lawn damage by unknown animal

Some kind of animal has been visited my backyard lawn every night for a few days. It has digged the grass root out over a large portion of the lawn and I really need to get rid of it. I do not see any tunnel, so it is probably not a mole. What are the other types of animals that may have caused my headache? I will go to home depot tonight to get traps or repellant. Before I go there, please give me some recommendataions. Thanks.

Reply to
jay
Loading thread data ...

Racoons may be the culprits - they tear up huge areas of lawn looking for food.

Trapping may work for the young unwary ones, but the older 'cagey' ones may not succumb. They will also travel long distances to get back to your lawn, so you may have to ensure that the trip in the cage is a terminal one.

Reply to
Bill Spohn

Are they cone-shaped holes? If they are, your lawn has a grub infestation that is far more dangerous to the turf than the skunk who is actually helping you out by eating the grubs.

If its really "a large portion" as you say, of lawn stripped more haphazardly rather than conical holes, then that would be the doing of raccoons, maybe a mom teaching a couple adolescents how to find grubs, so they could do a lot broader lawn-ripping than a lone skunk. If they come back every night, your grub infestation must be a doozy.

In either case, treat the grub problem & the rest will take care of itself. The organic control is the nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, available from many companies such as:

formatting link
read up on them first; timing is everything.\

-paghat the ratgirl

Reply to
paghat

Squirrels bury nuts and things in my yard this time of year. I'm forever finding holes all over the place. Could this be your culprit? They also like to dig up my hyacynth bulbs and fling them all over the place too, for some reason. Lori

Reply to
Stu Pidasso

Not knowing your location, but if its in the south I would suspect an Armadillo. They will make cone shaped holes all over a lawn and also uproot large portions of a larn or flower bed. Squirrels also dig holes but usually they are not cone shaped like the holes an armadillo makes.

If your in armadillo territory( and they do range pretty far north anymore and going further north evey year) don't waste your money on traps or repellents. The nly way I have found to erradicate these pests is constant survelance from late night and early morning with a flash light and shovel or shotgun! Visit my website:

formatting link
expressed are those of my wife, I had no input whatsoever. Remove "nospam" from email addy.

Reply to
Roy

It would help if you would say what part of the country/world you live in. Also if you live rural or urban. Not knowing that, anything said is an uneducated guess.

Bob S.

Reply to
Bob S.

In the Mid-South the destroyers are likely raccoons or possums; possibly armadillos. They dig for grubs and worms. They also enjoy digging up newly planted plants and seeds. Treat the lawn with any of the dry-type soil insecticides and repeat. Buy one or more large or medium live-traps. They can be live-trapped and relocated (perhaps not legally) to the other side of a river, ocean or mountain range. Bait the trap with one of the small lunch-type tuna cans. In morning let the neighborhood cats out and transport the destroyers. A large dog might work too. There are motion-activated sound devices and water sprayers which I am currently trying.

Good luck. They are persistent.

Not knowing your location, but if its in the south I would suspect an Armadillo. They will make cone shaped holes all over a lawn and also uproot large portions of a larn or flower bed. Squirrels also dig holes but usually they are not cone shaped like the holes an armadillo makes.

If your in armadillo territory( and they do range pretty far north anymore and going further north evey year) don't waste your money on traps or repellents. The nly way I have found to erradicate these pests is constant survelance from late night and early morning with a flash light and shovel or shotgun! Visit my website:

formatting link
expressed are those of my wife, I had no input whatsoever. Remove "nospam" from email addy.

Reply to
nonews

Could be a skunk. Hav-A-Hart trap baited with grubs, fruit or meat may work. If so, throw an old blanket over the trap before you move it.

Reply to
Phisherman

Sounds like a skunk. They dig up grubs and eat them. Scent repellents won't work--these are skunks, after all. Once the grubs are gone, the skunk will quit digging. The fact that the skunk, if that's what it is, is finding things to eat under you lawn hints that you may have hidden problems.

J. Del Col

Reply to
J. Del Col

"Home Depot" is a hint.

J. Del Col

Reply to
J. Del Col

I stayed up late last night and saw this raccoon digging. I sneaked out and threw a tenis ball to it. Though I misssed it, it seems that it got scared from coming back, cause I saw less damage this morning than what it did. (the damage was probably already done before I saw it).

It is late September now. If I want to kill those grubs, is it too late? All grub controls I can find in home depot need to be applied between early spring and late July. Can this nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora be applied this time of the year? I went to the web site and did not find a answer there. Thanks.

Reply to
jay

Apply the soil insecticide anytime of the year. You are trying to kill the grubs that are already there. It will not be a one-shot deal. After doing it for a couple of years the damage stopped on my lawn. I didn't do it this year and the raccoons are back. Your raccoons will be back and once they find a good food source they bring all their relatives. You will not have enough tennis balls and you can't stay up every night. The raccoons get to sleep during the day. Can you? Don't try to combine the insecticide and nematodes. Nematodes are a slower way to attempt control compared to the insecticide and multiple applications will be required. Bad part of the insecticide is the killing of beneficial earthworms. I do not know if the nematodes kill the earthworms.

I stayed up late last night and saw this raccoon digging. I sneaked out and threw a tenis ball to it. Though I misssed it, it seems that it got scared from coming back, cause I saw less damage this morning than what it did. (the damage was probably already done before I saw it).

It is late September now. If I want to kill those grubs, is it too late? All grub controls I can find in home depot need to be applied between early spring and late July. Can this nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora be applied this time of the year? I went to the web site and did not find a answer there. Thanks.

Reply to
nonews

I tripped up when you said "threw a tennis ball *to* it". In this case, the raccoon missed it, not you. I'm guessing you threw a tennis ball *at* it. In which case, yes, it was you that missed.

Maybe it was a small error in English usage. Maybe it was an attempt to disguise motives and put a positive spin on things. In matters of both violence and English usage, I advocate calling a spade a spade.

I'm now responsible for a four-year-old, trying to teach her "the ways of the world". It's odd, trying to explain why I let the spiders maintain webs in parts of the house, and why in the house I mercilessly swat moths, flies and beetles to utter death, and why outside of the house, they enjoy a "yard clemency" that wasps and bees do not.

I saved a post re "Gardening with Children"[1] Haven't done anything with it yet, but it seemed interesting, and this triggered my pedantic response. Whatever we tell our children about adopting, tolerating, or killing other plant and animal life, let's at least be honest about our motives, and what exactly it involves. Dare I suggest that the U.S. electorate is currently impaired by a failure to tell it like it is?

But I ramble...

[1] From: snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (MLEBLANCA) Newsgroups: rec.gardens Date: 27 Aug 2004 15:37:34 GMT References: Organization: AOL
formatting link
Subject: Re: Gardening with Children Message-ID:
Reply to
Willondon

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.