What's Digging Holes in My Backyard? Determining the Culprit

Posted on 2026-01-11 14:14:24

Likely candidates include squirrels, moles, voles, skunks, raccoons, armadillos, groundhogs, chipmunks, pets, and bugs like cicada killers. The size, shape, location, and soil disruption around the holes inform you a lot, as do tracks, droppings, time of day the activity occurs, and what's missing from your lawn. With a little observation, you can generally narrow it to one or two species, then pick targeted fixes that really work.

I've strolled numerous backyards with homeowners gazing at a polka-dotted lawn and a sinking sensation in the gut. The majority of holes are not emergency situations, however they can mean genuine damage to turf, gardens, and irrigation. The technique is to diagnose before you deal with. A generic technique wastes cash and typically makes the issue even worse. Below, I'll break down what I try to find, case by case, and where I draw the line and call a licensed exterminator or wildlife control operator.

Start with the hole, not the animal

You probably won't capture the trespasser in the act. The ground is your witness, and it speaks. Get a tape measure. Photograph the hole beside a coin or a glove for scale. Keep in mind the time you initially saw activity and whether it's recurring after rain or mowing.

Hole diameter matters. So does whether there's a mound, a fan of loose soil, claw marks, or smooth edges. Fresh soil has a richer color and holds shape; older holes collapse and gray out. Smell the soil if you can tolerate it. Skunk digs frequently carry a faint musk. Raccoon latrines are unmistakable once you've seen one, however let's hope you have not.

Quick size guide, with personality

Small holes the size of a penny to a quarter, shallow and scattered, point to bugs or small rodents. Golf ball size to tangerine size recommends chipmunks, squirrels, or wasps. Baseball to softball size burrows with specified entrances, sometimes with a stack of excavated soil, suggest mammals that live underground or raid lawns at night. Anything bigger than a grapefruit, with a clear tunnel and fresh spoil, brings groundhogs or armadillos into play.

Squirrels: neat divots with a habit

Squirrels cache and recover food by making small, shallow divots 2 to 3 inches large. These holes seldom go deeper than two inches, and they typically appear near trees or along fence lines where squirrels travel. In fall you'll see a burst of activity as they bury acorns and pecans. In spring they dig some of them up. Soil is normally tossed aside lightly, not piled.

What helps: thinning heavy nut drop, raking regularly, eliminating fallen fruit, and utilizing hardware cloth to protect beds. Repellents can reduce activity short term, however they wash out. Do not lose money on sonic stakes for squirrel holes. If the yard is pocked however not collapsing, you're looking at annoyance, not structural damage.

Chipmunks: small burrowers with covert doorways

Chipmunk burrow entryways run around one and a half to two inches broad, cool and round, without any excavated mound at the entrance. That absence of a soil stack is a hallmark. They carry soil away in cheek pouches and discard it inconspicuously. You'll discover entrances at slab edges, actions, retaining walls, and rock borders. If the hole lives under an a/c unit pad or concrete stoop, chipmunks are among the very first suspects.

Typical indications include plant roots munched off from listed below and hollow courses under mulch where they commute. I've seen stoops settle when chipmunk burrows honeycomb the soil. Live-trapping with sunflower seed works, however you need to close access later with quarter-inch hardware cloth and fixed mortar joints. If they're weakening structures, consult wildlife control.

Moles: engineers of the subsurface

Moles do not consume your plants; they consume grubs and earthworms. Their signature is the raised runway. You'll feel spongy ridges underfoot and see volcano-like mounds if they're excavating deep tunnels. The holes themselves are not generally open; you're seeing collapsed portions where the roofing system gave way under a lawn mower wheel or after rain. Yard appears like someone laid a garden tube simply under the sod.

Key detail: active mole runs feel firm and springy if you press with a palm, and they get restored within a day after you tamp them down. Inactive runs flatten and stay flat. Control choices include trapping along active runs, reducing grub populations if your grass has documented grub pressure, and preventing overwatering, which draws earthworms upward and keeps soil damp, conditions moles https://telegra.ph/How-to-Keep-Wasps-from-Structure-Nests-Around-Your-Home-01-11 enjoy. Grub control alone does not ensure mole elimination since worms are a main food. Expert mole trapping works when positioned on straight, often used runs.

