What ate the watermelons

For a couple of years we enjoyed some good melons. I know it is partially in our minds, but what we grew tasted better than any you can buy. They were something we really enjoyed.

Then, two years in a row, something got to the melons and enjoyed eating them too. There would be a small hole in the side of the melon and lots of the inside would be eaten. Everyone told us it was coons getting them. They would gnaw a hole in the melon and reach in with their paws and get the meat. For this reason we quit raising melons.

Everyone who reads my articles knows that we leave cat food out at night for the coons and possums. We put some watermelon out for the coons to eat this summer. We thought it would be a feast.

I watched closer than usual that night to see them eating the melon. The first time I saw a coon coming up I held my breath in anticipation. The coon ignored the melon. I kept watching and a few more coons came up during the evening. They ignored the melon. A few possums came and they also ignored the melon. What had eaten my melons when I was growing them? When I got up the next morning the cat food and melon had been eaten.

Now I was wondering if coons really liked watermelon. Surely it was coons that got mine when I was growing them. Everyone who told me so would not be wrong.

I put more melon out the next night along with cat food. Maybe I could learn something that night. About the same thing happened. I did see one possum eating some melon, but other possums and coons ignored it. The next morning all the cat food and the melon had been eaten again.

It is my guess that the people who told me it was coons eating my melons were right. They could gnaw the hole and reach in with their paws to get the meat. I’m not sure if possums could or not. The possums don’t seem as adept as coons when it comes to using their paws. The thing is when coons have a choice, they eat cat food. I keep learning more about the animals as I keep watching them. It is a fascinating thing to do.

I publish a photo of two coons eating cat food and ignoring the watermelon near them. It can be seen by clicking on the link below.

http://www.gather.com/viewImage.jsp?fileId=3096224744406368&memberId=67122