Kroma wrote:
On 03/05/2010 17:08, Kroma wrote:

Last Autumn, a hole was dug by a creature in our lawn, about 9 inches or
so from our pond. The hole was about 7 inches in diameter and appeared
to have been dug by an animal standing on the lawn as the soil excavated
in the digging of the pond could clearly be seen strewn in one direction
(and some of it went in the pond). We assumed that a fox did the digging
- we sometimes see them about.

I filled it in but it soon reappeared. This happened a few times.

Then a smaller hold (about 3 inches in diameter) appeared in the same
place. The difference this time was that the hole had very clean sides
and there was no debris surrounding the entrance/exit of the hole so I
assume that it had been dug from within.

Hi again everyone - thank you all for the replies.

Gleaning what I can from all the messages I suspect that the initial
hole (the large one) was indeed made by a fox digging down (sensing
something beneath the lawn).
Then, the creature beneath has dug up to the surface and made the
smaller hole.

I have just made a more accurate measurement of the current hole and,
although when measured in one direction at the very surface, the
diameter is 3 inches, it would appear that in the other direction (and,
if I could measure down the main shaft) the diameter is indeed more like
2 and a half inches.

I think, from what has been said, this is likely to indicate a rat.

There is however no sign of rat activity on the surface. Nothing has
been chewed. My nearby compost heap appears unaffected. My paved pond
surround has no droppings on it.

I assume therefore that Mr Rat is living beneath my lawn.

Is there likely to be a large cavern beneath my lawn housing a big Rat
Family?

I have tried running water from a hosepipe down the hole for 10 minutes
to see if it filled to the surface... nothing!

Take sifted soil - molehills are good for this, if you can find any -
and wash the soil down the hole with a fine jet on the hose.

What would you all suggest next? Am I to assume that there must be
another end to the tunnel? Probably in another garden I guess.

If the pond has a solid liner (like concrete or moulded plastic) the
nest, if any, is likely to be using the underside of it as a ceiling.

You could get horrid things to set light to. They produce loads of
poisonous smoke, and are intended as an anti-mole measure. If they
haven't been banned by the EU pointless interference office, get a few,
light one, shove it down the hole and block the outlet with rags.

All I want to do is to be able to keep the hole filled (and for grass to
grow there again), prevent rat activity from re-appearing and to stop
anything from trying to tunnel further and consequently risk gnawing
into the side of my pond (which is lined with silver sand, newspaper and
carpet underlay).

Wot, no waterproof lining?

--
Rusty

Rusty Hinge wrote:
Kroma wrote:
On 03/05/2010 17:08, Kroma wrote:

Last Autumn, a hole was dug by a creature in our lawn, about 9
inches or so from our pond. The hole was about 7 inches in diameter
and appeared to have been dug by an animal standing on the lawn as
the soil excavated in the digging of the pond could clearly be seen
strewn in one direction (and some of it went in the pond). We
assumed that a fox did the digging - we sometimes see them about.

I filled it in but it soon reappeared. This happened a few times.

Then a smaller hold (about 3 inches in diameter) appeared in the
same place. The difference this time was that the hole had very
clean sides and there was no debris surrounding the entrance/exit
of the hole so I assume that it had been dug from within.

Hi again everyone - thank you all for the replies.

Gleaning what I can from all the messages I suspect that the initial
hole (the large one) was indeed made by a fox digging down (sensing
something beneath the lawn).
Then, the creature beneath has dug up to the surface and made the
smaller hole.

I have just made a more accurate measurement of the current hole and,
although when measured in one direction at the very surface, the
diameter is 3 inches, it would appear that in the other direction
(and, if I could measure down the main shaft) the diameter is indeed
more like 2 and a half inches.

I think, from what has been said, this is likely to indicate a rat.

There is however no sign of rat activity on the surface. Nothing has
been chewed. My nearby compost heap appears unaffected. My paved pond
surround has no droppings on it.

I assume therefore that Mr Rat is living beneath my lawn.

Is there likely to be a large cavern beneath my lawn housing a big
Rat Family?

I have tried running water from a hosepipe down the hole for 10
minutes to see if it filled to the surface... nothing!

Take sifted soil - molehills are good for this, if you can find any -
and wash the soil down the hole with a fine jet on the hose.

What would you all suggest next? Am I to assume that there must be
another end to the tunnel? Probably in another garden I guess.

If the pond has a solid liner (like concrete or moulded plastic) the
nest, if any, is likely to be using the underside of it as a ceiling.

