Been there - seen that. ;) Snipped off stems like that tell me birds are doing it. They carry off the leaf for their nests but don't like the stems. Little tents of Walmart netting from the fabric department can stop them but you have to weigh down the edges with stones or they just pull off the netting. :( Dave

soon as i get my camera fixed! its on the fritz. thank you for responding. shotty

I haven't caught them in the act yet but I believe rabbits are the culprits. I can tell by the way the plants have been severed. It's as if they were cut at an angle with a clipper. Some plants disappear completely and some have their leaves trimmed back. Generally I don't have trouble with tomatoes and rabbits. I have about three hundred plants in a rabbit prone area and ten have been affected by rabbits. Hopefully they got a belly ache. If the tomatoes were apetizing they would have done more damage. Zeuspaul

Groundhog damage sounds like to me, if no deer around. Squirrels usually just go for the fruit. Any sign of rat droppings? They will eat most of the plant. If you are living in town the choices are usually narrowed than for those of us out in the country. Dave