25 replies to this topic

[twnkltoz]

We've been noticing some chunks of missing grass on our lawn the past couple of weeks, and the past couple of days it's been getting really bad and our lawn is getting really chewed up! We think it might be gophers...does anyone else have this problem? Oh, the joys of home ownership...

Update: see below, I don't think it's gophers anymore!

[stacycam]

Might be voles. They are like nasty little rats. We had to poison them to get rid of them. They really messed up our grass and yard.

[ChipShot]

I tried to get rid of 'em, but my gophers are armed and dangerous...

[attachment=1157:gopher.jpg]

[nlove4ever]

Hmm, makes me wonder because last night I noticed a lot of loose dirt by the fence and I thought it was our dogs, but they dont ever dig. I wonder if it was gophers...those little suckers.

[twnkltoz]

OMG, Greg talked to our neighbor this afternoon. He said that it doesn't look to him like pests at all...it looks like someone did it with a tool, like one of those that you use to aerate a field at the end of the season or something. Someone trashed our lawn on purpose!!! No wonder our neighbors' lawns weren't affected...but why? Why would someone do this to us??

[normajean]

we are having the same (?) problem over here in briggs ranch area.

the "holes" are pretty big, anywhere from 3" to 8" circles dug up, just under the grass-level, and some longer oval looking ones, maybe 4" by 7-10" long. along the edges of sidewalk, mow strips and fencing looks like it has been 'pulled back'. according some of our neighborhood experts, we are being visited every night by a couple of racoons! a few of us have seen them in the yards around 10-11 pm. seen some paw prints on air conditioning units as well. this also happened last year and a neighbor used to keep a large bag of dog food, open, in his garage. someone mentioed that racoons could smell it and a couple of days after they closed up the dog food bag, no more racoons. a few of us keep dog and cat food bowls outside...so, now we've all pulled them in for a couple days and our racoon trenches/holes seem to be slowing down.

you might be having racoons, not moles, etc. we called the city and they won't come out, won't set traps (WILL give us the traps to borrow if we want to set them!). good luck.

[twnkltoz]

We don't have animal food in our garage or anywhere outside. It's only our lawn that's affected, not even the neighbors' adjacent lawns. The holes are small, just a couple of inches in diameter.

[tgianco]

License to kill gophers by the government of the United Nations. Man, free to kill gophers at will. To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever. They're like the Viet Cong - Varmint Cong. So you have to fall back on superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that's all she wrote.

[Andrea V]

We get Raccoons here in Natoma Station too! Bratty lil things!

[chris v]

We don't have animal food in our garage or anywhere outside. It's only our lawn that's affected, not even the neighbors' adjacent lawns. The holes are small, just a couple of inches in diameter.

Yeah, I bet it's raccoons. They dig up lawns in search of worms and other stuff to eat.

[ducky]

OMG, Greg talked to our neighbor this afternoon. He said that it doesn't look to him like pests at all...it looks like someone did it with a tool, like one of those that you use to aerate a field at the end of the season or something. Someone trashed our lawn on purpose!!! No wonder our neighbors' lawns weren't affected...but why? Why would someone do this to us??

Maybe a landscaping company had the wrong address???

Free lawn aeration. Good time of year for it, too.

[twnkltoz]

Maybe a landscaping company had the wrong address???

Free lawn aeration. Good time of year for it, too.

It looks awful, though. Will it fix itself? It's not like it just has a few little holes here and there. It's all chewed up!

We thought some landscaper might have gotten the wrong house, but wouldn't someone have spoken up by now? Like "Oops, our gardener accidentally trashed your lawn. Sorry about that. Can we fix it for you?"

[twnkltoz]

Yeah, I bet it's raccoons. They dig up lawns in search of worms and other stuff to eat.

Why our lawns, right up to the property lines, and not anyone else's? That doesn't make sense.

[chris v]

Why our lawns, right up to the property lines, and not anyone else's? That doesn't make sense.

Do you have any pics? I know that when it rains tons of worms come out of my lawn, but not my neighbors.

[ChipShot]

Are you sure it's not gophers ???

[attachment=1178:caddygopher.jpg]