Thank you for the replies and suggestions. I too have come to the conclusion that it was rabbits. They left them alone in the summer and fall, but I guess during winter, dormant fig trees become the tastiest fodder available.

It looks like a couple of the bigger ones might make it, and I'm praying the ones eaten down to the dirt or close too it will pop back up.

These figs were gifted to me by kiwibob which makes it even worse.

Please keep my figs in your prayers. I'll keep everyone updated and I'm going to get premature arthritis due to crossing my fingers 24 hours a day...

Rat traps and peanut butter, there nothing but tree rats.

I have some very similar damage this year as well.  A couple of the smaller plants were eaten down to the ground.  A few plants had tips/buds gnawed off.
Especially hard hit was the Strawberry Verte and Smith plants.

I keep my plants in a couple of protected areas including my greenhouse throughout the winter months.  The greenhouse was where the most damage was done.  The plants in the carport were untouched, which is the only area the rabbits can get into, and we have lots of rabbits.  Never had a problem with them except they do eat my peas and bean.

When I first saw the damage, I thought it was mice, and set out some special food for them.  It wasn't touched but the gnawing continued. 

One day when I went into the greenhouse I saw  ratso just hanging out, and with all the damage I see, I am pretty sure this guy was the offender.

It was a RAT doing all the damage.

I've spent almost a hundred dollars on rat poison and traps to set everywhere from my garage to my back yard, all to save fig trees I was gifted. lol


They mean much more than 100 dollars to me, and after losing some battles, I'm about to win the war...

Maybe a trip to the cat rescue? I've seen this done with great success.... assuming you can handle a few cats.... That's why people started keeping them in the first place....

rat traps and peanut butter, cheep,and it works on tree rats .and real pets.

Yes I bought some cheap ones. And some not so cheap ones. I didn't realize how many rat traps there are, and decided I wanted to try several styles.lol

The dear ate all my fruit trees but keft the fuga were on the porch. My figs are still small so I brought them invthe house over the couple of months we have winter. I haven't many squirrels as the 70+ yr old lady nezt door has a high-powere ppellet gun with a scope. I've seen 1 squirrel in 15 years!!! Evidentlyvshe is a good shot!. Now if I canbjust get my other idiot neighbor to nix the deer feeder!!

My guess is most of yor fig plants will come back. Just treat them like usual and the roots are likely still alive assuming they haven't dried out, been killed by cold or something and when it warms up shoot will come up.

This is bad year for 1st year grower, I planted down couple fig trees without protection, Many of them are frozen dry dead now, Although there are few thousands of fig varieties , only handful of them bear sweet figs in PNW area due to cool Summer,  I dug out this 2 inches branch underground from frozen dead Jordon fig tree, it has green spots now in cups, so I think that your fig tree will be fine.
 


Here are figs from this tree, big and very sweet in late season
 

you know, sometimes damage does strange things.
i had a fig that just wouldn't grow.
it got ate down till there was a 2'' stub.
when it came back it went into a growth spurt, growing by leaps n bounds.
in a few weeks it was twice as big as it was before the critter got at it.
i can't explain that, but it happened.

My guess is that it's a rat.  I have a pomegranate tree out front, one day, I went outside, and something ate part of a big, beautiful, ripe pomegranate.  Next day, another one.  Next day, another, and this went on nightly for a couple of weeks.  Once the creature had eaten a good chunk out of each one, it started on my vegetable garden.  One by one, the plants were decimated.  Ate all the tomatoes, squash, peppers, etc.  I'd thought it was a deer at first, because the pomegranates were kind of high up.  Nope, it turned out to be a roof rat.  Tooth marks on the tomatoes was the giveaway.

Every single one of them has yet to show signs of any budding. The ones that you can scratch the bark and are green inside still show absolutely nothing.

Looks like the member above who posted is getting a great deal of budding already compared to my total lack of buds.

Any ideas???

Are they outdoor?
I am at PNW as well, Due to bad colder weather recently, everything are late, My spring flower is starting flowering this week, my outdoor fig trees are not yet budding.

                SeattlePurple,  I have an extra Desert King you can have.  P.M. if you are interested.                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Patience Grasshopper, Patience ;)

kiwibob,   Seattle