Something burrowing in my greenhouse
Andrew9
Posts: 3
The last few days I have noticed that something has been burrowing in the soil of my greenhouse leaving a hole of approx 4 cm diameter going into the ground at an angle of approx 30 - 45 degrees. Images attached.
Apart from the soil which has been dug up there are no other visible signs, eg animal droppings, foodscraps. There is no sign yet of damage to the tomato plants growing in the greenhouse (which are the only plants it contains other than weeds!) or of any of the tomatoes having been eaten. There are no other burrow entrances or exits I can see nearby or in the rest of the garden. I've filled in the burrow each time over the last three days but each morning when I go to water the greenhouse, the hole is back in exactly the same place.
Can any one advise what it is likely to be - moles, voles, mice or (hopefully not) rats- and any humane ways of getting rid of the animal in question?
Posts
Could be any of what you mentioned. Set a trap, humane or otherwise, alternative;y dig the little monster out.
4cm - I'd be pretty certain that's been made by a rat.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
That's what I feared - just don't tell the wife!
Can I ask what would do you think would happen if Andrew put a flagstone or big rock on the top of the hole?
Would it tunnel and appear outside the GH?
I had a hole but much smaller in my flower bed, I poured water down and it took half a can, then I filled with soil. Next morning same hole
I continued and then a few days later saw a mouse. I put bait down the hole and put a big stone over the hole. No more holes appeared and I was able to refill the hole and it's been okay...
However mine wasn't a rat and not in with my edibles
I have a small dry-stone wall in my garden and mice have lived in burrows behind the small gaps between the stones for years. My kids used to love watching them flitting about the garden and me and the wife still watch them now even though the 'kids' are 19 and 26. They don't cause any harm in the garden and are just a part of the wild-life we should try to encourage. I must admit, though, that I wouldn't want them all over the tomatoes in the greenhouse but if they're only in the garden why try to get rid of them?
Mice don't shift that amount of soil.
" .... rat holes generally have a fan-shaped mass of freshly dug soil outside and the holes are connected by well-trodden runways...."
extract from: http://www.discoverwildlife.com/british-wildlife/how-identify-animal-holes
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
looks like a mouse.
get a hosepipe and let it run on the hole, rats and mice don't like having damp burrows
How big are the mice up north??
Depends on how close one is to parts of the NW David - I was told that there are still, after all these years, parts of Cumbria where the sheep are affected by the Chernobyl fall-out! Don't know if it's true - it could (knowing the person who imparted that to me) just be a big wind-up. But . . .