Q. Will the Western fence lizards
that took up residence in our yard 2 or 3 years ago and ate our tomatoes. Or has
it been something else? They really keep
ants down. Thoughts?
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| Western fence lizard and meal. From https://www.ocregister.com/2010/06/19/lizards-in-your-yard-are-a-good-thing/ |
A. My understanding is that the
Western fence lizard is mostly a meat eater (ants, roaches, spiders) and not a
vegetarian (your tomatoes), but I could be wrong. I thought it would be damage
easy to recognize such as rats or rabbits (omnivorous and gnawing damage, my
first thought) or birds like the boat-tailed grackle (vegetarian and pecking
damage).
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| Gnawing on tomato not from the Western fence lizard. |
Sometimes
fruit like tomatoes will ripen ahead of time if they are damaged first. I would
rely on the fact tomatoes are climacteric fruit (they will ripen off of the
vine and kept at room temperature for a few days) and avoid the problem and
harvest them while they are still green but starting to ripen. The fruit turns
from a darker green to a lighter green as part of the ripening process. If this
is an “animal” problem, they are sensing ripening fruit and either
smell this or see it.
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| Bird damage on grapes |
This
may not be an “animal” problem at all. It might be best to stay ahead
of the problem instead of trying to figure it out.