Dogs eating my palms

[5150cycad]

For some reason one of my dogs has taken interest in eating all of my new palms and agaves. I recently moved and have never had this problem at my other house so I am confused on why it is happening now. I haven’t caught them in the act but i am pretty sure one or both of them are to blame. Does anyone else have this problem? Could it be something other than my dogs? Pics of the palms and suspects. 

[Palm Tree Jim]

Damn Bryan.......

 

[GottmitAlex]

Well, you're lucky. My last dog used to dig up my young cocos from the garden sliver. Three years ago.  Don't know about you but it's all cement/pavement here. The only patch of of "land" is where the palms are planted. I honestly thought they were gonners upon arriving home each evening: the leaf and husk were sideways with exposed roots.

It is my humble opinion medium/large dogs and cement don't mix. They need dirt to play in. 

Anyway, for me it was a decision: coconut palms or a dog.

 

(Fyi: We gave the dog up for adoption)

 

 

 

 

Edited January 13, 2020 by GottmitAlex

[Jeff985]

I’d try an invisible fence. 

[Darold Petty]

I have had Howea forsteriana fronds chewed off in two incidents, years apart. The The fronds were chewed off just at the top of the petiole, causing the entire frond to fall.

  The culprit was Rattus rattus, the 'roof rat'.  These events would gone on for several days, losing precious foliage each night.  Our urban rats are very cautious and it is difficult to control them with old school spring traps.   Finally, in the most recent attack I killed the rat with a high tech trap from New Zealand, the A24.

  I would bet the culprit is a rat, rather than your dogs.  The good news is that in my case it seemed to be just one rat with this behavior, as the chewing ceased after my initial kill.

  Good luck, and set out some traps ! 

PS  Rats are very alert to human scent.  Use disposable nitrile gloves while handling the traps to avoid human scent on the trap.

[Tracy]

  On 1/13/2020 at 12:11 AM, 5150cycad said:

For some reason one of my dogs has taken interest in eating all of my new palms and agaves. I recently moved and have never had this problem at my other house so I am confused on why it is happening now. I haven’t caught them in the act but i am pretty sure one or both of them are to blame. Does anyone else have this problem? Could it be something other than my dogs? Pics of the palms and suspects. 

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Hopefully you aren't seeing them nibble on any of your cycads if you moved them.  As you well know they are very poisonous to dogs.  Looking at what you have shown, I would suspect rats over your dogs especially if you haven't seen the remains mixed in with your dogs deification when you are on pick up duty.  If it is the dogs, it is likely lack of stimulation.  Consider bikejoring with them to wear them out! 

[Silas_Sancona]

  On 1/13/2020 at 3:28 AM, Tracy said:

Hopefully you aren't seeing them nibble on any of your cycads if you moved them.  As you well know they are very poisonous to dogs.  Looking at what you have shown, I would suspect rats over your dogs especially if you haven't seen the remains mixed in with your dogs deification when you are on pick up duty.  If it is the dogs, it is likely lack of stimulation.  Consider bikejoring with them to wear them out! 

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Agree w/ both @Tracy and @Darold Petty  If it is one ( or both ) of the dogs, they might still be going through a post- move adjustment phase and just need a trip or two to the park, or where ever to ..as Tracy said, wear 'em out.. You can also follow them around the yard with a squirt bottle.. worked well while training my Basenji when he was a pup.. or when he doesn't want to come inside ( they're extremely independent-minded at times ) If it comes down to it, you can also apply a product called Bitter Apple to something chewy near the plants.. the offending pup will quickly learn to leave that alone.. usually..

If Rats.. Darold has the right idea.. Get them before they damage anything else..

[TomJ]

That looks exactly like what rabbits do here to me.

If dogs are eating palms you will know when you pick up their poop.

Are there rabbits around?

[Steve Mac]

After looking at the picture, those babies look way too innocent to be naughty.  

[Trava]

I've heard of a case like this before. Dogs are kind of them, they're just jealous of everything else that catches your attention except them .

[Jeff985]

If it’s rats or rabbits, the invisible fence is going to be a little trickier. It’s hard to get them to hold still while you put the collars on them and even then they don’t fit right. You might have to do some modifications. 

