Critter in my raised garden bed - what is it? How do I get rid of it in a non toxic way?

[Anonymous]

I have a raised garden bed that is about 6 inches high, with no floor. This weekend I cleaned it out and found a hole about 3 inches in diameter with dried grass clippings covering the entrance. The hole was not deep from what I could tell - maybe 4-6 inches, no apparent tunnel. I cleaned it out and smoothed over the soil. This morning I went outside and the hole was there again, without any grass clippings this time and again about 3 inches in diameter, 4 inches deep, no tunnel. There goes my hope that this was a dormant hole from the winter - clearly something is currently using it.

I did some googling and one site led me to think it could be a rat burrow {{shudder}} based on the size of the hole. Another site said voles put grass clippings at the entrance of the burrow, but this hole seems too big for a vole. Can anyone help me figure out what this is? And how to get rid of it safely? This garden bed is my vegetable garden so I do not want rodents in it, nor do I want to use anything toxic to get rid of them. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Chipmunk?

[Anonymous]

This might help

http://icwdm.org/inspection/GroundHoles.aspx

[Anonymous]

Squirrels!

The are the bane of my existence as a gardener. They LOVE fresh topsoil and recently disturbed soil from having just planted something.

If you smooth it, they will just come back again.

You can not stop them from digging except by blocking access.

I do two things, I put cloches on top of my baby veggies and I mulch like hell. They don't enjoy digging through mulch at all!

[Anonymous]

Shorgun

[Anonymous]

row covers

[Anonymous]

OP here. I wonder if it is squirrels! Whatever it is, it is active during the day. Thanks for the tips on covers - will check them out.

[Anonymous]

Rat or snake

[Anonymous]

In my garden, it's squirrels. Fortunately, beyond sucking the juice out of a few dozen cherry tomatoes, they've never done anything terrible. They aren't living in those holes. They are squirreling stuff away for the winter. Or stealing bulbs. They love to dig in my window boxes, too.

[Anonymous]

I second the suggestion of squirrels. I've had rats in my backyard and when you poke the burrow...they squeal. That was pretty horrifying for me.

Squirrels dig those shallow holes all over my garden, and they do especially love to dig in the day--rats would be digging at night.