What do I have in my yard? (1 Viewer)

[Kanil]

Definitely voles.

how do you tell the difference between moles, voles and gophers?

I've had voles several times, and that's what their holes looked like. I have used traps (which are brutal) and castor oil. The castor oil worked great, but was expensive. Like $40 a gallon. I used several gallons on my 3/4 acre yard.

I would think I would see more tunneling around the area/yard if it were voles.

I agree but maybe the grass is too long to see? If it is voles, the way we got rid of ours was the neighbor behind us (Zach) killed them all and stacked them in a pile in his driveway. I'll let Zach know he needs to move to your neighborhood.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Cicada wasp killer.

 

[Galileo]

Found this next to one of the holes today. I am also now seeing several smaller areas show up where the grass/dirt is scraped away. This definitely has to be something trying to get to grubs, worms, insects, or whatever is living in my lawn.

If there‘s a bunch of those scraped areas, it could be crows going after grubs. I’ve seen them destroy lawns.

I'd probably have some visual evidence of that. Skunks, being nocturnal, seem more likely to me.

 

[Angry Beavers]

skunk was 1st thing I thought of

 

[belljr]

Sand hornet

 

[matttyl]

Found this next to one of the holes today. I am also now seeing several smaller areas show up where the grass/dirt is scraped away. This definitely has to be something trying to get to grubs, worms, insects, or whatever is living in my lawn.

If there‘s a bunch of those scraped areas, it could be crows going after grubs. I’ve seen them destroy lawns.

I'd probably have some visual evidence of that. Skunks, being nocturnal, seem more likely to me.

Skunks go after bee hives. Having the honeycomb leftover at a hole is the giveaway here.

 

[Nathan R. Jessep]

Cicada wasp killer.

This was going to be my guess also. I have some of these in my yard. And these *^#^ are slightly terrifying when flying around your yard, although not generally aggressive and only the females can sting.

https://kapturepest.com/what-does-a-cicada-killer-wasp-nest-look-like/

 

[IvanKaramazov]

It's a dickfer.

What's a

Goddammit.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Groundhog, or possibly gopher. Too big for voles. Can you put something else in the picture for scale?

Yeah, it is a little big for voles, and I do not really see any tunneling around the yard. Here are the holes with my size 13s in the pic.

Nobody's mentioned ground squirrels yet, so let me add them to the lost of possible suspects. Those holes look a little large for ground squirrels, but they're not far off and it's a little hard to judge from the photo.

 

[Galileo]

The smaller scraped up areas that are starting to appear without witnessing any activity really has me leaning towards a skunk doing its thing at night. I don't think it is living there, just trying to feed. So the question becomes what to do about it, if anything. I am inclined to just let it be for now. I have a backyard landscape redesign project about to get started and the area where the holes are located is going to become a mulch bed with 3 hemlock trees planted. So, it is going to get dug up within a week or so hopefully.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

There's your culprit- gardeners!

 

[parasaurolophus]

Found this next to one of the holes today. I am also now seeing several smaller areas show up where the grass/dirt is scraped away. This definitely has to be something trying to get to grubs, worms, insects, or whatever is living in my lawn.

Is that a yellow jacket nest wall?

 

[parasaurolophus]

Pretty sure skunks are the only animals known to eat yellowjackets.

 

[Wildcat]

They are not voles IMO. I've had voles in my yard and they don't make these types of holes. Instead, they leave trails in the yard of dead/dying grass.

I've also had ground squirrels and they keep their hole entrances pretty clean and void of dirt mounds (so they can see predators), so I don't think they are ground squirrels either. But if those aren't mounds of dirt (hard to tell), then it still could be them. I have these 13 lined ground squirrels that I've been trapping are relocating over the past 2 years. I've trapped and relocated over 30 of them. They dig holes in the lawn and under sidewalks. They don't like tall grass because of the predator thing, so they like lawns.

Put one of these next to them baited with peanut butter. That's how I caught mine: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07331WZ6G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Chemical X]

The smaller scraped up areas that are starting to appear without witnessing any activity really has me leaning towards a skunk doing its thing at night. I don't think it is living there, just trying to feed. So the question becomes what to do about it, if anything. I am inclined to just let it be for now. I have a backyard landscape redesign project about to get started and the area where the holes are located is going to become a mulch bed with 3 hemlock trees planted. So, it is going to get dug up within a week or so hopefully.

have you tried reasoning with it? sometimes a conversation helps…..

 

[Mr.Pack]

We have those too, chipmunks.