Elephant garlic must be tasty!

Having had a furtle in the soil for my elephant garlic, I can't find a single bulb.  I had a load of bulbils given to me and every single one has disappeared.  The bed hasn't been waterlogged, it was lovely for digging today, so I can only assume that some beastie has eaten them, every single one.  Boo hoo, it was my first time of trying elephant garlic so guess I will have to try again next autumn.   

Any recommendations on growing?  I've never had a problem with real garlic, onions, bean seeds etc being eaten, so this is a first.

Are you sure they've been eaten? I've grown elephant garlic from cloves and rounds without a problem, but the bulbils have always defeated me. They were potted up directly from my own plants too, without a chance to dry out, but they just sat in the pots and never grew.  I dug them up from time-to-time and they never changed. I  read somewhere that they have one of the toughest & hardest coats going, and I can believe it.