You could get horrid things to set light to. They produce loads of
poisonous smoke, and are intended as an anti-mole measure. If they
haven't been banned by the EU pointless interference office, get a
few, light one, shove it down the hole and block the outlet with rags.

All I want to do is to be able to keep the hole filled (and for
grass to grow there again), prevent rat activity from re-appearing
and to stop anything from trying to tunnel further and consequently
risk gnawing into the side of my pond (which is lined with silver
sand, newspaper and carpet underlay).

Wot, no waterproof lining?

This may or may not be relevant but I've just wandered out the back door
(bad bout of insomnia, it's 4:48am) and found the cat has left four dead
rats just outside since yesterday evening. That's in addition to the two she
brought in earlier to play with, which I dispatched myself, and the one
yesterday. So it's quite a record haul for my little Cassie.

A good mouser/ratter might be a boon, and cats are organic too! Just make
sure it's an obsessive compulsive hunter.


Ian

Ian B wrote:
Rusty Hinge wrote:
Kroma wrote:
On 03/05/2010 17:08, Kroma wrote:

Last Autumn, a hole was dug by a creature in our lawn, about 9
inches or so from our pond. The hole was about 7 inches in diameter
and appeared to have been dug by an animal standing on the lawn as
the soil excavated in the digging of the pond could clearly be seen
strewn in one direction (and some of it went in the pond). We
assumed that a fox did the digging - we sometimes see them about.

I filled it in but it soon reappeared. This happened a few times.

Then a smaller hold (about 3 inches in diameter) appeared in the
same place. The difference this time was that the hole had very
clean sides and there was no debris surrounding the entrance/exit
of the hole so I assume that it had been dug from within.

Hi again everyone - thank you all for the replies.

Gleaning what I can from all the messages I suspect that the initial
hole (the large one) was indeed made by a fox digging down (sensing
something beneath the lawn).
Then, the creature beneath has dug up to the surface and made the
smaller hole.

I have just made a more accurate measurement of the current hole
and, although when measured in one direction at the very surface,
the diameter is 3 inches, it would appear that in the other
direction (and, if I could measure down the main shaft) the
diameter is indeed more like 2 and a half inches.

I think, from what has been said, this is likely to indicate a rat.

There is however no sign of rat activity on the surface. Nothing has
been chewed. My nearby compost heap appears unaffected. My paved
pond surround has no droppings on it.

I assume therefore that Mr Rat is living beneath my lawn.

Is there likely to be a large cavern beneath my lawn housing a big
Rat Family?

I have tried running water from a hosepipe down the hole for 10
minutes to see if it filled to the surface... nothing!

Take sifted soil - molehills are good for this, if you can find any -
and wash the soil down the hole with a fine jet on the hose.

What would you all suggest next? Am I to assume that there must be
another end to the tunnel? Probably in another garden I guess.

If the pond has a solid liner (like concrete or moulded plastic) the
nest, if any, is likely to be using the underside of it as a ceiling.

You could get horrid things to set light to. They produce loads of
poisonous smoke, and are intended as an anti-mole measure. If they
haven't been banned by the EU pointless interference office, get a
few, light one, shove it down the hole and block the outlet with
rags.
All I want to do is to be able to keep the hole filled (and for
grass to grow there again), prevent rat activity from re-appearing
and to stop anything from trying to tunnel further and consequently
risk gnawing into the side of my pond (which is lined with silver
sand, newspaper and carpet underlay).

Wot, no waterproof lining?

This may or may not be relevant but I've just wandered out the back
door (bad bout of insomnia, it's 4:48am) and found the cat has left
four dead rats just outside since yesterday evening. That's in
addition to the two she brought in earlier to play with, which I
dispatched myself, and the one yesterday. So it's quite a record haul
for my little Cassie.
A good mouser/ratter might be a boon, and cats are organic too! Just
make sure it's an obsessive compulsive hunter.


....just found another corpse on the path by the peonies. Seems she went
totally postal overnight!

Now I'm wondering where the nest was/is!


Ian

On 09/05/2010 17:58, Rusty Hinge wrote:

Wot, no waterproof lining?

Oh yes, a layer of that as well!

Kroma wrote:
On 09/05/2010 17:58, Rusty Hinge wrote:

Wot, no waterproof lining?

Oh yes, a layer of that as well!

Mind whatever it is doesn't gnaw through it - rats and mice love plastic!

My bathroom lighting circuitry has just been shorted-out, almost
certainly by rodents.

Many years ago to replace it, I removed a rotten board in the
smallholding's house^h^h^shack. Behind the board were two thick
aluminium mains supply cables. From the live one, a mummified rat hung
by is teeth...

Result!

--
Rusty