A beetle, Cerambyx velutinus, may bore holes in the trunk. Rats climb the trees, hide among the branches, gnaw the bark until the branches die. Such branches are pruned out twice a year. The only pests reported as attacking carob trees in California are scale insects, including the red scale. Ground squirrels feed on plants under 2 years of age.
Pocket gophers are very fond of carob roots, and rabbits and deer graze on the young trees.
Diseases are few. In Cyprus, deformation of young pods may be caused by the fungus Oidium ceratoniae. Cercospora ceratoniae occasionally induces leaf-spotting. Apart from being chewed as a sweetmeat, carob pods are processed to a cocoa -like flour which is added to cold or heated milk for drinking. It has been combined with wheat flour in making bread or pancakes.