I have this eggplant, bought the seedling from the garden store, in a terracotta pot. I put the pot in a VERY sunny boxed in bed, on top of a little mound of dirt and drying grass and weeds that I pulled, so that the top of the pot is almost level with the top of the box. It's basically there for protection from dogs and neighbors.

There are a few dry pine needles and jute scraps on top of one side of the soil, to keep the moisture in the container. I planted a pepper seed in the uncovered part, just to start it. So far, no luck with that.

This morning, there was a big hole in the soil, on the "uncovered" side. It was deep enough for a big egg or rock, like someone had scooped it out, and a few inches wide.

I wanna know, was this taken out by a person? or an animal? So that I can take precautions before fruits are growing. There are also slugs in the box at night, but I've been trying to handle those. Would a slug crawl up the container and do that?

Also, some of the lower leaves felt soft and droopy today, like they got too much water. However, we've had blazing sun all weekend, and the soil didn't feel moist for 2 or 3 inches down.