Mystery holes near concrete PICS

[TwistedTayy]

So we just moved to a new house at the beginning of may and I keep finding these holes popping up near concrete (leading under the concrete) and I don’t know if it’s something to worry about… we found a mole in the pool (didn’t have the heart to kill it after it had struggled in the pool) but I’m more concerned about snakes or rats. All my birds are baby’s right now at various stages but the ones outside are 4 week old jumbo pekins that have done well outside with minimal predator protection (basically only protected from BoP and larger predators) for the last couple weeks.

if it’s moles I can live with that for now. Garden isn’t exactly a priority yet. I will be putting up 1/4 hardware cloth minimally, with some 1/2, as well as a “garden bed” skirt. Hopefully today but maybe next weekend (or this week if I can trust hubby to figure it out by himself). I have 2 3wo goslings that need to go outside but they are more valuable to me than the pekins so I want to make sure they will be alright.

the holes don’t appear anywhere near the coops (well they do but not into or out of). I’ve mostly been finding them around the walkway of my pool and around the shop (which will eventually house a brooding set up next spring).

 

[azygous]

Those holes could be excavated by most anything, but most likely are toads and ground squirrels.

 

[45lk9p459gm-w]

Voles would be another good candidate ....

 

[TwistedTayy]

Voles would be another good candidate ....

Upon further research it was in fact a vole that I found in my pool lol

 

[45lk9p459gm-w]

Upon further research it was in fact a vole that I found in my pool lol

Ahhhh .... It's nice to be right every once in a while.

Speaking from experience, we have voles and moles really bad in this part of Texas .... Show no mercy to the little devils. They will ruin your world very quickly.

 

[cmom]

Maybe rats. I'm pretty sure these were made by rats.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

How deep are the holes??? If they are very shallow (not more than a few inches) toads are a possibility. More than that, and its not toads (unless its toads using someone else's hole). Are those pavers/stepping stones? Can you get a prybar under and tip one up? A toad would be just underneath the edge, in maybe a few inches, in a shallow depression. Day would be a good time to catch them there, and they make a distinct impression in the dirt - like if you made a sitting frog shaped cookie, then baked it for a bit. Not unusual to find some of the dirt pushed up into a paper thin arch over what would be the toad's back, if it were present.

 

[TwistedTayy]

So I’ve seen voles toads and now rats… one got into the pool skimmer box on the side and our hound dog was going nuts scratching at it so when we opened the top it jumped out but was too slow for the hound dog…. Who promptly killed and ate it it was definitely a rat and not a mouse. We saw two more this evening too.

What kind of danger do rats pose? Aside from carrying disease and eating the food. We have 15 3 week old welsh harlequins who are about to move outside, 2 4.5 week old goslings and 4 5.5 week old jumbo pekins who live outside.

 

[cmom]

If you have seen one rat there are probably plenty more. They multiply very quickly. They are probably after the feed.