[Agib11]

Hello,

I’m going to attach a picture to see if anyone can let me know what kind of animal was trying to dig a hole in my yard. It seemed to happen overnight, and whatever it was, made a pretty big mess. There are a few animals that are confirmed near my yard: skunk, big groundhog, opossum, and a raccoon.

Thanks in advance

 

[Bud9051]

I get a lot of those, skunks digging for grubs. Cosmetics are not an issue in my yard so I take no action. But eliminating the food they are digging for or eliminating the skunks would be the solution.
Note, I have seen my critters with my motion sensor camera.
Bud

 

[CaptTom]

Hard to say from the photo, but it looks a bit more of an excavation than the skunks in my yard leave. How big and deep is the hole?

As for grubs and skunks, I just let them do their thing. I try to avoid poisons in my yard. I figure the skunks are pretty good at keeping the grubs at bay. It has worked for me so far.

 

[Agib11]

The hole was kinda deep, and it seems to have happened overnight.

 

[Agib11]

Also, the hole was probably a half a foot wide or so

 

[KRV4Lee]

Fill it with rocks and dirt. We had a couple smaller ones that kept coming back, I filled with Quikcrete.

 

[old codger]

Do not know where you are located, but we would blame an armadillo for a hole like that. They are a bad animal for your yard.

 

[Missouri Bound]

Do not know where you are located, but we would blame an armadillo for a hole like that. They are a bad animal for your yard.

I'll vote for the armadillo as well.
I've seen little stumps and rocks dug out overnight that I couldn't budge with a shovel.
Always looking for food....usually in the garden beds.

 

[AllanJ]

Ground hogs often leave a lot of the diggings at the mouth of their burrow. Sometimes they might bring out over 30 pounds of dirt in one day.

 

[notnew2diy]

+1 for a ground hog.
Skunk, possum, raccoon will find easier homes vs. digging a hole.

Wait a minute....you say it happened overnight?
I live in No. central Ill-noise. All ground hogs are hibernating for the winter.
I see no location in your profile. Got no clue where your located.
I would think, that hole has been there and you aint seen it before.

FWIW...Don.

 

[papereater]

I do not see the point in trying to identify the animal that dug this hole. Why do you need to know the specie of mammal? Not that anyone really can determine that. It could be a red fox (they like to dig holes, matter of fact, trappers use this knowledge to trap them mimicking another fox, trying to burry a scrap of food, etc). Could be a possum, or armadillo, or skunk(if youre up north), or woodchuck, if dug before they hibernate, or etc etc etc. How does that affect your decision to fill the hole?

 

[gthomson]

I had holes/tunnels under a shed that were about that size. It was pretty extensive what they had going on there, and there was then a hole just on the right side of the shed between shed and fence for them to go in/out.
They were already gone by the time I was removing the shed.
I thought it might have been a cat with kittens, but I don't think cats dig like that.
I've only seen one racoon here in 18 years, but do see possums a little more frequently.
I do see skunks, but have never seen them in my yard.

Gregory Thomson (@gthomson.us) • Instagram photos and videos