What's In My Trap?

What's In My Trap?

I've managed to thwart several local critters from terrorizing my garden so far this month.  Here's the tally:  1 groundhog, 2 raccoons, 1 turtle. 

The box turtle was my most curious catch.  He appeared in my live animal trap yesterday.  I had moved the trap out of the grass beside my garden so I could mow.  The trap hadn't been baited with cantaloupe for over a week.  I had stowed the trap between two rows of tomato plants until I got around to repositioning it to the terror zone.  But yesterday morning, I was surprised to see a cute box turtle happily chomping on a dried cantaloupe rind.  I picked him up and showed him to my wife before releasing him to go on his merry way right beside the sprung trap. 

Later in the afternoon, I decided to go back to my garden to see if he was still hanging around.  I wandered through my garden but didn't spot him. A few rows away from where I left him, I found a low-growing, half-eaten Tigerella tomato.  The bottom had been devoured, leaving the top half still on the vine.  I cursed the raccoon or groundhog that sneaked past my trap and my fishing line perimeter and my heat sensitive water cannon (The Scarecrow).  I continued past my garden to my unruly compost pile.  I had forgotten to collect bowl I had used that morning to dump today's fresh cantaloupe and watermelon rinds. As I reached down for it, who should I see smiling up at me?  The box turtle.  That's when it occurred to me.  That thieving turtle had robbed me of one of my first Tigerella tomatoes before sprinting to the rich compost pile.  I shook my head sadly and turned away, leaving him to his feast.  Maybe he will just stay there and eat his golden treats.