Dan Musicant wrote:
I grow pumpkins every year, lately kabocha (Japanese pumpkins), also
known as tetsukabuta. They over-winter well, are delicious, similar to
acorn squash, I think.

I had a bumper crop this year due to ample composting at plant time.
The vines extend well beyond the ~10 x 6 foot patch of earth and onto
a large concrete patio and up trellises I built with bamboo.

I've never had a problem with animals messing with my pumpkins but
suddenly have a big problem. My crop this year was about 70, and a few
days ago there were about 20 (mostly of the largest, up to 3+ lb.)
still on the dieing vines (I've generally tried to leave them on the
vines until the vines are clearly unable to supply further
nutrients/fluids to the pumpkins). Around a 6 weeks ago I noticed
that one of the larger pumpkins on the concrete had a vertical split.
I decided I'd cook it sooner than later, because the split suggested
it would be among the first to rot otherwise. However, an animal got
to it first. A big hole was carved out of it one day, maybe 1/3 of it
was eaten. I speculated that it was a possum, which are not commonly
seen here, but I have seen them. There are raccoons around here, too,
but no more common than possums. Several days later I spotted a
fairly large possum in the yard during the day, and it darted off.
Not having seen a possum in my yard for some years, I figured that
this confirmed my suspicion that a possum (this possum) had fed on my
pumpkin.

Nothing further happened and I concluded that whatever attacked that
cracked pumpkin wasn't inclined to feed on undamaged pumpkins and I
wasn't too concerned. Two days ago, two smaller pumpkins on the ground
in the planting patch were attacked and half eaten. I left the house
for a few hours during the day and returning in late afternoon I was
dismayed to find that two of the largest pumpkins had been attacked
and almost half eaten! Two other smaller pumpkins were also half
eaten. A couple of other pumpkins had very minor damage indicating
that some creature had tried to penetrate the exterior. I quickly
clipped off every remaining pumpkin that was not suspended in the
air, leaving only
4. I assumed that it was a possum or maybe a possum family doing this.

However, yesterday I went outside and found 3 squirrels feeding on the
remains of what I had left there of the attacked pumpkins. This made
me think: Was it squirrels or were they just scavenging on what was
left by another animal? One of the squirrels repeatedly looked
longingly at one of the suspended pumpkins but didn't try to climb
the trellis system, which is pretty flimsy, evidently too flimsy for
it to attempt to climb. This makes me further suspect that the
squirrels may have been the original attackers. There are a LOT of
squirrels around here (Berkeley, CA). I wonder if squirrels could
have eaten THAT much of the pumpkins, though. Two pounds or more of
pumpkin were evidently consumed.

My concern is for next year. I don't know if these animals are smart
enough to "remember" and come back for next year's harvest.
Suggestions? TIA!!


Opossums are the gypsies of the animal world. Irrespective of the food
supply, they'll hang around for up to a week, then the wanderlust overcomes
them. They move on. They will, however, return in about three months - your
location is on their "Opossum Circuit."