Something has been stealing (and I guess) eating my baby chollas

[DesertDan]

I had two in a pot on my plant patio and one day about 2 weeks ago I noticed that one of them was gone. I thought maybe it fell under soil but no, it was gone. I have large cholla mom laying down outside my fence, so I grabbed another baby one, this time a little bigger than the 1st two and planted it in place of the one that was gone. Today I noticed that the other smaller one had been obsconded with and the little bigger one had a bite out of the base. So I brought it inside. I did some research nad it said those can be eaten by a pocket mouse or several birds-cactus wren, mockingbird, and gila woodpecker. There are tall trees right outside my apartment, so I theorized that it was probably a bird. I haven't noticed any telltale signs of mice. I noticed a feather one day on the top of the patio fence bar. What do y'all know about this sort of thing? And is there anything I can do to deter birds like this?

[greenknight]

Put a bird cage over it.

[Tom in Tucson]

Although curious birds often disturb or remove small succulents from my collection, they don't usually touch chollas. OTOH, almost all rodents like them, especially pack rats.

I use 2 methods to deal with them; humane traps, and deterrent spray. Growing plants here in the desert comes with having to deal with the wildlife, and using a variety of strategies. Good luck.

[toadstar]

What does a packrat do with a cholla?

[Tom in Tucson]

What does a packrat do with a cholla?

Although I've never seen them carry them off, I have seen many rodent nests in the desert, and they often are surrounded with cholla branches. There are 2 theories that I've heard of as to why. They like to use them as ornaments, or more likely to deter snakes. .