Congratulations on your new garden! Let's see if we can get those buggers. There are a few things that come to mind. The first is that it could be birds, but from what I can tell from the damage in picture it doesnâÂÂt seem likely. The second thing it could be is pill bugs, more commonly known as the roly poly. In small numbers they donâÂÂt do much, but when there are a lot they can do some real damage to your garden. Here is a little bit of information on how you can find and identify them:

They need to be in moist, dark environments. They are about 3/8th of an inch long, wingless and have seven pairs of legs. They roll into a ball when threatened or scared, which is where they get their nickname. Pill bugs are usually found in the cracks in the dirt and under plant residue. They are active in the late spring, and usually at night. They are often lumped together with sow bugs or potato bugs, and while they are very similar, they are not exactly the same. They feed on any decaying organic matter, which is why large populations can often be found in compost piles and piles of leaf litter. Since they would rather feed on decaying matter, they will usually ignore healthy plants. However, when populations get high, they will feed on new growth and young plants.

Tonight when it gets dark I would recommend going to your garden and trying to find them either to rule them out or move on to the next step of getting rid of them. Let me know how that turns out and I will either tell you how to get rid of them or try and diagnose a new bug. Best of luck!

My very first thoughts were of caterpillars. Many different kinds will munch on choice, ripe strawberries. Slugs are also very possible culprits.

While you're out with the flashlight this evening after dark looking for the sow bugs/pill bugs....keep an eye out for the other likely pests, as well.

First, Thank you both for the replies! Being a newbie, I really appreciate the advice and ideas. So I went out tonight with a flashlight about 9:30 and looked over every inch of my strawberry plants. I looked for about 10 minutes, and couldn't find anything. Not a pill bug, slug, caterpillar, or any other bug. But I did find another strawberry eaten: see attached pic. (I only have 4 plants, and they are just starting to produce, so each strawberry lost feels like a huge deal). It was raining at the time, could that possibly play a role in not seeing the culprit? Also, I know birds were mentioned as a possibility. Other than actually seeing a bird munching away, is there any other way to know if that's what it is? If it is birds what can I do to stop them? Thanks in advance for any help...

If it's mice, get a mousetrap at Lowes, bait it with apple or nuts, put it under a bucket propped up an inch so the birds can't get it, and put a rock on top so it doesn't blow away. You'll catch the critter, maybe one a day till they're gone. Once they have babies, it's a daily thing till you catch them all.

If it's slugs, I recommend a natural product called Sluggo. It's pellets of iron phosphate (which we need) in a starch base.

Gardening is full of such fun and anxiety. It's MY food! lol.

Well after 2 days of checking the garden every couple hours, and finding strawberries eaten to the stem. I finally caught the culprit red handed (or red beaked in this case). It seems my strawberries have become an all you can eat buffet for a northern mockingbird that lives in a tree in our yard. He had been Coming in the very early morning hours and late evening just stealing little bites here and there, until he got comfortable enough to land in the garden in the middle of the day with me standing right there in the window screaming my head off at him. He just looked at me, and kept on munching. I had to go out and chase him off with a stick just to get him to leave. He is bold! I also have lots of other crops growing nearby, that I don't want him to start eating when they start producing. Especially my tomatoes. This is my food for my family....Arrrgh! (Okay I got that out of my system) So...now to figure out how to stop him. I know that bird netting is an option, but I would prefer not to have to cover my entire garden in that stuff if possible. Does anyone have any other suggestions? BTW I tried tying shiny metallic curling ribbon on my tomato cages and trellis hoping that would scare him off when it blew in the wind, but no such luck.

Chances are your vegetable garden will not be a lure for a mocker. They are berry eaters. You get to deal with things like groundhog and deer with a veggie garden, or the occasional goose. (happened to me after I raised a pair of geese for insect control and they were eating my tomatoes instead). Net your berries. I have to when they ripen, and I use pond netting designed to keep leaves from ponds.

Hip hip hurray! I'm glad you finally found the culprit. That bird sure knew how to hid his "fingerprint" from us! The site I linked to in my previous post has some bird control products, but I don't know if any of them would be safe to use while your strawberries are in bloom. At least you can take a look at some of your options and see what is available. There are repellents, traps, and this spike strip that should stop birds from landing where you put it. Let me know what works for you because I am curious about it myself. Thanks!

You can buy tulle netting by the yard in any fabric store.

I decided to just go ahead and net the strawberries, and it has worked great. No more berries for the mockingbirds! Thanks to all for the advice and suggestions.