Voles: plant assassins with pinholes

Voles, often called meadow mice, leave silver-dollar sized openings and, more informing, quarter-inch broad runways pushed through lawn and mulch. In winter, they tunnel under snow and then reveal a damage map when the thaw comes. You'll find girdled shrubs with bark chewed at the base and bulbs hollowed like apples. Unlike moles, voles do consume roots, tubers, and bark.

What assists: snap-traps in peanut butter bait stations put perpendicular to runways, environment reduction by pulling mulch back from trunks, and tight hardware fabric collars around young trees. Cats make a dent. Poison baits are available but come with non-target risks. If voles are heavy and next-door neighbors are also impacted, a coordinated effort works much better than a solo campaign.

Skunks: neat cones at night

Skunks probe lawns carefully however constantly, particularly when grubs are plentiful. The holes are cone-shaped, about one to three inches large, and shallow, like someone poked the backyard with a finger. Nighttime activity, grub-chasing, and a faint musk provide away. In heavy invasions, a yard can look like it was peppered with a golf tee.

Skunks will likewise den under decks and sheds, where you might see a larger opening, 4 to six inches broad, with soft soil at the limit and an obvious odor. If you presume a den and it's spring, be cautious; there might be kits. Exemption with one-way doors is a timing video game and is finest delegated pros. Long-lasting, repair the food source. If a soil sample or turf yank test shows grubs at damaging levels, deal with the yard. If you don't have grubs, skunks generally lose interest.

Raccoons: yard roll-up artists

Raccoons are strong, curious, and nighttime. Where skunks peck, raccoons pry. They roll back grass like a carpet to eat grubs and worms beneath, leaving flaps of sod or square sections neatly turned. If your yard lifts quickly in mats, raccoons or armadillos are prime suspects depending on region. Tracks in soft soil show hand-like prints with visible fingers and nails.

Preventive steps include protecting trash, eliminating pet food, and brilliant movement lights. To discourage yard turning, water less in the evening, which lowers earthworms near the surface. Where damage is serious, a wildlife pro can set compliance traps, however you require to integrate capture with gain access to control and food decrease or you develop a revolving door.

Armadillos: diggers with a travel route

In the southern states, armadillos leave quarter to baseball sized conical holes, 2 to five inches deep, while foraging for grubs and bugs. They operate at night and follow regular paths. Their burrows are bigger, frequently eight inches throughout, with crescent-shaped spoil piles and an unique earthy odor. Unlike raccoons, they won't roll grass, they puncture it. If you have a slope with soft soil and a lot of beetle activity, armadillos find it fast.

They are infamously trap-shy unless you funnel them with boards along their usual routes. Fencing to omit them must be buried or turned outward at the base. Control of white grubs decreases interest but does not eliminate it completely. Inspect local regulations before any control; some areas restrict methods.

Groundhogs: big holes, big appetite

A groundhog burrow appears like an eight to twelve inch round hole with a large mound of excavated soil close by, often with a secondary escape hole without a mound. You'll find gnawed plants close to the entrance and well-worn courses. They love clover, beans, lettuce, and flowers. Under decks, sheds, and embankments are prime den areas. I as soon as tested a groundhog den with a smoke bomb the owner had actually tried. The smoke poured out two extra holes twenty feet away. That's typical, which is why half procedures fail.

Groundhogs are strong diggers and can undermine pieces. If animals or children utilize the lawn, don't leave an active burrow open. Lethal control and relocation have legal constraints and illness danger. This is where a certified wildlife operator makes their cost: setting body-grip traps at the den in accordance with state law, then installing a buried exclusion skirt to prevent re-entry.

Rabbits: little holes are red herrings

Rabbits do not dig big burrows in many lawns. They use shallow scrapes in mulch or grass, called kinds, and frequently nest in depressions lined with fur. What appears like a hole might be a nest cavity covered with thatch. If you discover infant rabbits, cover the nest lightly and keep family pets away; the mom returns briefly at dawn and dusk. If you see a two to three inch entrance under a low shrub, it might be a chipmunk, not a rabbit.