[SWFLchris]

  On 1/13/2020 at 12:32 AM, GottmitAlex said:

Well, you're lucky. My last dog used to dig up my young cocos from the garden sliver. Three years ago.  Don't know about you but it's all cement/pavement here. The only patch of of "land" is where the palms are planted. I honestly thought they were gonners upon arriving home each evening: the leaf and husk were sideways with exposed roots.

It is my humble opinion medium/large dogs and cement don't mix. They need dirt to play in. 

Anyway, for me it was a decision: coconut palms or a dog.

 

(Fyi: We gave the dog up for adoption)

 

 

 

 

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You gave the dog up for adoption because it would dig up a coconut? Thats terrible man.

[JLM]

I have a puppy that was chewing on my queen palm, btw this queen is a baby.

[oasis371]

I have had dogs mess with palms in the past..., totally eating one years ago. And I have seen my cat munching on parlor palms.

Both cases are curious, as outdoors, the deer and other animals totally avoid PALMS.  Even herbivores seem to avoid palms.

[GottmitAlex]

  On 1/13/2020 at 9:48 PM, SWFLchris said:

You gave the dog up for adoption because it would dig up a coconut? Thats terrible man.

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That, along with many other things. Imagine a large golden retriever cooped up in a small paved driveway/carport.

We weren't doing it any favors. You can imagine the trash bins,  any plastic receptacle, bag, fertilizer, he would just chew and play with. 

In any case, it is with a family that cares for it and has land. (Dirt to play on).

 

[5150cycad]

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone. I did my routine cleanup and didn’t see any signs of plant material, just a ton of chewed up pieces of Kong toys. In a way I hope it’s one of the dogs because I can train the dogs. I like the idea of the bitter apple spray and will have to give it a try. I might want to invest in a cheap camera to see if it might be something else. If a rabbit or rats I think the invisible fence or cage would be a great idea so the palms could have time to get established first. 

[Jubaea_James760]

I have 3 dogs & had the same issue. 1 in particular. Although mine was a pup when she ripped out my sabal blackburniana & chewed on many palm fronds. Shes a little over a year now & still very mischievous. I put wire cages over my palms back in summer & seems to have detoured her. Besides a little bitten fronds on my sabal minors. It's not the prettiest site but am hoping she'll out grow this stage & like you said, have the palms get established a bit. 

In my front yard I have no palms or cycads covered. The front yard is off limits to them except when I'm out there with them, occasionally being left alone when I go inside briefly. While their in the front I keep a close eye on them. The pup mostly & tell her NO! Or GET AWAY! if she hangs around the plants for to long. 

The pic, the main perpetrator. Caught her sleeping next to one of my sabal minors I planted out last summer.

[Jubaea_James760]

Pic just taken

 

[Jubaea_James760]

[Big Eye]

I had the same issue as well! For some weird reason, they always seem to go after your rarest plants too! I was lucky, once the plants would reach a height of about 1.5 to 2 feet or so, they wouldn't bother. Getting them to that height was the hardest part! Good luck!

[Chester B]

One of my dogs liked to destroy everything.  Plants, Christmas lights, decking, railing, waterproof membrane on the house - you name it.

Good news is that he has grown out of it.  Having plenty of fun toys around helped out a ton - They're a lot better than plants.  I had to train him not to destroy the toys in under 5 minutes, and that coupled with a little maturity has stopped him from being destructive.

[Dimovi]

Make some solution with cayenne peppers and black pepper. Maybe put some eucalyptus or citrus oil. Spray all over the palm. Soon the dog should learn palms are irritating and should be avoided. I've heard people dusting powder too. 

[Chester B]

  On 1/14/2020 at 7:41 PM, Dimovi said:

Make some solution with cayenne peppers and black pepper. Maybe put some eucalyptus or citrus oil. Spray all over the palm. Soon the dog should learn palms are irritating and should be avoided. I've heard people dusting powder too. 

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I used a store bought product called "Critter Ridder", it has the hot peppers and such in it.  Totally useless on both the dog and rabbits.