Hole dug under wall - any ideas what animal?

Hi. This morning I came into the garden to see soil kicked up and a hole underneath a pretty important wall holding the garden together! It seems too small for a fox hole - any ideas? Please God don’t let it be rats.

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Could be a rats ?? I had a hole in my garden made by sewer rats in the past. It didn’t help when the foxes made it bigger!! Keep us posted on this wildlife is interesting.

whatever it is, I would discourage it by filling the hole back up packing it tightly and wedging some broken rocks/stones/tiles tightly under the brick it so that whatever it is can’t easily do it again and then keep an eye on what happens.

Maybe some chilli powder as well. If a Fox it’ll put them off.

Red Hot Chilli Foxes

I’d say its likely a Rats nest.

I think the rat diagnosis is unfortunately the possibility - as we’ve had sewer rat problems in the house last year which we thought poison had sorted. Well, at least the one living in the house it did.

Set a mini camera nearby see what or whom has caused this or put a camera down the hole. So the culprit can be identified. Only if possible and can be done or wait and see. Though…that is scary and exciting at same time.

I would say it is dug by a rat.

I suggest you contact Lewisham Council pest control. I think they deal with rats for free.

Also there may be other problems in you neighbourhood. There may be an open sewer/drain somewhere nearby.

We had a fox den in the garden before and that looks too small to me, also a strange time perhaps for a fox to be digging as they will be with cubs now. I’m afraid it looks like rats but as above contact the council.

If you fill it in with earth today you can see if it has been cleared again tomorrow ie still in use.

Good luck!

Here’s the link for Lewisham Council pest control.

If it is a rat problem they don’t charge . The site says they’re not doing home visits at the moment, but as yours is hopefully just outside maybe they will. At the very least they can give you some advice…

Potentially looks like a fox trying to get at a rats den.

very good!

If it is a fox trying to get to a rats nest (shudder) there won’t be any need for the council.

How did the rats get there in the first place?
There must be more rats somewhere nearby.

Well that’s something that the council need to the bottom of, & clear.
If foxes are around, it would be nature helping as well wouldn’t it.

Good luck @Gillipops hope you get it sorted ASAP. Got to say rats are my biggest nightmare , even though my husband says they are just big mice & they are bad enough.

Hi,

That looks like a rat hole unfortunately. We have a massive problem every spring with sewer rats burrowing up into our gardens.

Now we have every neighbourhood cat and local fox, stalking our garden daily. Which I am grateful for, as last year a massive rat ran at my 2 and 7 year old, scaring them to death.

Lewisham council were really helpful though, and did a report to give to Thames Water.

It’s worth having a look around to see if there are other holes nearby too - I think rats like to have multiple entrances/exits, and that was certainly true of my own experience.

As a side note, once ‘our’ rat had gone (after Lewisham Council checked with a neighbour) we stopped seeing cats in the garden too!

Is there any news yet Gillipops?

all has gone quiet chez moi. No more soil disturbance…so watching and waiting to see if there’s any more activity around the ‘burrow’ !!!

We have had a rat going between our garden & our neighbours since last Thursday. When my husband looked in their garden the main drain cover was off! It’s a very lightweight one, so he knocked & asked them to put it back & weigh it down.
Because it seems to get down the side of the shed next to the kitchen wall he did put poison down. But then we decided to not pursue that in case it encouraged more! So he cleared it all up & bleached all round the shed.
Haven’t actually seen it the last couple of days, apart from a few droppings at the back of the side of the shed. There is also a local cat that is parking him/herself in the neighbours garden everyday, (he/she is a good mouser apparently) so we are hoping Rolands days are numbered!