What kind of rodent do we have?

Question

We have just built a log home in the mountains. This morning we discovered 3 tomatoes next to our fireplace. 2 were untouched, the 3rd was 1/2 eaten. The tomatoes were carried up from the basement by something. I also discovered an empty sugar bowl and a bag of buns and a loaf of bread missing off my counter tops. Assume we have field mice and/or packrat. Someone even suggested a Pine Martin. Possibly even squirrels. Anyone have any suggestions. Can't even find the plastic bread wrapper bags and yet we have all cracks and crevices sealed.

Answer 1

Sounds to me like you have a racoon. Stuff like you explained, being moved around, isn't normally done by a squirrel. Racoons can be very smart and physically adept at handling items with their small hands.
So, with the limited info you provided, I'd guess a racoon.

good luck

Answer 2

The easiest way to pinpoint the guilty party is:

1) Hide a vid-cam with motion detector or trip-wires as trigger (easy set up I've used quite a few times) to literally catch the guy in the act like a store surveillance camera.

2) The examination of any scat, feces [read Duhduhballs] left by your friendly sneak thief would help if you know your doodoo! Mice and voles leave copious amounts of tiny duhduh-balls. Rats' feces look the same just bigger. But you might have as invaders such things as Possums, Raccoons, Squirrels or God-knows what maybe Chupacabra, the Jersey Devil or Big Foot [But I doubt it! :) ] A field-mouse or Vole, ordinary house mouse would have a hard time carrying a Tomato up a flight of stairs suggesting that the guilty party is a larger sort of animal.

Short of accidentally catching the guilty party or parties in the act, the camera trick is the best way, and a very scientific way to catch the bad-guy.

However, it is a not very smart to leave food lying out when living in a cabin in the mountains anyway. Same as camping. The little woodland critters can't resist a free meal! But use it to your advantage and trap the little stinker in the act. You could also bait a suitable Cage-Type [non-lethal] trap and catch the bad guy, then relocate him somewhere distant! SInce you already know the critter likes Tomatoes, bait the trap with same.

The fact that the critters are making off with Tomatoes effectively rules out Carnivores like Foxes, but not omnivores like Bears or Possums. One of my neighbors had a Bear in his garage! You need to find where the animal is gaining entry and the size of the entryway will effectively rule in or rule out some of the bigger guys like Possums or Raccoons.

Squirrels are the Acrobats of the Woodland animals, able to walk tightropes with ease, sneak into anything and everything and fond of overwintering in people's attics. Raccoons may be even bigger sneak thieves than Squirrels and they are always prowling about my land.

Answer 3

Sounds more like a squirrel. A field mouse would not be able to carry tomatoes around the house; it would just eat them where it found them.