What kind of animal burrows in the ground

Bank vole emerging from its burrow entrance. A wild rat sniffing the air outside its burrow at the base of a tree. Water vole in its hole. Eurasian badger emerging from its sett. Pocket gophers are active during the day and at night. They may cause damage in your yard and garden, where they eat garden crops, ornamental plants, shrubs and trees. They have brownish-gray, speckled fur with white along their backs.

Ground squirrels are active only during the day. They forage for food near the entrance to their burrows. Ground squirrels damage many plants, including grains, nut and fruit trees, vegetables, shrubs and other trees.

They may chew on plastic sprinkler heads and irrigation lines. Prairie dogs are 14 to 17 inches long with reddish-tan fur, large eyes, short ears and broad, round heads. Prairie dogs were named because of the chirping barks they use to warn each other about predators. They live in the grasslands of central and western North America. Prairie dogs are social animals that live in families called coteries, consisting of one adult male prairie dog, a few adult females and their young offspring.

Some prairie dogs, including the black-tailed prairie dog, live in colonies called towns. Prairie dogs are active only during the day. They mostly eat grasses, flowering plants, roots and seeds but will also eat insects. For more information about the services we provide, please call us today at to schedule your free consultation.

What Kind of Animal Burrows Underground? This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Identifying Your Pest While many types of small animals make holes in the ground, when it comes to burrowing in residential lawns and gardens, these animals are the usual suspects. Moles — Subterranean mammals, moles travel through complex underground tunnel systems in order to catch earthworms and insects.

If you see long-stretching mounds snaking through your yard, then moles are the likely culprit. Tamp down the dirt hills and tunnel ridges to see whether the mole reopens them.

This demonstrates where the active runs are located. Usually, only one or two moles are active in any given area. Voles, also called field mice, are small rodents about 5 inches long that look like mice, but with shorter tails. They eat the roots of grasses, perennials, shrubs and trees. They also eat seeds and bulbs and will girdle the bark of trees.

They multiply rapidly and colonize an area with networks of surface tunnels. Clues to vole activity include clean-edged, golf-ball-size holes around the base of plants. Their tunnel entrances are left open, not plugged, so you will find pathways leading to small, tidy, round holes.