This is not unusual. I know, you've heard this before. Females always seem to wait so that they can make a big 'entrance', popping up when most of the menfolk are already at the party.

The female flower doesn't stay receptive for very long, so if you are hand pollinating, you better be on the lookout every morning.

To avoid having any snakes startle you, stomp your way into the garden from now on. Or use something to thump on the ground as you approach. They can't hear, but they sure can 'feel' you coming a mile away. Most snakes don't want to be anywhere near us silly humans.

I wish I'd see a snake in our garden areas.

Thanks rhizo_1. We'll see if I get my big female entrance at some point soon, although about five or six weeks of nearly all boys doesn't bode well.

. . . but why you'd want to see a snake is curious. I've seen enough of them in my five years in Alabama to last a lifetime.

I've always liked snakes, or should I say...I've never been afraid of them, even as a small girl. Of course, we didn't have big snakes in Central NYS, where I grew up!

Big snakes were the norm in SC, though, where I lived for over 20 years! Oh my, is all I'll say. But I learned all I could about their behavior so that I could avoid any unexpected confrontations with a big diamond back, cotton mouth, or copperhead. Knowledge is power, when it comes to something like that, I decided. And I was right. I wasn't able to avoid those snakes entirely, but I knew what to do when I did.

I became fascinated with all of the other big snakes....huge tree climbing garter snakes, a big king snake that stood guard on my front porch at night, etc. That king snake prevented more than one date from seeing me to my door, lol!

Anyway, I'd enjoy the company of a snake or two in the back yard here.

The only snakes I have seen at my new place are 3 dead rat snakes, which I'm afraid I caught in some (now removed) bird netting. I will have to do something else next year; this year the birds got my blackberries but at least I didn't have any more sad snake bodies.

I for certain we have pygmy rattlers around here -- my neighbor had/has? them in her crawlspace. Ick.) And if the woods behind me don't have everything else I'd be astonished.

I don't think snakes can make it past my garden fence. Maybe tiny garter snakes. Or big snakes smart enough to reach up past the chickenwire on the bottom. But since there are very few critters in the garden (thanks to the fence), I can't image they'd want in.

Fencing a watermelon patch would probably not be feasible (my vines were 40' long last year), but you could fence your garden with hardware cloth, MiKru. Then no more surprises for you there, at least.

I lived out in the country my first year in Alabama and had a crash course in snakes (I'm from Chicago). We found a few huge rat snakes in the house and I got used to seeing them outside. But I had a run in with a cottonmouth near a creek and just recently had it out with a rattler (it's a long story . . . I was hiking and couldn't go around it).

I saw an at least 5' rat snake in the area that became my garden last year.

Anyway, I've decided to stop obsessing about my watermelon (everything else has turned out so well though). I'm just going to let them go and see what happens. Maybe I'll bang a gong before checking next time though.

Make that "stomp on the ground" and you'll be good to go. Snakes won't hear the gong, lol.