Two weeks ago before we went on holiday I checked it, it was fine, all my wriggly little mates were doing well, hundreds of ”em, I gave them all a feed of bits of vegetable peelings, dandelion leaves, tea bags etc etc, all the stuff that they like to munch on, replaced the lid and left it.
It is in a shady place so it would not and did not dry up.
Went to get myself a handful of worms this morning as I am off to a local pond for a few hours tomorrow.
Disaster !
The whole box was empty of wormies, just a few very tiny baby ones in the bottom in amongst the newspaper lining.
Amongst the soiI found this little sod.
It is a common shrew, it was dead as dodos.
The little sod must have munched its way through the whole box of worms, the box is about 24 ins x 18 ins x 14 ins , and has a close fitting lid which was in place .How it got in is a mystery.
Seemingly they like worms and need to eat at least 2 or 3 times their own bodyweight of food every day, so it must have thought it had found heaven. Well I hope it had stomach ache before it died.Little sod ! I have been cherishing and looking after my livestock for ages, now I know how a farmer feels when he gets some fatality amongst his cows, pigs, sheep or whatever .
I just hope he did not invite all his mates as I will have to start and restock now, looks like I will be out with a torch and bait box on the local cricket pitch and grassy areas for a few evenings.
Dave
