It was a surprise to me too. They had never bothered them before, but I think that’s because I always put it in front of the patio door, and the dog would bark and scare the squirrels away.
They didn’t actually eat them either. Just took a bite and threw them on the patio.
I had a trinidad moruga scorpion in a container next to several container bell peppers.
once the furry little thieves moved past the bells and ‘discovered’ the scorpion I never had a problem with thieving again.
I KNOW what happened because the morning after the last night I had predation problems I found a nearly ripe scorpion pepper halfway down my driveway with one squirrel/chipmunk sized bite out of it.
I nearly had a coughing fit laughing and the neighbors looked at me funny.