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OT: What animal would do this?

S

Stan in Oly, WA

Well-known Member
I was working in back of the house earlier today and noticed some wood debris on the concrete beneath the top of the stairs to the deck. The stairs are badly deteriorated and unsafe to use, so they're blocked off with a couple of 1X4 cross pieces. I intend to replace them next spring. When I looked up to see where the wood chips and sawdust had come from I saw that the base of one of the 2X2 uprights holding the railing looked like it had been about half chewed away. What animal would do that, and why? The upright was not blocking anything. The wild animals I have seen in our area are squirrels, rats, raccoons, opossums, and feral cats. Any of these could get to the stairs and get up them, but there's no reason to.

Stan
 
Porcupine would be a obvious possibility. Check for quills--they'll often lose some while feeding and moving around. They'll travel a mile or more a night to and from good feeding grounds and nesting/sleeping sites, and will often return until the food source is exhausted, so they're apt to be back.
 
Woodpecker? But they make a lot of noise, I would think you would of heard it. We have woodpeckers at our tree farm that will hammer on a tree until it falls over. some of the dead elm get some big worm/bugs in them that the birds must love. This tree was 12 inches in diameter!
cvphoto4667.jpg
 
Do you have any woodpeckers in the area. They will search areas such as that for insects as will other bird species. I have one that for some reason pecked two holes in my asphalt shingles at the bottom of a ridge.
 
Hey Russ, thank goodness the wood pecker that hit my roof wasn't as aggressive as the one(s) that got your tree. I scared him away twice. Did some research and they will peck holes in the shingles. Some say it could be them doing their "drumming", I don't know. As for the OP I suppose it could be as I suggested some other species. It was just a thought.
 
(quoted from post at 10:05:33 12/04/18) I've seen woodpeckers drum on metal roofs. Always wondered why.

Dean
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Ps ruin treated light ploes around here & surely there are not insects in those?
 
TimV; I've never seen a porcupine in this area. I've seen dead ones on or beside the highway in every other western state, but I don't remember seeing one in Washington west of the Cascades. I have seen every other animal mentioned here, even in this neighborhood. I'll keep an eye out, though. The last thing my poor old dogs need is to tangle with a porcupine.

Stan
 
Dean; It's my understanding that males do it to establish territory, or to attract females, or both. Some years a woodpecker will drum on the metal transformer case at the top of a utility pole in the neighborhood. That produces a good amount of noise. My wife said that every year at the college where she used to teach, a woodpecker would drum at a metal support of the covered walkway by her office. She liked it because it reminded her that there was a real world, too, not just academic craziness.

Stan
 
Stephen; there are plenty of grey squirrels around. That would still leave the question of why one would go after a cedar 2X2 and chew away more than half of it for five or six inches near the base. And it's the first time it's happened in twenty years we've been here.

Stan
 
dlbuck; there are no red squirrels in this part of the country, but maybe grey squirrels do the same. Those we've got.

Stan
 
2X4; I didn't see any droppings but I'll watch for some. Rats would be high on my list of possible candidates although the location and the amount of damage don't support that too well. I'm far from being an expert on animal behavior, though.

Stan
 
Benjiex; I would admire that amount of determination. It wouldn't have to be able to fly to get to my property, but almost.

Stan
 
Stan in Oly,

From your description, I'd wager on gray squirrel. I have damaged cedar trim about 5 inches from ground level. I saw the little tree rat using his front paws, digging away at the trim.

I put some small nails in the area of his interest, not al the way in to deter his activity until replcement.

D.
 
I do home repairs and I've seen damage all over the houses, not just trying to access an attic. Who knows what goes through the head of a squirrel. Maybe it's boredom to chew on something.
 
i get the dang woodpeckers couple times a year on my siding and porch, there's no second chances here.
 
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