Wasps and bees: try to find traffic, not dirt

Cicada killer wasps develop impressive quarter-sized holes with a fan of loose soil and a pebble or more at the rim, usually in bare, sun-baked ground. They are big, intimidating fliers, however solitary and normally non-aggressive away from active burrows. Yellow jackets, by contrast, use existing cavities and you won't see a cool pile or a specified tunnel the way mammals do. What you will see is traffic. If the hole hums with comings and goings throughout daytime, call a pest control service that deals with stinging bugs. Do not put fuel into holes, ever. It eliminates soil, threats groundwater, and does not reliably reach the nest.

Ants and termites: mounds and pellets

Ants bring soil up in crumbly mounds with numerous small openings. Fire ants develop high, soft mounds without a main crater. Termites do not expose holes, however you might see pencil-thin mud tubes up foundation walls or sand-like pellets from drywood termite kickout holes in structures, not yards. If you discover consistent, peppery pellets around a wooden threshold, collect a sample for identification. Yard ants are generally a nuisance; structural termites are not. When wood is involved, bring in a certified pest control operator for an evaluation and a targeted treatment plan.

Dogs and human factors

Sometimes the perpetrator is a bored dog, a professional who left test holes, or a next-door neighbor's family pet that gos to in the evening. Pet holes are usually larger, messier, and located near cool soil under shrubs or where something smells intriguing, such as a buried bone or drip line. Movement cams fix these mysteries quickly.

I have actually also had 2 yards where irrigation leaks softened soil so seriously that animal traffic seemed to blow up. Once the leakage was fixed and the ground dried, activity dropped. Soft ground invites digging because bugs and worms are plentiful. Always inspect watering if the damage pattern follows a pipeline route.

Reading the context: season, weather condition, and region

In the Midwest, grub feeding peaks late summer into fall, which is when skunks and raccoons go to work. In northern climates, vole damage appears after snowmelt. In the Southeast and Gulf states, armadillos and fire ants make complex the picture. Wet springs bring earthworms to the surface area and moles follow. Dry spell concentrates activity around irrigated yards. If you know what remains in season, you can anticipate and prevent.

How to validate without guesswork

A trail video camera with night vision, set six to 10 inches above ground and aimed across a believed runway or hole, typically solves the puzzle in 2 nights. Fresh flour around the hole entrance records tracks without hurting animals. A plank over a mole run with a cup inverted beneath can identify an active push. These low-tech tricks decrease the threat of treating the incorrect species.

If you prefer a tidy, very little approach before committing to gear, do a two-day test: tamp mole ridges at night, then look for brand-new pushes at dawn; rake skunk pecks smooth at dusk, then look for fresh cones in the early morning; fill chipmunk holes lightly with soil to see which resume within 24 hr, then enjoy those entrances from a window.

Prevention that in fact sticks

Most homeowners request for a single cure-all. There isn't one. The trustworthy course mixes environment modifications with targeted control. Trim at the appropriate height for your grass species so the canopy is dense and roots are strong. Prevent chronic overwatering; deep, periodic watering beats everyday sprays. Reduce food for the animals you do not want, which often means controlling the animals they consume or getting rid of simple calories like birdseed spills and fallen fruit.

Seal structural spaces bigger than half an inch with hardware fabric or mortar where useful. For decks and sheds, an exclusion skirt of galvanized hardware cloth buried six inches with a horizontal turn of twelve inches outside stops most burrowers. When you garden, utilize bulb cages for tulips in vole nation and pick daffodils where possible given that voles ignore them. If you should utilize repellents, rotate active components and don't expect miracles during heavy pressure.

When to bring in a pro

Certain situations push beyond do it yourself. Big denning animals under structures. Aggressive stinging bugs with covert nests. Repeating mole or armadillo damage over several seasons in spite of efforts. Scenarios near schools or public walkways where liability is genuine. A licensed exterminator or wildlife control operator brings species-specific traps, legal clearance, and experience putting them properly. Ask about their evaluation process, what they think the target types is and why, and what they will do to prevent re-entry once the instant problem is resolved. Excellent pros speak about exemption and habitat, not just removal.

