Looks like box turtle damage to me. Look and see if there are any long cuts on other melons. They need moisture in the summer and do that to cantaloupe. I have never seen them do that to watermelon but it looks like their type of damage. I have seen them make long cuts in my watermelon trying to get into them with their feet. They love fruit! They have a bite good enough to do that when they are determined to do it. They will be looking hard at the remaining melons so you better wrap them in wire or something. They donāt stop until they get every melon once they start.
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Wow, box turtles. I wish they were my main pest- canāt fly, canāt climb, canāt run, canāt figure much out.
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Alan,
Youāve got bigger problems on your hands with those raccoons thatās for sure. Raccoons never work alone and they do love berries. Any time I get into it with one raccoon there are 5 or 6 of them. You better not let the sun go down until youāve set traps and electrified that blueberry patch. Turtles sure ruin a melon patch in a hurry though and should not be underestimated. They know the ripe melons from the green ones just like we do. They might not be raccoons but the same rules apply get those melons wrapped in wire or in some way protected before they have a chance to come back and finish the job. They wonāt leave a single melon for you if they are not protected in some way.
No, this time of the year they usually show up as individuals or couples. I have two traps set by the blueberries and I expect that will solve the problem. For the moment.
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Alan,
Our raccoons still have the kids with them. So thatās a male , female , last years kids, this years kids. They were here a couple of days ago and stole the left over sweet corn. They have since moved back to the ponds and closer to berries and frogs etc. They did not get much and we have plenty so we canāt eat it all anyway. As long as they are not taking our food we are ok. They touch my pears and there will be a trap every 6 inches.
Iāve never seen that kind of damage before. If there arenāt claw marks,
and I canāt detect any from the pics, my guess would be some type of
large bird like a crow. It can stand on top of the melon and peck a hole
like that.
I was afraid this Orangeglo of mine would be over ripe. By the looks of it I should have picked it 7-10 days ago. It did look pretty at nearly 40 lbs.
The tendril was still green and it seemed to be getting bigger every day.
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Steve,
How sweet? Brix?
Tony
At that stage of over ripe one bite was all I needed to toss the whole thing. It was tasteless.
Thatās weird the tendrils did not turn brown. It had some yellow on itās belly but that looks like it was a hard melon to read when it turned ripe!
I had heard raccoons can work in families. This year was the first year I have perhaps seen it. Iāve always had some damage, but lately I was losing about 30 peaches per night or more. Iād pick up the drops for the day, come back the next day and much more new drops than expected, with a lot of 1/2 eaten fruit, or fruit with just teeth marks in it (evidently they didnāt like the look of the fruit enough to eat it).
In the last week Iāve had to trap 5 coons and one opossum. There is has been a new one just about every morning in the trap. Damage and drops have slowed way down.
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Are you sure it was over ripe, and not under ripe. It doesnāt
look that way in the pic.
It was way over ripe, soft and mushy. I think there are small ones setting. Maybe I can do better next time.
Chalk it up to being your sacrificial melon of the season. You donāt
normally see one continue to grow, if itās over ripe.
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Iād think the same. And maybe it was my imagination. Iāve thought about measuring, say the length, each day just to see if I could learn something. But havenāt taken the time.
Iām talking about migrant coons here. Usually any young that appear are born on my property and I donāt let things get that far anymore.
As far as your 2nd year coons, I believe parents drive them off after the first year. Maybe coon parents are more permissive in KS. 
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Alan, I honestly donāt know if the oneās Iāve trapped lately are migrant or related to each other. Perhaps migrants. Suppose I canāt blame any creature from trying to leave a place of scarcity for a place of abundance.
They do sometimes drive them off but most of the time last years babies are still with them. I kept chickens when I was kid up until recently so Iām familiar with the raccoons here more so than most people. Iāve never seen 3 year olds with the family. But last years babies are common. We have abundance of grains and other food sources which may make a difference. You can count on catching 5-6 raccoons in a family here if you have what they are after. I have caught a bunch in live traps through the years I took to the lake, river, or a different creek. I always catch the mother first and the others later. Iām not sure last years babies donāt follow at a distance or even this years. I only know moms first to be caught because sometimes I hide close by in case something goes wrong. Iāve caught them with no babies as well but like with anything part of raising babies is skill and some of it is luck.
Iāve read that they either drive them out in fall or the following spring, but wildlife sometimes doesnāt read the manual.
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In a million years I wouldnāt have guessed turtle, but now that you bring it up I think it is a very good guess- best so far, Iāve had them get into my tomatoes before and they do make holes very much like the one shown. They also have long necks so they could reach a lot of meat through those holes.
Iām also glad Ray hadnāt seen this type damage. I consider him a real watermelon expert and I donāt feel so bad about not being able to answer the question since he canāt either (for sure). His guess of a crow is also certainly possible.
Iād sure love to hear if @Outdoor334 does ever figure it out. And I agree with clark- if it is a turtle they will most certainly return. The only way I ever got them to stop was when Iād find them in the act and remove them.
One last remarkā¦where I live, turtles represent the single most dramatic change in animal population that Iāve seen in my lifetime. When I was a kid (40 yrs ago or so) if you saw a turtle crossing the road, it was almost always a true ābox turtleā- brown with yellow pattern and quite āboxyā. Second most popular was snapping turtles. ANd when I played in the woods, Iād come across real box turtles almost daily. Today,the Eastern box turtle are considered threated in Tennessee have almost disappeared. I havenāt seen one in years. Now when you see a turtle (if it isnāt a snapping turtle) its almost always a āpainted turtleā which is something I never, ever saw as a child. Now they are everywhere. Iām not an environmentalist or animal rights nut or anything of the sort. But it really brings things into focus when wildlife right here in my own backyard has such a dramatic change in just 30 years or less. Sorry for going off topic
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