Mysterious hole - help please!

I've had foxes drag & rip open the big bags of compost & spread it all over the patio. They've also buried chicken eggs & bonio dog biscuits in my plant pots, run off with the dogs toys if we don't bring them in from the garden at night. It came as quite a shock when one decided to pop it's head in through the patio door!

My daughter had the same problem when she moved into a house on a new estate. It was rats , loads of the little blighters.

Rene - you are right foxes love bonemeal .
I've done some replanting in a section this week and avoided it .
Even so , my arrangement of kebab sticks has not deterred cats !

Have you used any bonemeal in your planter/ garden? A fox will definitely dig where there is bonemeal. I put a small tree in my daughters garden and she insisted on putting bonemeal in before planting the tree, every morning the tree was laying on the ground and after 4 times replanting I gave up and the tree had to go somewhere else

Badgers make holes in our lawn and garden - quite deep some of them. Foxes poo all over the place and go for the food waste bins if not put well out of their reach.

Foxes for sure I get this all the time. I now make sure when I pot up a plant there are no worms in there. I sometimes find chicken eggs buried ! Yesterday I found a leather belt half buried at the back of the border. My garden is covered in sticks to deter it from digging. I now sprinkle chilli powder around pot edges and newly planted plants it seems to work.

We once had a semi tame vixen living under our shed, who had the sauce to dig in my planters while I was out in the garden with her! But that would be larger diameter holes. We currently have a squirrel I've caught digging in my pots several times, and s/he leaves smaller, deep holes, and can get in between plants to do so. The little blighter has also raided my admittedly open greenhouse, managed to open the old food refuse bin in there with a locking lid, filch the unopened bag of bird food stored in there and open it as neatly down the side as if s/he'd used scissors! And consumed a large portion of the contents. Greedy little......

It might even have been a mouse or a rat and then along came a cat or fox that dug the mouse or rat out and ate it.

My father discovered once that he had a mouse living in the pot containing a plant in his sitting-room!

A badger would not be digging deep, but they will dig up the turf on a whole lawn looking for worms and grubs, a young fox is most likely the culprit, why I have no idea.

There is a real problem with badgers in my area, my lawn looks like a ploughed field sometimes, huge holes everywhere.

Llamedos13

Squirrels do this to my pots, do you have any where you live?

We have one rather silly one which visits our garden but I haven't seen it for several months.

Perhaps it's been on holiday somewhere and returned with big muscles!

Squirrels do this to my pots, do you have any where you live?

Fox or badger.
Badgers are about in built up areas in the small hours of the morning, as DP spotted one ambling up the centre of the road not long ago.

Don't cats normally dig small holes, do their business and more or less cover it up? The hole is just too deep for a cat.

I think it must be a large fox if it can also drag a bag of compost out of the garden corner and then rip it open.

Unless, it's one of those 'big cats' usually mysteriously seen during August in various parts of the UK!

Well cats have dug into my pots before now The pot if it’s terracotta could crack and break from heavy frosts or strong roots I ve had both those things happen

We have quite a few foxes by us and I did once see one digging in my pot. I am now assuming everytime there is a hole in one it is Mr Fox. I once found eggs buried in a pot. Unfortunately, I didn't notice until I had put my hand fork through it and the egg had gone off and the smell was diabolical.
Normally large holes in the lawn are the badgers.

Most likely a rat or a badger.

BlueBelle

Is the hole in the garden or in the pot not sure I understand
Is it an empty pot or is it the garden around the pot

The hole is in a large earthenware pot which stands outside in our front garden. There are two plants in it but also a bit of space and a deep hole has been dug into it and the soil flung out into a pile outside the pot.

I wish I could post a photo of it but the jpg file is too big to attach!

I've seen foxes about but the area is quite built up so I doubt it's badgers. Also the bag of small bag of compost which was ripped open, was also dragged out of a corner so a rat or a cat probably wouldn't be strong enough.

I'd love to see what it is but don't fancy staying up all night. I suppose we need one of those video cameras!

Is the hole in the garden or in the pot not sure I understand
Is it an empty pot or is it the garden around the pot

The diggers in my garden are badgers.

Baggs

Foxes eat earthworms. One of their main foods.

Yes. There might have been worms in the pots.

Foxes eat earthworms. One of their main foods.

A squirrel ate all my tulip bulbs and buried fat balls in the pots instead.

OldFrill

Most likely a rat, they dig and tunnel and are extremely clever.

That's why we don't have a compost heap now.
Vegetable peelings and warmth. Ideal for a rat.

Most likely a rat, they dig and tunnel and are extremely clever.