Mystery Burrow

[ursulav]

So for the last few days, I’ve noticed that there’s been a hole in one of the flowerbeds on the side of the house.

Well, “hole” is probably a misnomer. It’s a burrow, plain and simple. Something’s tunneled through the mulch, into the clay, and excavated down. The foundation of the garage will stop them after a foot or two on the backside, and it’s

Comments

[neotoma]

Could it be chipmunks or voles? Those are awfully tiny and skittery critters that dig holes as well.

[ursulav]

Much too big for a vole. I couldn't rule out chipmunk, but we're at the extreme end of their range--they literally occur on one side of Raleigh, and not on the other--and I've never seen one locally, although there's a first time for everything...

Chipmumks dig

[dragonet2]

wee holes (voles do too, one of my biology professors at college studied them), not ones that would suit a rabbit. Woodchucks dig holes that can cave in the floors of a renaissance festival booth (we had it happen, we had a rotten wood floor with tile on top, the woodchuck came in behind the booth and mined out under the wood floor. My boss found it three days before opening day several years ago and had to scramble.

I kind of wish we had bunnies. But between the feral cats and the occasional raiding dog/raccoon/maybe foxes (despite living in an urban 100-year-old forest, we have lots of wildlife), bunnies get short shrift.

[archangelbeth]

The chipmunk holes I've seen are about half-fist diameter. Maybe 3/4ths. (We have 'munks. I once saw one sitting on the metal railing at the front door's steps, chirping. Like a bird. This appears to be a chipmunk thing. Perhaps they are chirpmunks.) That tunnel you describe, unless your hands are smaller than mine, seems a bit big for a chipmunk-hole...

[rebelsheart]

If it’s a toad, it’s a toad that logs onto MUCKs and pretends to be a rabbit.

I love this line.

[neowolf2]

we will go to Step Two

Sermonize him until he tells you about Thel'zan, then go on to the rarely seen "Option Three".

[wrendragon]

<3

[megabitch]

*splorf*

[thecuddlycactus]

If you wanted to be sure of what it is, you could always set up a game cam at the hole entrance to see if the digger returns. Cabela's has some nice ones. My neighbor caught a pic of a pine marten that way!

Might I suggest?

[droolfangrrl]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasenpfeffer

*flees at speed*

Re: Might I suggest?

[elzebrook]

Nom nom nom