Unknown Pest, Suspect Rats? outdoor guerilla grow south coast UK

1st Thanks in advance for the help we have allready had in reading previous posts if anyone has an answer to this we will be impressed!

Myself and my friend planted 18 Feminized "SHAMAN" seeds the 1st week in April we planted them straight into the ground covering over with 'half' bottles for protection we have since cut the tops off and let them grow through, we had a slug problem and have since sorted that out (blue pellets around base's) we have 12 plants in one "plot" 4 in another and two seperate '1's' all surrounded with chicken wire which we have duginto the ground and has not been breached but is large (pictured 2"(5cm) holes) this was done to guard against rabbits which are EVERYWHERE where we live, pictures show our largest plant the tape messure at base of plant is set to 6"(15cm) to give scale

Onto the problem! the two seperate "1's" have been destroyed and are stumps one of the plants in the "4" has been decimated (in picture) and has only a nawed stem and scraggly branchs with no leafs left. ALL the other plants have had there branches at or below 11" (28cm) nawed chewed and generally eaten away we have seen lots of mice (field mice i belive) and have set traps and caught 9 or 10 although we doubt they are the culprits.

We have been back down today and painstakingly secured fine mesh to the outside of the chicken wire around the biggest plot of 12 plants and 'built up' around the bottom ,.. oddly 2 mins after we finished a mouse came along and spent 10 minutes travelling round trying to get in ,.. which it failed to do we are thinking if it is a rat that is doing the damage we will at least be able to see an 'entry point' if it does gain entry now.

Whatever it is stood on its legs it must be no taller than 11"(28cm) as this is the height that the branches have been eaten up to, and that the "pest" must be getting through the gap in the chicken wire hence why we think maybe rats... i know they will eat just about anything... but will they eat young MJ plants?

I hope that is enough and not to much detail,.. there is also a piccy showing a curled 'burnt' leaf we think this was over nuet. we have flushed an stepped nuets down until they grow more and think the problem now under control (well Can't see any new burns) The plants being eaten is very worrying though.

bear with me if there is delay with photos im a newb sometimes

I'm just gonna throw my 2 cents in cause i'm at work and bored! haha... Man i feel your pain, in my yard (non MJ plants, and veggies) i've been battling Armadillos and squirrels! it sounds like the mice may be eating your MJ, most animals love the plant because it smells wonderful and is nutritional to most animals. i dont know how the chicken wire is, but is there any way it could be a deer? may be way off on this one, but i know deer LOVE mj crops. but from the sounds of it you're right on with the mouse, goodluck with your problem and hope you fix it!

Thanks, but they are fenced off all round and a grazing animal would damage it getting to them,. and surely eat higher than only below 11" off ground
area we use is surrounded by trees, brambles and a river is near by no domestic animals would ever venture there i doubt

We have meshed off the 4 today no further damage was apparent, still scared we will go down one day and find them all chewed to bits,. any ideas on what else we can/should be guarding against?

Piccy of smaller mesh we have applied

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v328/tarls/?action=view&current=picture9.jpg][/URL]

I wonder if you ever figured out what was chewing on your plants? I am having a similar problem and I think it is voles. Mice. They seem to like to nibble off a fan leaf stem and then move on to another. They took off the tops of two plants!

im having same problem. im thinking mice or rats or some small animal. they are only chewing on the stalks and then leaving the plants lying on the ground. im gonna try spraying them down with a tabasco sauce spray mixture.