Christmas lights wire cut
 

Our outside Christmas lights wire was cut sometime between 10 PM Saturday evening and 5 PM Sunday. We were wondering if anyone else had the same experience. It is so frustrating. You try to have something beautiful and this is what happens.

The same thing happened to our friends in St. James. Unbelievable!

Happened to our neighbors in Bonita.

Were the lights in question left on all night? If so, that could be why someone cut the wire. If they are not left on I have no idea, just mean spirited I guess.

There is no excuse or reason for anything like that! If there was a 3 piece band playing at 3AM, you don't shoot them. You go over like a nice neighbor and let them know their lights (band) are bothering you and surely they'd turn them off. This is nothing short of vandalism. (I know you were just trying to find a plausible reason, not condone it.)

I once thought someone had cut my lights in California. Turns out it wasn't a "someone", it was a "something". Thumper, the local jackrabbit, had done one quick bite and voila, no lights the next day. Hopefully, ''tis the same with you. Hate to think a neighbor would be that mean-spirited.

Every year there are reports of Christmas light wires being cut. It usually is not mean spirited neighbors but squirrels and rats who are the villans.

3 different wires cut in 3 different villages? The jackrabbit would have to get around as quick as a bunny!:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

The villages is full of rats and rabbits.

OP noticed his lights went south 5pm - 10pm timeframe. Sounds like they were on a timer which would eliminate an all night theory. We never had this problem and we lived in places with squirrels. Were we just lucky?

Of course not. I would cut their wires.

I did a quick Google search and found several articles (including this thread) about nocturnal rodents chewing on Christmas light cords. One even "proved" it after disposing of dead perp (squirrel, not neighbor) and no more cut lights. So please believe it is a natural occurrence and reinstate your Christmas Spirit. The "vandals" were probably not vandals at all. One of the articles mentioned coating the wires with pepper spray to deter the rodents, but then there is the dilemma of how to roll them up to put them away without self injury. Yike. Anyway, have a Merry Christmas!

We found out in recent years that rabbits and rats were cutting the wires. Maybe you have had the same animals around you.

My question to you is this. Was it a clean cut or did the insulation look like it had a rough chewed on look?

Clean Cut
 

The damage in Bonita was a clean cut on an angle. It was a knife that caused the damage.