DaleCooper
Established Member
Several of these holes appeared in my lawn overnight. Does anyone know the culprit?
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Mysterious Holes in My Lawn
- Thread starter DaleCooper
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randyrippley
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Holes or tunnels? How deep do they go?
Anything in them like rabbit poo?
Anything in them like rabbit poo?
DaleCooper
Established Member
Not very deep just a couple of cm. I did wonder if something was digging up leatherjackets.
randyrippley
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Have you got badgers or foxes there? Though I've never known either make holes like that. Perhaps the wet ground makes it easier to dig like that?
Possibly either corvids or gulls?
Possibly either corvids or gulls?
DarloRich
Veteran Member
Rat holes?
My garden had something similar and eventually they became rat hole entry points
My garden had something similar and eventually they became rat hole entry points
actually this seems more likely
SLC001
Member
I have just filled in a similar hole (identical in fact) - after having called in a pest controller. Almost certainly rats. We have had a number of these holes appear and have actually photographed a rat.
In years gone by we set up a night camera which caught on picture hedgehogs and mice, lots of the latter. These mice have now gone and I believe that rats have driven them out or killed them. Normally you do not find rats and mice co-habiting.
One concern we did have is that the rodent catcher used poison which may concern some folks. The rat dies an unpleasant death and you could find the body anywhere. Also other animals may be attracted by it e.g. hedgehogs so there is a real question as to how rats can be controlled as they do much damage, destroy sheds (they were gnawing through our shed to get at the bird feed) and may be a threat to health. A difficult moral dilemma.
Also, as with moles, rats begat rats begat rats.......
In years gone by we set up a night camera which caught on picture hedgehogs and mice, lots of the latter. These mice have now gone and I believe that rats have driven them out or killed them. Normally you do not find rats and mice co-habiting.
One concern we did have is that the rodent catcher used poison which may concern some folks. The rat dies an unpleasant death and you could find the body anywhere. Also other animals may be attracted by it e.g. hedgehogs so there is a real question as to how rats can be controlled as they do much damage, destroy sheds (they were gnawing through our shed to get at the bird feed) and may be a threat to health. A difficult moral dilemma.
Also, as with moles, rats begat rats begat rats.......
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DarloRich
Veteran Member
mine used the contained traps so the rat stays in the trap with the poison rather than just scatter it around - got a couple of rats in each trap
Ash Bridge
Established Member
Grey squirrels are another possibility, seen similar in our lawn and they were found to be the culprits.
gg1
Established Member
That was my thought, quite possibly badgers. They regularly leave similar looking holes in our lawn.
swt_passenger
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I had them in pairs, about the same distance apart. They turned out to be the window cleaner’s ladder… 
SLC001
Member
DarloRich is right, do your research and use traps. The poison is lethal. Many years ago I put poison down in the loft to control mice. I found minute quantities of it up the stairs when we we chased a mouse and we had a baby at the time. Consequently, I have always used traps for mice and moles.
ChrisC
Established Member
Grey squirrels are certainly a possibility. I had them dig similar holes in my lawn a couple of years ago. They never dug down any deeper than the hole in the photograph.
randyrippley
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they would have been after buried nuts or acorns, often buried by magpies or other corvids
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
They also eat crocus bulbs.
A few years ago I had several hundred planted under our lawn. Most of them got dug up and eaten by squirrels within weeks...
randyrippley
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AFAIK crocus bulbs are toxic so you might get some satisfaction there
DaleCooper
Established Member
Badgers - I'm in an urban area and although we get foxes I've never been aware of badgers.
Squirrels - are common but I've never seen these holes before and they are normally active in daytime..
Corvids/gulls - I don't think they are active at night and I think I would have seen them in the daytime.
Googling did bring up the suggestion of voles but I'd be surprised if it was those or rats or mice as my garden is visited by 4 or 5 cats.
Don't worry about poison, I don't use that or weedkiller (except acetic acid) in my garden.
I've not had any window cleaners or surveyors in the garden unless they were nocturnal, ninja ones.
Squirrels - are common but I've never seen these holes before and they are normally active in daytime..
Corvids/gulls - I don't think they are active at night and I think I would have seen them in the daytime.
Googling did bring up the suggestion of voles but I'd be surprised if it was those or rats or mice as my garden is visited by 4 or 5 cats.
Don't worry about poison, I don't use that or weedkiller (except acetic acid) in my garden.
I've not had any window cleaners or surveyors in the garden unless they were nocturnal, ninja ones.
GRALISTAIR
Established Member
That must have been quite upsetting.
randyrippley
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Probably gave the squirrels the s**** if not worse
Rabbits then maybe
Gloster
Established Member
Squirrels are just tree rats with good PR, even the red ones in my garden. Just check that there are no openings for the rats to enlarge: even very small ones can be enlarged by the rats, particularly if there are cables going through them.
SLC001
Member
We have 2 and sometimes more resident dogs. We have neighbours with cats who wonder in at will as they do - the cats that is! In spite of this, the mice thrived until the rats arrived and again the rats thrived in spite of our pets interest. So look out for signs of chewing and gnawing as rats, like mice, need to chew to keep their teeth short. If they did not, their teeth get longer and become painful. Our local mice went down cable ducting and chewed through fibre optic cable. Vodafone were not impressed when we complained about lost broadband!
Rats can chew through almost anything, our shed was a target as were our planted bulbs and the bird feeder encouraged them further. So look out for chewing elsewhere, holes through fence and holes under fences. If it is rats, and our holes were identical to the one in the picture, there will be other signs. If you have a bird feeder, consider stopping feeding them. The mess encourages them - and our squirrels.
Rats can chew through almost anything, our shed was a target as were our planted bulbs and the bird feeder encouraged them further. So look out for chewing elsewhere, holes through fence and holes under fences. If it is rats, and our holes were identical to the one in the picture, there will be other signs. If you have a bird feeder, consider stopping feeding them. The mess encourages them - and our squirrels.
DaleCooper
Established Member
I just had a thought - hedgehog. I have seem one in the garden, they are nocturnal, insectivorous and probably not bothered by cats so seem to fit the bill.
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
It was extremely annoying, to put it mildly...