It’s been clear for a while that a comadreja (possum) had been getting into our compost barrel.
Its last visit was indeed its last.
Since lately I’ve only taken compost out after dark (without a light), I don’t know how long it had been there. But I expect I would have heard it moving when I emptied scraps on top of it. The last time this happened, I actually tipped over the barrel so it could escape.
I just recently bought a book, Compost Everything: The Good Guide to Extreme Composting, whose author would have left it there. I’m not there yet. I took it to the overgrown corner lot to let nature do its thing there.
Obviously it couldn’t climb out. But why did it die?
MMMM. I think it had a tiny little heart attack from pure exhaustion. R I P little one.
Yes, RIP. We don’t feel too sorry for it though, since it’s probably the same one that ruined 10% of our first avocado crop (i.e., three avocados ;-).
Perhaps your little scavenger got into rat poison at a neighbor’s house before visiting your compost barrel for desert. I think I would have covered him in wood chips to avoid the unpleasant task of moving him. Since he worked so hard to gnaw his way through the lid, this may be a case of “just desserts.”
Hmmm. I don’t suspect neighbors are putting out rat poison. Everyone has pets. There lots of cats around. The lid has been chewed up for quite a while — that wasn’t a one-time thing, though it might have been somewhat toxic, depending what binder they use in that low-quality particle board.
It wasn’t unpleasant moving him. He wasn’t decaying yet.