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Rat hole

B3B3 Posts: 26,433
edited September 2022 in The potting shed
There's a hole in a flower bed about the diameter of a broom handle. I assume it's a rat hole. I'm loath to dig in the area in case a rat pops out.😟
How can you tell if it's occupied?
PS I'm hoping one of the local foxes will make itself useful and dig it out
In London. Keen but lazy.
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  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,576
    If it's a rat hole it will probably be a run. Fill it or cover it with a stone, or both. Move things about, or put rocks, branches, pots etc in those places - they don't like change,  they don't like garlic either apparently. 
    I'm pretty sure next door's Jack Russel had the one coming in my garden - it was using us as a cut through.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,034
    Doesn't really sound big enough for a rat ... possibly a bank vole? 

    https://www.totalecology.com/blog/the-identification-of-field-and-bank-voles/

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • B3B3 Posts: 26,433
    That would be nice @Dovefromabove. 
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,034
    Keep an eye open ...

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • B3B3 Posts: 26,433
    edited September 2022
    But I might see a rat😳.  Anyway, I'll do nothing for now. Neighbours use cheap seed mix back and front so there's always stuff chucked on the ground by the birds. So even if it's a vole, there's probably rats about too.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,034
    True 🙄 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,191
    I'm a bit like you when it comes to rats @B3 . Don't want to start messing around in case a rat pop outs😱 Really freaked me out a couple of years ago when a pest control man just stuck his hand down a hole to see what was at the other end!

    I agree it sounds a bit too small to be a rat hole. The other thing I've noticed with rat holes is that there's usually quite a pile of excavated soil by the entrance where they've been burrowing - seems to be less so with smaller mammals - and you can often see that the soil looks a bit flattened or compacted where they've been going in and out. 

    If you want to know if the run is occupied you could try putting soil over the entrance and seeing if the hole reappears. You can import the soil from another border if you don't want to dig near the hole.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • B3B3 Posts: 26,433
    There's nothing like that around the hole. It's just I hole in flat soil .
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • floraliesfloralies Posts: 2,505
    Sounds like a vole to me, we have them all over the place, they are fine until they undermine the vegetables from below!
  • B3B3 Posts: 26,433
    They might find a few spuds growing in the compost heap😏
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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