Hi and thanks in advance for any thoughts you can share that might help to stop this annoying problem.

Since Friday, 15 plants in my garden and yard have been eaten - some to the ground, some just "topped". All plants are in containers or raised bed behind a fence - either field fence or ranch fence.

Some facts:
Activity occurs only at night
Visible wildlife in the area include: pack rat, rabbit, javalina, deer, feral cat
Eaten plants include: eggplant, peppers (multiple varieties - all hot [e.g. jalapeno, thai, green chili, etc.]), flowers (coneflower and gaillardia), and a bush cherry
All cuts are at a 45-degree angle
One container is 3' off the ground on a deck railing
Plants in the immediate vicinity left alone include: tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, crookneck squash, onions, and much more.

My initial thought was a rabbit (based on the cut angle), but there's no way that I can see a rabbit getting onto the deck railing. I've seen one pack rat (it died a day after I spotted it) but I know they are in the area - they completely destroyed the electrical wiring in my house a month before I purchased it.

The county extension office first suggested birds, but after talking to them in greater detail, they are thinking pack rats (or squirrels, but I've never seen a squirrel near although I know they live in the area).

The oddest thing is that the plants have been in the ground for a month, and some (the eggplant) were sitting in their flat - un-planted - for a week in the driveway where they would have been easy for anything to take, but whatever ate them waited until the night I planted them to eat them.

It's impractical to surround everything with chicken wire (and that might not work anyway), so in the interim I'm surrounding those plants that the animal has shown an interest in (eggplant, pepper) and will try some traps (assuming it's a pack rat) and am inclined to spread flour around the immediate vicinity to see if I can get a usable track/print to perhaps identify the animal.

Based on the description above, do you have any thoughts on what it might be or how to mitigate the damage?

And would you happen to know if the "topped" plants (where the top 1/4-1/2 of the plant has been eaten) will survive and produce fruit so long as they are watered regularly?