porcupines, strange what they'll eat

[ArlyA]

This is looking up at the roof of a kiosk in the National Forest near us. The plywood has been 80% eaten out by porcupines and we found most of structures made with plywood here eaten by them. Whatever year these structures were installed, I'll guess the glue the plywood manufacturers used was appreciated by these rodents. Funny what they'll eat!

 

[oosik]

Hmmmm..... must have been very tasty glue. Around here it's just the normal stuff. The tops of smaller pine trees. Loooong ago - it was the wooden handles on my wheel barrow. Just enough so that I had to rough sand them to make them smooth again. Last encounter was fatal to my new dog. He was a great Chocolate Lab. Just didn't learn to avoid the porcupine. Thank goodness, my current dog - Brownie - stays very close when we are out on the property. Brownie is not bold, which serves him well around here.

 

[ArlyA]

Here is a different kiosk but its plywood shows the same porky consumption. If anyone has knowledge of this plywood tasty glue problem, please post.

 

[workinonit]

Horses love it too. She ate her stall down.

 

[5030]

They go after the salt in the wood.

 

[Cstock]

Did someone say “plywood”?

 

[coobie]

This is looking up at the roof of a kiosk in the National Forest near us. The plywood has been 80% eaten out by porcupines and we found most of structures made with plywood here eaten by them. Whatever year these structures were installed, I'll guess the glue the plywood manufacturers used was appreciated by these rodents. Funny what they'll eat!View attachment 696114

How do you know that porcupines did that damage?Do you have cameras set up?Just curious??

 

[ArlyA]

How do you know that porcupines did that damage?Do you have cameras set up?Just curious??

Ya, like seeing them up there and eating it!!

 

[coobie]

Ya, like seeing them up there and eating it!!

Darn varmints..

 

[Jstpssng]

I've seen it before. Years ago I went camping in a state park with the church youth group and the sides of the lean-to we stayed in was badly chewed for the bottom 2 feet or so; at the height where guys had been relieving themselves against the plywood for years.
The guys slept in the leanto, I think the girls had a camp to stay in. That night we were awoken to the sound of them chewing on the wall. When I awoke the next morning I found quills stuck in the shell of my sleeping bag, where a porky had walked between the sleepers in the night.

 

[Modeere318]

Ya, like seeing them up there and eating it!!

That means you were an eye witness.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Porcupines definitely look for salt. Including road salt covered auto parts, discarded antlers, etc. And if you're the sort who pees on his property to mark boundaries, well, that's no boundary to a porcupine, that's just salt

 

[MoKelly]

And if you're the sort who pees on his property to mark boundaries, well, that's no boundary to a porcupine, that's just salt

Is that really a thing?

MoKelly

 

[Industrial Toys]

I fed mine Munich style rye Bread. And apples.

They are SWEET, loving animals. Albeit a bit stinky.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

I fed mine Munich style rye Bread. And apples.

They are SWEET, loving animals. Albeit a bit stinky.

I have often thought they are actually very sweet animals too. They're murder on my fruit trees, I have to use electric fences to keep them off, but otherwise I don't mind having them around.

 

[the old grind]

IMO ferrets are the stinky ones and minks make better pets.

(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaE309xZTS4XdecZSoaYzFg)

btw, if Arly didn't see wood 'flakes' on the ground under kiosks they were eating the stuff. Beavers will dine on cellulose too. Horses and deer can be tough on trees as well, esp small ones. Even rabbits will nibble their bark when snow is too deep to get under for food.

 

[bunyip]

Never knew they could climb

 

[kf4uda]

I've seen it before. Years ago I went camping in a state park with the church youth group and the sides of the lean-to we stayed in was badly chewed for the bottom 2 feet or so; at the height where guys had been relieving themselves against the plywood for years.
The guys slept in the leanto, I think the girls had a camp to stay in. That night we were awoken to the sound of them chewing on the wall. When I awoke the next morning I found quills stuck in the shell of my sleeping bag, where a porky had walked between the sleepers in the night.

Wow, that would have put a new spin on "a rude awakening"

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Never knew they could climb

I don't know if they spend the night in trees, but I know porcupines like to nap in trees. I've even seen them 40 feet up in a pine tree during the day, apparently just snoozing. I've also had them nap in my fruit trees. They're slow and awkward climbers, but ... effective enough.

 

[civilian]

I don't know if they spend the night in trees, but I know porcupines like to nap in trees. I've even seen them 40 feet up in a pine tree during the day, apparently just snoozing. I've also had them nap in my fruit trees. They're slow and awkward climbers, but ... effective enough.

When running a feller/buncher (a tree cutter for a logging operation), I had to cut down a tree with a porky in the top of it. I gently laid the tree over, but didn't drop it like usual. I didn't want to bury the porky in the tree pile. I just shook the tree barely above the pile before he dropped off and ran away. Jon