rodent trouble

[low_delta]

I've got some sort of rodent living under my garden. It's not eating my plants, so that's good, but it is digging holes looking for food (apparently) and messing up my cacti (getting snagged on the spines?). And it's made a network of burrows, piling the ejected soil all over my plants

Comments

[dickgloucester]

Get some cats.

[mallt]

This would be my response too but I might be a little biased as my cat caught a vole in my yard last week... I was very proud of my mighty huntress!

[dickgloucester]

Clever cat!

My two are prolific hunters as well.

[virginiadear]

And she brought it home to share with you so you could admire her skills and praise her for those and her generosity! Clever girl!

She's an absolutely beautiful cat!

[ladycelia]

Rat poison gets into the food chain and is really bad news. You could try a small live trap, or old fashioned snap trap that kills by snapping neck or back. Since you don't know what it is that's doing the digging, I'd probably go with a live trap to start.

[low_delta]

What would you bait it with?

[ladycelia]

I'd probably try a variety of things--some grain or nuts, maybe some fruit. If you've got access to a game cam, I'd set that up first to see what you're dealing with.

[rhiannon_s]

Do you know anyone with a ferret or ferreting business?

[low_delta]

Nope.

[virginiadear]

Try to find out what it is, first. What you're describing doesn't sound like a ground squirrel (so far) but making a lot of burrows does sound like what they do

[low_delta]

Four feet deep. That wouldn't surprise me, given the amount of soil piled up. The only thing the rodent hasn't done is eaten green plants. The only evidence I've seen other than the burrows, is bowl shaped digs in the dirt.

I just remembered that a lot of dirt was piled up by our front stoop last summer. I certainly couldn't have dug it out from beneath the stoop!

I got some rodent repelling granules to spread around the house. I'll start with that.

Thanks.

[icelore]

I'd try a live trap. You don't know what it is exactly, so it would be hard to get a snap trap of the appropriate size to be humane, and poison is just a bad idea.

Also, predator urine might work. Most hunting shops sell it, usually coyote or fox urine works best on small mammals (depending on where you live).

[low_delta]

I did get some repellent granules. Not sure how well it will work on an entrenched rodent, but we'll see what happens.