Costs vary widely by region and types. Mole trapping programs often run in multi-visit plans. Groundhog removal with exclusion skirts can be a multi-day job. Always request a written strategy and service warranty terms. If somebody guarantees universal results with a spray that "drives whatever away," be skeptical.

Safety notes you must not skip

Rodent baits can eliminate pets and non-target wildlife through primary or secondary poisoning. If you use them, utilize locked bait stations, select formulations less most likely to cause secondary eliminates where appropriate, and follow the label exactly. Fumigants for burrows are restricted-use in lots of states and can be deadly to unintentional animals, consisting of animals. Never release a fumigant without correct licensing and training.

Gasoline, bleach, ammonia, and mothballs do not belong in the soil. They stop working more than they are successful and infect your backyard. When you're handling skunks, keep in mind the threat of rabies in lots of regions. Prevent cornering any animal, and keep canines leashed at sunset and dawn while you diagnose.

Matching common patterns to likely culprits

Here's a succinct field combining you can run through in your head.

Cone-shaped pecks across the lawn after a warm, wet night, plus a faint musk: skunks foraging for grubs. Sod rolled like carpet with square or ragged edges, over night: raccoons, possibly armadillos in the South if there are puncture holes too. Raised, spongy ridges that come back after you press them down: moles, not voles. Two-inch round holes without any soil pile at piece edges or steps: chipmunks. Eight to twelve inch holes with a big spoil mound near sheds or embankments: groundhogs. Quarter-sized holes in tough, warm soil with a loose fan of dirt, daytime wasp traffic: cicada killers.

Keep in mind that mixed indications happen. A backyard can host moles creating tunnels and after that skunks exploiting them for a meal. If you see both runs and pecks, treat both parts of the formula or you'll chase your tail.

Repairing the yard and beds after the offender is gone

Once the activity stops, rake loose soil, topdress low spots with screened compost or topsoil, and reseed or plug as needed. For rolled turf, water, press it back, and pin with naturally degradable stakes for a week. For vole runways, rake to rough up the thatch and overseed. For burrow entrances under structures, backfill just after you are certain the den is empty and you have set up exemption. Filling an active den just shifts the exit and might trap animals where you can't reach them.

If grubs belonged to the problem, choose an item that matches your timing. Preventive applications with active ingredients like chlorantraniliprole in late spring target freshly hatched larvae. Curative products applied in late summer season deal with existing grubs. Don't apply both without a factor; test and validate pressure first.

A reasonable expectation on timelines

Most backyard wildlife problems deal with within 2 to four weeks when identified correctly and resolved with concentrated steps. Moles may need a couple of tactical trap checks. Raccoons proceed once the buffet closes. Groundhog elimination and exemption may take a week, sometimes 2 if there are multiple den holes. In contrast, vole population decreases can take a season due to the fact that you're changing environment as well as numbers.

Give yourself a calendar marker. If you do not see improvement in 7 to 10 days after a correct intervention, reassess. Either the species ID is wrong, the food source remains, or access wasn't closed. A quick check-in with a pest control expert at that point often saves weeks of frustration.

A short, practical checklist to determine and act

Measure hole diameter and depth, note mound presence, and photograph for scale. Map where holes occur: open lawn, edges, along pieces, near beds, or under structures. Check timing: fresh holes at dawn, night cam activity, seasonal patterns. Test the lawn: tamp mole runs, fill up small holes gently, see what reopens. Decide on targeted action: trapping, exclusion, or habitat/food modification, and set a one to 2 week review.

Final ideas from the field

The ground informs the story if you decrease and read it. Most property owners start with a product and end with a guess. Turn that. Make a tidy recognition, then use the lightest efficient touch. When the damage indicate a denning animal or stinging insects near traffic, generate a pro with the right tools. If you keep your yard healthy, get rid of easy calories, and close structural spaces, you'll invest far less time chasing after animals and more time enjoying the space. And if something brand-new starts digging next season, you'll know how to listen to the backyard and catch the culprit quickly.

NAP

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