Hello,
Here is a resident street of Austin outskirts, not in a countryside. It is about 100 feet between houses. I would say this is normally compact (not loosely) neighborhood. There are a few squirrels in the day time. I once saw a raccoon in a night. This morning I find one watermelon was eaten by an unknown animal like this:
From the second picture, one can see some white melon flesh is on the bottom and right on it. The dark part of the bottom should be the melon juice. The animal rolled the melon upwards to the present position in the picture afterwards.
The watermelon is not ripe at all. What animal could eat it like this? I have 3 other melons in the field. How can I protect them?
id think rats and/or squirrels if the hole is 2.5in. do you have dry conditions? maybe they ate it for the water? id say more than 1 at work. wrap the rest in chicken wire and close the ends with more wire.
I’m going to go with rat. I grew watermelons in a community garden. Rats will come from a small city park (lots of tasty trash cans for them) next to the gardens and eat beets and other root veggies, etc. They did this same thing to my melons when I grew them, so never again for me.
That one is a real mystery. I would tend to think Coyote with pups. I know they eat melons and the little ones can get up in there likie that. But we won’t know until you set a trail cam above one of your other ones !
Obviously something that could just make that hole and then go inside and eat the interior out completely…
Don’t think a Yote cold do that, Small Coon, possible, ground hog, possum, rat…
Any sign around the entrance ? fur left in the melon edges of the hole ? With all the going in and out that would have taken, I would think there would be some sign left there. Or you could go ahead and split it open and check the rest of the inside for fur color, length, etc…
What ever it is… I would catch it, and make him pay at least 10.00 for a good home grown watermelon. Or might just feed him to my local buzzards.
I know what did it and it’s not what you think. It’s a turtle. They love fruit and if I’m right you will find claw marks on the sides of the melon that look like long gashes. Likely the gashes will be to the right and left of the hole. I find them and feed them typically in the heat of the summer I have an abundance. Been down this road with them and it’s discouraging.
I said it before, I say it again…You got a coyote on your hands. A small coyote snout can get it there and clear out the meat. That second pic REALLY has the look of a coyote trying to byte into and/or carry off a melon, (just my 2 cents which is worth no more than anyone else’s here)
