Who has been eating fruit from my garden?

[Jazz12]

Our garden is fully fenced. I left a small piece of apple in a little bowl the other day (leftovers from a baby niece) for the birds. No birds touched it all day. Next morning it was all gone! I put some fruit out last night, it’s again gone by morning! I haven’t seen any hedgehogs in my garden ever, only little mice that too in summer. Didn’t see the mice for months now. What/who is eating the fruit? I’d love to continue feeding if they won’t cause nuisance to my neighbours.

Fruit bat?

Rats probably.

Or do owls eat fruit???

Fox?

Magpies hoover up anything and everything.

No way! It’s a fully fenced garden

At night!??

At night?

Yeah a fence doesn’t stop a fox, just like it doesn’t stop cats etc.

Foxes can easily jump fences.

Is the food on the ground or in a feeder or what?

I'd say fox or rats/mice at night. Foxes can get in the most unexpected of places.

How high is your fence and are you rural? My parents had deer eating the fruit from their fruit trees.

We have a fully fenced garden too but the badgers and foxes still climb over it. It's 4 foot high, agile little buggers.

Foxes have very light bones and can easily clear very high fences…
Could be a hedgehog but no idea if they eat fruit!

It's probably mice if you've seen them before, but could also be a rat or a fox. Hedgehogs would be hibernating this time of year and wouldn't usually eat fruit anyway.

If you're leaving food on the ground for birds it's a good idea to take it up at night as sooner or later rodents will find it and you'll end up with an infestation.

Foxes can easily jump over a 6ft fence, I bet it's that!

Owls love fruit, so do rats or it could be a stoat/polecat type animal, you'll be surprised how much some animals can squash themselves through tiny holes and gaps.

I live in a different region so different animals.

my fully fenced garden regularly receives coyotes, foxes, bobcats, and raccoons. Also various birds of prey, rabbits, squirrels, and lizards, but those are less surprising. We have cameras so capture everything. Fences are only effective at keeping out deer.

My garden is fully fenced too, 6ft with a trellis on top. It's no barrier to foxes they jump over it whilst clawing a bit like a cat.

Foxes can jump, high.

Rats.

Our garden has a six foot fence all around it and we have a visiting fox. They can climb!

I'd guess rats too. They're everywhere and eat everything

I saw a fox scale our 6 foot fence just the other day when I accidentally disturbed it. They’re agile, more like cats than a dog. I bet it’s that.

Squirrels or rats

Very likely a fox or even a cat, my cat has a weird obsession with apples, I have to hide mine in the fridge.

I would look into having a small gap made in your fence for hedgehogs. They are declining and this a small thing people can do to help. We have hedgehogs hibernating in the garden at the moment ☺️

hamworthyhedgehogrescue.org.uk/hedgehog-highways/

Our fences are around 5ft high and we are not rural. It’s a busy town.

I also vote fox. They are enthusiastic fruit eaters.