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Friday, March 15, 2024

CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

...that are causing problems, ha!

Last weekend when I mowed, I encountered this in a remote spot on the property:


The grass/ground was torn up in these two spots.  We'd have to guess feral hogs?  Thankfully, there are no other signs of this anywhere else (and I was all over the property on the mower) and nothing close to the house.

Are there other animals that could do this or most likely hogs?

Then, there was this on the porch:


We had a bag of mulch that was NOT like this when we left the weekend before, ha.  Something had torn into it in several spots.  Raccoons?  Opossums?  Armadillos?  They are small openings and on the bottom of the bag, so it would appear that it was not anything large.

Any thoughts on what might have decided to try a snack of bark mulch?

6 comments:

  1. Could be moles that done your yard digging a they are voracious diggers. Just 1 single mole is able to tunnel up to 18 feet per hour in suitable soil, which can cause significant damage to roots and weaken the surface of lawns. Look for volcano-shaped mounds of soil with no entrance or exit holes that are pushed up from deep below the soil surface and raised ridges of soil running through the grass, usually in the shaded portions of the lawn.

    Digger bees will dig in the soil to nest,
    Might even be Pocket gophers that is doing the digging, looking for a nice meal like grubs, insects, etc. .
    Armadillos also like to dig looking for insects.
    Chipmunks will leave shallow holes from digging for food.
    Skunks will dig burrows, roughly 8" wide and pretty deep

    For your bag of bark mulch it could be some type of rodent, Raccoons
    Opossums, Squirrels.
    Set up your trail cams and you just may find out what is actually digging up your yard. I don't believe that it's wild hogs or you would have more of your yard dug up in areas.
    Have a wonderful weekend.

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  2. That looks like hog damage to me. I've heard armadillos can do some serious damage too though. But I don't *think* they toss the dirt as far as hogs do.

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  3. I am still trying to figure out what dug into a bag of fireant bait on the front porch. Then, the next day after we stuck it in a pot, the bag was dragged out of the pot and across the porch.
    However, hogs were my first thought when I saw your yard. Call the county agent. You can mail them a picture and they can help you possible.

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  4. I vote "Hog" for the ground damage and "Rat" or "Squirrel" taking the mulch for nesting

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  5. The rooted up areas are definitely made by wild hogs. There are millions of them in Texas. So they can cause a lot of damage. They would sometimes get into my daddy’s rice fields and root around, damaging a considerable area in one night.
    The bags of mulch were chewed by mice. They like to make shelter in things like that, especially when the weather is cool/cold at night. I lived in the country for years and saw how mice love to chew into bags of things and other containers.

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  6. Could have been Armadillo. They are attracted to wet areas in turf and will dig up large patches for grubs, termites, beetles and scorpions. They will also eat small small reptiles and amphibians and carrion. IMHO if it were boar they would have been much more distructive AND would have already distroyed your garden by now.

    ReplyDelete

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