What Animal Eats St. Augustine Grass?

Rabbits

• Two rabbits live in the Gulf of Mexico region of the United States: the Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) and marsh rabbit (S. palustris). Both rabbits include St. Augustine grass in their diets. These rabbits chew grass with their front two teeth. A rabbit's incisors continue growing, and the only way to prevent them from growing too long is by eating, which grinds them down. Spring and summer are the primary seasons rabbits eat grasses.

Insects

• Southern chinch bugs (Blissus insularis) are major St. Augustine grass pests, according Clemson University Cooperative Extension. These bugs damage St. Augustine grass by sucking juices from the blades. As a result, large yellow and/or white patches appear on St. Augustine grass, making it seem like the grass is not receiving enough water. Other insect pests of St. Augustine grass are white grubs and ground pearls (Margarodes spp). White grubs are May beetle or June bug larvae, while ground pearls are scale insects that have the appearance of a pearl. Ground pearls create his image by secreting waxlike shells around them.

Cattle

• Cows have four-compartment stomachs in their body. Ruminate mammals are digest grasses more efficiently than other herbivores, since they use the first stomach for storage. Cows chew the cud -- grass that has already been chewed -- to break down the grasses to smaller pieces. Cows do not generally discriminate which grasses they consume. In the Southeast United States, a cow's diet includes St. Augustine grass. Many cows are used for the beef industry and the quality of the grass a cow digests is a major factor for producing good quality beef.

Deer

• The only native deer to the Southeast United States is the white-tailed deer. Similarly to cows, the deer is a ruminate animal. This deer may eat grasses, such as St. Augustine grass, if it happens across them. However, grass is a secondary dietary item to deer. A deer's digestive system is not as equipped as a cow's digestive system to live on grass. This animal generally eats other forms of vegetation, primarily herbaceous flowering plants.