Oo, interesting question!
Yeah, vole was also my thought.
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heeeeeeere ratty ratty 
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Chipmunks , them little bastards are always getting into my potted plants
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Cheese + baseball bat = dead rat.
I’m just kidding.
I think the wire screen is a very good suggestion.
Old rule of outdoor:
One for the bugs
One for the critters
One for the cops
One for me.
Best of luck.
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Sounds legit!
Racoons do that here. They think there is some food in the hole and will trash it looking.
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Bucket of water/ board leaning to make a ramp to the top, sunflower seeds, floating in the bucket and going up the ramp. See Ya,
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That is the bucket of death trap…not nice but very effective 
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Maybe try layering some loose coco coir. I have half dozen Squirrels in my yard all day everyday and they leave my shit alone. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. 30 gallon pots of Coco/Peat/Perlite-Vermiculite. They seem to be more interested at running back and forth from douglas fir to douglas fir on top of my cyclone fence. 
sometimes neighbors do weird shit 
chipmunks & squirrels are just hairy rats. from Canada.
They are going after the fungal hyfae in the root zone
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In that case a 22 with a scope.
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Have you looked under the pot?
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