What is Eating My Succulents at Night – Troubleshooting Guide
Many common garden pests, big and small, love to feed on succulents for nutritional and hydration purposes. Learn which one is eating your succulents & how to stop them.
TL;DR
- learn how to identify the animal or insects eating your succulent leaves
- narrow down the suspects by looking at the evidence
- implement preventative measures to prevent further damage
The garden pests that eat your succulents are generally animals or insects looking to satiate their thirst from the fleshy leaves. These include cats, rats, squirrels, birds, and smaller creatures like aphids and caterpillars.
We’ll investigate the common succulent pests and teach you how to identify them through the evidence they leave behind.
More importantly, we’ll show you how to deter or prevent them from striking again.
What is Eating My Succulent Plants?
Okay, it’s time to grab your magnifying glass and channel your inner Sherlock Holmes because we have a case to solve!
Do Rats Eat Succulents?
Yes – rats will most definitely eat your succulents, leaves, stems, and all.
We had the unfortunate experience of battling a family of rats feasting on our Crassula Ovata (Jade) plants. You can see the evidence and the remains of our Jade in this article about propagating jade leaves (SPOILER: it turns out there were some silver linings to rats eating your succulents).
In our case, it was tricky working out that rats were the culprits for our half-eaten succulents. We suspected it was either rats or possums. They attacked at night, under cover of darkness. And to catch them in the act, we had to set up a surveillance system using our home security cameras.
They gnawed down leaves, often knocking them to the ground, and broke off stems as they clambered over our succulents. Suffice it to say; they were not neat