Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi folks,
First time I’ve been in this side,,,,,,
This is animal related so I hope it's in the right spot.
The questions are twofold.

1/ I have something digging/living in my garden here in West Cornwall. It's a tiny tiny patch within a walled area. I've been growing the odd item in there for the table for about 6 years.
A couple of months ago, I saw a hole in the soil - no bigger than 1.5" dia going down at a slight angle. I was keeping my eye on it, but never saw movement or resident.
After about a month, something (the local cat I think) tried to dig it out as the hole was filled & soil all over the path. I don't know if anything was caught.
I thought that 'that was that',,,, but about 10 days ago, I found that the same hole had reappeared, so have been watching over it again.
Yesterday I saw that once again, as well as the cat leaving me a present (!), the hole had been attacked again.
This morning, I see that another hole has appeared about 2 feet away from the original.

The garden is bare (no turf or veg at present). No sign of Mole Hill type bumps & the hole is open to the rain
Before I do anything about it (if I ever do [ I’m a great animal lover - having kept [or been kept by !] many exotic creatures) I’d like to know what is living there - I may want to leave it alone !

Seems a bit big for voles, meece etc,,,, too small for bunnies, moles (I think) etc.

2/ What is a foolproof way of keeping a cat out of my garden ?
I have a tiny garden, mainly walled. My neighbour has a cat and has had it for quite a while.
I have started to notice that it digs for something else in my garden (see quest 1). Yesterday the cat left it's calling card. I can't be doing with it in my small patch - it has to be stopped.
I tried tangerine peel all over,,,, but it seems to attract more slugs.

thanks for taking the time to read this.

ADMIN: feel free to move this if in wrong place.

Hi and welcome,
As to your hole ... I would guess mice or voles.

As to your cat problem: there are 100s of posts on this, and I don't want to start another one! Have a go with your Search button under "cats". Good luck.

__________________
~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Furkin, I have the same 'hole' problem on my plot. Holes just appear.....last autumn it ate the roots and bases of my celery, beetroot, leeks, carrots, fennel and more.... I still cant work out if it is vole or mouse, harvest mouse or field mouse. i will keep an eye on your post, if thats ok, to see if it helps with my problem too.
hmmm cats.... they don't much like unstable things so if you can edge your walls with something floppy it might stop them climbing over. good luck!

Furkin, we have had the strange thing happening too. We have a waterbut style water feature in the garden and something keeps digging at an angle which disappears under neath. My husband filled it all back in but a couple of days later it was back again. Haven't been able to suss out what is doing it. I'll watch this space with interest too.

That's clever, you even sound like Lloyd Grosman!

__________________
A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - Tuscany update - 27th September

http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev036pr___.png

I've never known a cat try to dig out a rodent; usually the culprits are foxes, who will dig quite persistently for them. Voles do vary in size quite a bit, the hole sounds about the right size for one. We have a lot in our garden, fortunately they never seem to touch the vegetables. If it's not doing any damage at the moment, I would just leave it alone.

Another possible alternative is rats; young ones make burrows that are rather smaller in diameter than you'd expect. More likely where they have access to a reliable food source (bird feeders, compost bin etc). If the holes get bigger, and more numerous, then the culprit might be a rat or two.

I'd love some wildlife here - so I don't really care what it is: unless it's causing damage, it will be left alone - it's just that i'd like to know what it is.
The only thing i've seen so far is a family of small mice. I converted an old coal bunker into a mushroom farm (total failure) & when I checked on the fruits, I saw a couple of young field mice.
I've just order a CCTV camera (cheap & nasty) but I more interested than ever now.

The only things in this patch at the moment are Garlic & few tiny spring onions. The S.Onions were planted quite a few weeks back when we had the summer. They usually grow to eat in about 3 weeks,,,, but these are still only 1.5" high !

The holes are nowhere near these & going in the opposite direction.
------::------

CATS: I've been trying the cheapest method so far - Human urine. As it only pooo'd once, i'm not 100% certain that the method works,,,, but it costs nothing !

Obviously - anything else will be put on here for other readers.

It may be rats. We started getting similar sized holes, then larger and larger ones. We trapped them for a while but didn't seem to be making any impression on the population. One of our neighbours complained to the council about an unkempt garden nearby (we were far too polite!) and the council insisted that they tidy up and only put food out for the birds in the morning. The council also put down bait. Within two weeks we stopped catching any in our trap and have seen no signs of fresh activity.

As for cats, they are a double edged sword. Great allies in the war against rodents but a pain when it comes to birds and their toilet habits. Our birds seem to be smart enough to get out of the way of any visiting cats and we don't seem to have much trouble with toilet activities. We use alot of cow manure and mulches, but I don't know if this helps. A cut out cat with a sparkly eye is supposed to be effective and not too difficult to make.

Good luck

In my new back garden, there's a large hole (15-20cm across) and my mum suggested that it could be rats - bummer. I've never seen a rat but saw a family of foxes go through the garden a week or so ago and as my fence panel is always pushed to one side, i gather they travel through quite a lot, but they didn't go into the hole.

Could this be a fox hole do you think, or is it more likely to be an army of really sneaky rats?

Anybody got anything? Anything at all?