What kinds of animals dig up your yard?

The night critters can be cute sometime but may be destructive when they reach into your yard. They do come into your yard to search for their food or they may be looking in the place that had enough food in the past. Raccoons will roll up your yard while looking for larval insects or grubs. Skunks will make individual holes while looking for the insects larvae. The squirrels will dig the places where they will bury their foods. Skunks and the raccoon’s work at night while squirrels work in the day.



Skunks are most of the time the cause of digging in your yard. The soil disruption will be seen over night since the skunks feed during the night. The hole may be the same size as the skunk nose. The skunk can press the nose in a soil and it can dig using the front claws. There can be too many holes at once in the area and it may look as if they had been tilled. The skunks may be looking for grubs, earthworms or soil insects. The diet can include turtle eggs, birds, small animals and crayfish. The skunks are not able to jump or to climb and this is why they do work near the ground.

Raccoons have the same diet as that of the skunks, however, the raccoons may use the front paws as their hands. They do flip or pull the pieces of the sod. This is the behavior that it is common in the area that has been newly laid with the sod or which has shallow roots.

The moles make the piles of the soil on a surface since they are being pushed up from under. There will be no visible holes. In the warm weather, the star nosed mole may work up to 6 inches under the surface on periodic basic and they can push the soil up in order to make the air vent. In the winter since the ground is frozen, the moles will be pushing soil on the surface because they will be active. They are feeding on the earthworms and sometime on the soil and grubs.

For skunks and the raccoons use grub controls and beneficial nematodes that helps in getting rid of the grubs. Non-chemical solution prevents the damage when skunks and raccoons are the treat in the place. It is hard to get rid of the squirrels especially if there is a neighbor who feeds them with peanuts.

Go back to the How to get rid of wildlife home page.

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