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Have had moles & voles in past. But this seems different.. Must be like 30 holes around my foundation, noticed today. They are approx 1 inch & seem to go deep in ground. Always some dirt piled up next to holes.

I'm in SE TN. If that helps & near a farmers cornfield across the way. Any help greatly appreciated.

Snakes, Moths ( coming out ), burrowing spiders

Suggest getting a trail camera or borrowing one. It probably mice but the camera should tell you if it is sensitive enough. I haven't tried it on mice or small animals, just a thought. Here I got a regular outdoor IR camera and recorder I use.

But as you said it could be moles as I am covered up with them here. Tearing my lawn constantly. Oh why did I move to TN. When the yard is wet I sink up to top my shoes at times. Then of course I got darn armadillos, possums, and ground hogs (wood chucks) to deal with. It is like a war zone. I even had a rat to get into my house. I mean a rat. 3x the size of a mouse. Finally got him. Yet to find out how he got in.

Moles would be my guess. Digging is their business. An adult mole can tunnel 18 inches in an hour.

Snakes don't dig holes (what would they dig with?) and neither do mice or rats.

You might try flooding the holes with a garden hose to see what comes up for air.

be a very small mole that digs a 1" diameter hole
While most snakes don't actually dig many of our local snakes will go down a small hole & make it bigger in a similar fashion to earth worms it just depends upon the species. Very common to find a black snake in a burrow .
At this time of the year they expand cicada holes
Native & field mice also will dig out a burrow if there is no convienant mower to nest in where s house mice usually will not dig
When I trim the water shoots off the olive trees nothing odd to see a dozen or more 1" holes around the base .
These are wolf spiders who can dig down up to a couple of feet although most are only 6" to a foot .

What is strange is the time of year
I would have thought hibernating animals would have already gone to ground in the USA by now being it is winter and insects that papate under ground then dig up to the surface , like cicadas would be snoozing for a couple more months .
We have some hawk moths down here that emerge late autumn and they can be in numbers of over 20 per square foot .
I can remember laying in a tent one time & seeing that I thought was a couple of snakes wiggleing around under the floor.
In the morning when I finally got brave enough to go outside the sunny side of the tent would have had better than 200 hawk moths drying out .
Most moths emerge at night so they can have a chance to dry out & fly away before becoming a birds breakfast ( also snakes , lizards & a mile of small critters )

I've closed all the holes I saw yesterday & today they are still closed.. But those holes could have been dug a while ago. Since we haven't had to do yard work for a month. We have had several hard freezes already. And many holes after closer inspection are not real deep.

But the camera is good idea. When I do get moles, I usually get runner tunnels, didn't see any of those.

Have dealt with wolf spiders in Fla. One big one was on side of my garage door, I took a shovel & smacked her. She was loaded with live babies. Nice surprise..

Thanks Everyone.. Much appreciated.

please do not kill fairly harmless spiders
They have a very special place in the environment usually gobbleing up things like cockroaches

For spiders I let the Jenny Wrens here do their work. It just that they build big nests in equipment and my shop at times. But here I had a Black Widow spider problem before the Jennies showed up.

Yes nature is the best pest exterminator
Usually when you remove one problem species another rises to take their place
It is not hard to regulate insects.
Leave the black house spider webs around your windows and only remove them when they are old & fluffy
Allow Huntsmen to set up residence in your house they will clean up cockroaches, silverfish and quite a few other invertebrates and it costs nothing .
If necessary buy come fly swats to help with mosquitos but some careful window plantings can prevent mossies coming in .
We have a fern house on the cold side ( south down here ) with lots of hanging baskets and very wet, but almost no mossies as the frogs / lizzards & birds clean them up big time.
Down side is bird poop that needs to be washed off every now & then.

bertsmobile1 said:

please do not kill fairly harmless spiders
They have a very special place in the environment usually gobbleing up things like cockroaches

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This wolf spider was quite intimidating looking. And didn't want it getting in my garage.. Otherwise I'd have left it be.

StarTech said:

For spiders I let the Jenny Wrens here do their work. It just that they build big nests in equipment and my shop at times. But here I had a Black Widow spider problem before the Jennies showed up.

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I brought a bike home to repair far from here, been sitting long time. Didn't realize till I got to cranking it over (after much work) the dual exhausts were loaded with black widows. Another life lesson..

At least it was like the snake that went up my pants leg last year. Boy I came out those pants quickly. Good thing I underwear on and the no one was at the shop.

And I have stripped in public once when a swarm of bumble bees got in my clothes going down the road. The neighbor was laughing her head off at the strip show.

Possiblity here

StarTech said:

At least it was like the snake that went up my pants leg last year. Boy I came out those pants quickly.

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Reminds me of my 1st encounter with Fla Fire ants. My pants flew off as well.

Chevychopper said:

Possiblity here

North American Least Shrew | Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

A very small mammal with long, pointed snout; tiny, black eyes; concealed ears; cylindrical body; and a very short tail. The soft, short fur is dark brown to brownish-gray and the belly is gray.

www.tn.gov

View attachment 63045

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Thank You, will study this. my grass is 4 inches tall, & neighbors is dormant @ 1" & I see the holes don't go far into his yard..

Holes about 8 inches deep is another similarity.. Thanks for the link & info. Still nothing new dug up.

I think you have chipmunks. They can dig down 10 feet in the front yard, dig underneath your house and come up in the backyard. They are harmless but can be a nuisance. They dig up in mulch areas and mess up the mulch. The fox and snakes like to eat them.

Do you have any of the invasive lizards? We have them here in S FL. The ones with the colorful bodies and orange heads. I had the same type of small holes under a slab is the back yard and saw them digging and going in. I have since acquired a couple of stray cats that hang around the house at night...and the invasive lizards have disappeared. I see them on the camera hunting at night. No more mice either. I never feed these cats, so they stay hungry and have to hunt for food.

Lawn Ranger Don said:

I think you have chipmunks. They can dig down 10 feet in the front yard, dig underneath your house and come up in the backyard. They are harmless but can be a nuisance. They dig up in mulch areas and mess up the mulch. The fox and snakes like to eat them.

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Have never saw one in almost 20 years. Have had issues in past with moles & voles..

Glades Cat said:

Do you have any of the invasive lizards? We have them here in S FL. The ones with the colorful bodies and orange heads. I had the same type of small holes under a slab is the back yard and saw them digging and going in. I have since acquired a couple of stray cats that hang around the house at night...and the invasive lizards have disappeared. I see them on the camera hunting at night. No more mice either. I never feed these cats, so they stay hungry and have to hunt for food.

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Yes see some small lizards on occasion.. But these look more like salamanders.

crawdads

shadetree#1 said:

crawdads

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Naw, no water around....

StarTech said:

Suggest getting a trail camera or borrowing one. It probably mice but the camera should tell you if it is sensitive enough. I haven't tried it on mice or small animals, just a thought. Here I got a regular outdoor IR camera and recorder I use.

But as you said it could be moles as I am covered up with them here. Tearing my lawn constantly. Oh why did I move to TN. When the yard is wet I sink up to top my shoes at times. Then of course I got darn armadillos, possums, and ground hogs (wood chucks) to deal with. It is like a war zone. I even had a rat to get into my house. I mean a rat. 3x the size of a mouse. Finally got him. Yet to find out how he got in.

Click to expand...

Good luck on that . What state did you move from you mean they don't have pest there.

From Fla, different world there. But I would not move back.