Animal chewing on my kids playset...any idea what?

[jpierce]

I bought a nice playset from Costco (cedar) and put it up. Taking my 2 and 4 year old to play yesterday and something is eating/chewing the top of the post inside the top landing of the playset??

Is it is about 8 foot off the ground?? I will try to get some pictures up tomorrow...

About six inches of a 4x4 is taking away (one of the main posts)

Woodpecker??

Opposum??

 

[YanmarFever]

Its a bird
its a plane
its a wood pecker !

 

[jpierce]

Anyway to deter the creature if a woodpecker??

 

[hayden]

Is it treated wood? Porcupines love the salt in the glue that's used to laminate plywood, and they will eat right thru it. That might be what you have.

 

[YanmarFever]

I would put a plastic cap over it
or you could use a mouse trap to scare it away a few times
I have had to do that before.

 

[GaryM]

You could buy or borrow one of the game cameras that has a flash and infrared sensor. Set it up trained on the area and see what you capture.

Also check the damage in the moring and dusk. If you can tell that the damage is done at night, it's probably not a woodpecker.

 

[Cliff_Johns]

Here's what you do. You take a plaster impression of the tooth prints and send it to the FBI crime lab . . . Well, maybe not.

OK, I got it. Smear something that tastes terrible on the post (Turkey Spam comes to mind) then listen for the loud "YUCK," then run out with a burlap sack and capture the varmint. Take the said varmint to the yard of someone you don't like and release it.

Or better yet, put a plastic beaver on the post. This way the actual varmint will be easy to catch while it's waiting in line for it's turn.

Another technique is to put something also wooden but more expensive in the yard.

But actually, nailing a metal cap on the post is probably the most effective. If you look at your lumber place, they will have caps for common timber sizes.

Cliff

 

[YanmarFever]

C'mon Cliff
Just tell him to blast the darn thing with a 12 GA.
and be over with it ! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[tawilson]

Porcupine. Small caliber rifle with a scope works good at night. Get the wife to hold the spotlight.

 

[stevenf]

If its a porcupine watch your pets! Its taken my 5 hunters 6 months to slow them down on our ranch, I lost 2 dogs to them **** varmints in less then a year. It out and out killed a border collie from punctures and the most recent my wifes Rott had thousands of quills from her head to her tail including both eyes put out we had to put her down she was in such agony. I'm not normally a shootem and leave em kinda person ordinarily if you shoot on my ranch you best be planning on eatting it if you hold hopes of being invited back but I opened up a season just for these pest. Heck seems like every time our equine herd comes by the house at least one of them has a snoot full and we get to do the dance pulling them out besides losing the dogs I'd say they've earned the bounty at our place.
Steve