What put a hole in my birdcage screen ?
 

Any ideas on what did this. String trimmer, rodent, insects?

No string trimmer. I know from experience. I've put two trimmer cuts in my birdcage over the years. Based on my past experience in our Savannah, Georgia home, some type of rodent did that damage. The screen has been chewed away. Check your birdcage/lanai area for food, crumbs, fruits, or anything else that is either edible, looks edible, or smells edible.

Thanks, it's completely empty, except for a few dead worms from the rain.

I’ve had the same problem...how do you repair it?

My guess palm rat if you got palms around with ripe fruits. or squirrel 🐿, same thing just long furry tail. :icon_wink:

That shouldn't be a string trimmer by the picture. There is adequate room between the concrete wall and the screen so that should not happen. Also, the picture indicates something chewed it, rather than cut it. We recently had something chew a hole in our birdcage also, but up much higher where the wall meets the roof. I suspect a squirrel or some kind of bird rather than a rodent given where the hole was chewed. Ace hardware sells screen repair adhesive patches which I found easy to use. So far, so good on the patches, but it will take time to see if the adhesion on the patches holds up for the long run. Another way to fix a hole in a screen is to take a small piece of matching screen and lay it over the hole, then us a clear fingernail polish and apply it where the patch and screen meet. Once the fingernail polish dries it bonds the patch to the screen. Hope that helps.

I had a lime tree that atrackted rats saw these holes appearing in my screens set a trap and caught 2 small ones and 1 good sized one. Removed the lime tree no more problems. Neighbor had the same problem

Crane?

squirrel did that to us but we had birdseed on the lanai that attracted him. you can buy screen patches that glue on

rat
 

looks like a rat hole.

Something could have got past you and was trapped inside. They might have tried to get out.

Rats. We had them after the 2017 storms. 5 holes like yours. Traps got 6 of them plus a couple of squirrels.
I patched all the holes until a re-screening this past year. Good luck.

Frasier or Niles ? :shrug:

Rodent
I had the same thing..........

Squirrels, ruined our screens.

Appears to be something was on the inside and tried
to get out. That is, if the picture was taken from the outside.
The holes do not looklike a string weed eater!

Just had Todd’s screens repair our screening in garage and birdcage. Great job and reasonable

Probably not what happened on my lanai because it’s too low but I had a good size hawk fly through the screen. He was injured and probably dazed and hung onto my screen upside down for about an hour. I opened the screen door and eventually he flew away.

Had same problem some rodent chewed a hole in my screen .Called T&D they installed color matched metal kick plate around the base at a very reasonable cost
Also stops most of the dust created by the lawn company when the use their leaf blowers

I have had the same kind of hole in my lanai. I went out and saw a flesh colored worm lizard which immediately darted through the hole when he saw me. That's when I notice the hole. I put a screen patch on it. Also had a hole up higher at another time but I think a Sandhill Crane did that one.

We had friends That had a slider screen ruined down low. No problem $$ repaired 3 days later ruined again. Trap captured a couple of squirrels near hole. $$ problem solved. They can also do damage to the wiring in attics and autos. I had a few that were unruly up north. they would come in the attic fan opening and some tried to get in through the siding. I was told when their teeth get too long they need to gnaw on something to Grind their teeth down. I made 10-12 trips out of town to displace the offenders. I think I eventually caught the offending rodents. And has no more problems. Still had squirrels but got rid of the bad ones. If you have oak trees near you you will have squirrels. Catch the buggers then fix the screen. Check this video. Copy and paste.

Crazy Squirrel Trying to Get inside Chewing Window Screen Funny - YouTube

Todd’s Screen repair told me to put packing tape over it. A squirrel put a small slit in my lanai screen.

A Rat going after the lizards ! Had the same problem at my neighbors house when he was away.
I bought a rat trap and caught 3 rats.

Palm rats for sure. Same thing happened to us last year. Deans came out with poison boxes and traps and cleared the problem in a couple of weeks. We couldn't fix the hole until after we were certain the rats were all dead and stopped being killed by the traps inside our bird cage.(Otherwise they would simply eat a new hole in the screen.)In the interim some nocturnal animal repeatedly entered and triggered the traps and ate the peanut butter. Deans put out a trail cam and it was a 20 pound possum. I bought a live trap which turned out to be a waste, because the next day this monster was laying dead in the road a block away. Apparently the rats can sense the lower barometric pressure that an oncoming rain storm creates and head for dry ground in advance of the storm. Look outside the hole and you'll see tiny mouthfuls of screen. Good luck.

Holes in Lanai Screens
 

Sand Cranes will also poke holes in screens.

Cranes
 

It could also be sand cranes. My neighbor had the same problem. They peck at the small insects on the screen as they’re looking for food.

A squirrel put one like that in my window screen.

Hole in birdcage
 

A roof rat put that hole in your screen. I had 4 holes just like that last year. Put out a mouse trap and you will soon see what a roof rat looks like.

Hole in Screen
 

Palm rats, nasty ugly things! Have your pest control company come out and set traps. Also clear out underbrush around nearby palm trees.

We had the same thing 3 times in our screening and it was squirrels

Whoever does cut your lawn!
 

Whoever cuts your lawn

That was ABSOLUTELY made by a RAT! I used to get MANY of these frequently and I replaced all my lower screens with solid sheet aluminum, and placed TEN rat hotels (poison) all around the outside of my birdcage. No more problems now for the past ten years!

Thanks for the help. No palm trees, though the one neighbor's back has a lot of overgrown foliage. Are rodents covered by the Deans pest package?

We had palm rats chew holes in our cage screen. My husband trapped them and patched the screen with material from Lowes.

Rats! We’ve had problems the last two winters. They chew holes and we path and they Che another spot. You just have to kill them.

We had the same thing. Rodents chewed through our two largest screens to get to the grill, which we kept on the lanai. Moved the grill outside, replaced the screens And put out a bait box. No more problems.

I've seen a squirrel put a huge hole in a brand new screen. That could have been a squirrel or rat

We put a bait box out once and a loose little dog got into it overnight. Never again, the little guy died. You can say pets should be leashed or indoors but in a flash they can skip out unnoticed. As a pet lover, it still haunts me.