeared overnight, quite a few mice methinks. Safe to rule out foxes though. I have only ever seen one starling at a time nibbling the suet and this is only the second one put out since January.

The squirrels have never shown any interest in it whatsoever !!

:confused:

[brigitte]

Not sure what a 'defender' feeding cage is - I have mental images of one of those Nuttery feeders which is a cage within a cage!! Agreed that it would have been a heck of a lot of mice. As it was overnight, probably not squirrels or birds, got to be something that is nocturnal.

If it had been one of mine, I would have blamed it solely on the squirrels, as they do make quick work of suet blocks, cage or not. I know that I have put out certain brands of suet blocks/fatballs and nothing touches it, but some brands do pretty well. The ones that tend to be ignored are those which come in red net bags. Nothing seems to like them. Bill Oddie's own brand and a couple of others in plastic trays seem to be enjoyed though!!

Very intrigueing nevertheless!! I'm thinking of bats possibly, maybe even things like pinemartens/stoats/weasels they can stretch down to reach the feeders from a branch, similar to squirrels.

[Sahbster]

BATS !!! :eek:

An excellent idea, will get another one and see what happens.

Thanks for that, we do have bats in our area !!

[brigitte]

Nice to be of help:)

I tried googling bats and feeders after I put that post, as it was a wild guess. Be great to see if it is.... They'd go through it pretty quick if it was a few of them!!

Here's hoping!!:)

[Sahbster]

Got the following from a 'bat site'

Food: A wide variety of small, flying insects.

Guess that puts paid to the idea that it was bats :(

[brigitte]

What a shame... Wouldn't totally rule it out though - it still may be a possibility, although a very slight one. They like seeds though, and suet blocks contain a fair bit, plus there maybe insects on the suet block, or buzzing around it, which may attract the bats.

Pity - as it seemed a liklihood.

[starlily]

a while ago i found a rat was climbing up the feeding pole to get at both the seeds and the suet block

[Sahbster]

Could be. I've not seen any rats but there is a river about 50metres away at the bottom of the garden.:eek:

The suet cage was wired to the side of a caged feeder, so it would have been accessible to them. Up the apple tree though, but I supposed if mice have been spotted climbing trees rats will do it too for food.

I have a 'lantern' type feeder but the pole it is on has been 'vaselined' to keep the squirrels at bay.

[brigitte]

I know it sounds a bit sadistic, but I would just find squirrels trying to get up a greasy pole just so funny to watch. They get so narky when they can't reach what they want. One of ours was chattering and stamping it's feet on the tree branch because it was having difficulty getting into something. Just so funny to watch.

[Sahbster]

Brigitte,

It was v.funny to watch, but they don't even bother to try now, so I haven't had to apply any vaseline to the pole for a good few months. There is still quite a bit visible on the pole and this seems to have done the trick.

An even funnier event happened yesterday.

I was bought a bird table earlier this year and had to get a standard round squirrel baffle to keep the b*gg**s off. Yesterday I spotted a squirrel with his back legs on the pole and his front paws hanging onto the baffle, he was in a horizontal position. Three times he tried pushing off with his back legs and scrambling up the baffle and three times fell off. How happy was I to see him looking so foolish. The 4th attempt he was just stretched there for a good few minutes, I got the binoculars out to get a closer look and there he was munching away at the baffle, spitting the pieces of green plastic to the floor. He had made inroads of about half and inch square into the baffle. This enabled him to get a better purchase, from where he launched himself up the baffle and onto the table.

I was soon out of the back door scaring him off and haven't spotted him on there since but am wondering how soon it'll take him to reappear. Meanwhile I now have a squirrel baffle with a small chunk bitten out of it. Little bleeders :(

[70007]

The rats in my garden climb the trees and hang on the peanut feeders, in broad daylight. They were so enjoying their feast that they failed to notice me creeping up behind them with a big stick.

Only when I raised the stick into striking position did they become aware of the movement, but I thwacked in their general direction anyway and have never seen so much rodent panic in my life. I have not seen them on the peanuts since.