Last week the berries had just turned red and were still very firm and hard. I thought I should wait about a week to pick them. I went back yesterday to check and there were no berries left. Do they mature that fast or did something eat them?

Robins and Blackbirds love them...

Thanks, I guess it would have been too early to pick and plant them last weekend?

I think that would be hard to say...depends were they ripe enough to pick?

They were red, but didnt seem real ripe.

I have seen seal seeds that turn a a color much like a blackberry. After they are red, they turn into a shiny black looking color for about a week. I always thought that the black color was the final ripening stage. Birds eat the dang things usually before they get to turn black.
Ohbuyer and myself was discussing seal seeds a couple days ago and he was telling me that he thought that once they was black, they was already starting to dry out. Maybe in his part of the world, but in my area, they will look like a blackberry before they dry out.