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W. Glam, Wales Wal

My wife is growing a melon in the greenhouse and this morning she found a tiny melon (about an inch long) that had been totally eaten with only a quarter of an inch hole in the side and the same in the base. We have a dormouse that eats hazel nuts leaving the same modus operandi. Is is possible that the dormouse has also eaten this tiny melon? I would doubt that it would have been very palatable at this early stage of development. I have attached two photos. Any suggestions please?



Melon_02

Answers

 

It will have been full of protein, all those baby seeds compacted and just full of goodness, like an egg!! I envy you your doormouse. Can I have it if you see it lol.
Lynne x

19 Aug, 2008

Sid
Sid
 

I think doormice leave little tooth marks around the edge of the hole when they eat a nut - do you see any? Difficult to judge how big the fruit/hole are in the photo.

20 Aug, 2008

 

The fruit is about an inch long as I said and the holes are approximately a quarter of an inch in diameter. Because the skin of the fruit has dried, it is difficult to see the tooth marks unlike with a hazel nut. I guess it doesn't matter who ate the melon I was just fascinated by the clinical way the whole of the interior had been removed from those small holes. Virtually everything grown in this garden is eaten by the foxes, badgers, squirrels and birds long before we get a chance to pick any of it. I suppose it must have an effect on the number of sacks of peanuts and bird seed we buy although it doesn't seem so. The delight the animals and birds bring makes it worth it, although to be fair it is my wife that does all the hard work in the garden.

20 Aug, 2008

Sid
Sid
 

It gladens the heart to hear of someone who is willing to forgive the damage wildlife does for the joy of having wild creatures share their garden. Well done you. :-)

20 Aug, 2008

 

I completely agree there!! And after reading a few of the blogs on here I am not going to use any type of slug pellets etc anymore, I will encourage more wildlife and let nature take its course. Today, instead of putting all the birds food on the table and in the middle of the lawns I purposely put it in the borders and on the rockeries etc to encourage the birds onto them so that hopefully they would see slugs and snails while they were rooting for seed and the dried fruit i put out for them.
Lynne x

20 Aug, 2008

 

My appologies for the tardiness of my reply, but I have discovered something that you might find interesting. As I previously stated we feed foxes and badgers every evening and again at midnight. When I say "we" it is actually my wife that spends hours making sandwiches of dog and cat meat, jam and peanut butter. She makes sandwiches from about one and a half loaves every night to which are added peanuts and raisins, Although most of the food is placed in our rear garden one dish is always placed at the front of the house as one fox always comes that way. Although the fox relishes his sandwiches, any crumbs or leftovers are greedily devoured by slugs and snails. In fact the dish is always covered in them and has to left until the morning for collection To get to the point (eventually) I have found that when I take the bowl of food to the front garden, there are now a number of slugs and snails waiting for the food. I had not previously considered that slugs and snails had any intelligence, but it now seems that I was wrong.

24 Aug, 2008

Sid
Sid
 

Well I never.... ;-)

24 Aug, 2008

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