Hole in back yard? Bugs? Reptile? Rodent? (tunnel, about)

[hadleyzoo]

My vote is toads. I've got them all over my yard and have been out at night when they've come out. But gosh darn it if the local feral cat didn't get a hold of one and left a nice mess on my patio early one morning. I had to let the dog out and thought I was going to hurl.

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by catriona

Do you think it may be a cicada killer wasp? The females catch cicadas, drag them to a burrow they have dug. Then they lay their egg on the cicada and cover up the entrance.

I found a link to them here:

cicadaintro.html (http://ww2.lafayette.edu/%7Ehollidac/cicadaintro.html - broken link)

It shows an example of the hole for comparison. We had a bunch of them next to the house last year burying their eggs. Those holes were about an inch in diameter, too. The website says that the holes can be as much as a meter long, too.
The wasps are not harmful, but are a bit scary for those that don't know what they are.
Hope the link helps!

Cicadas are probably a good possibility. I considered them after noticing the op talked about the fine dirt pile around the holes. Don't recall seeing that around the holes the toads come out of. Toad holes may be a little larger than 1 inch. diameter but they are pretty deep. But I have seen 2 toads in the last couple days.

[catriona]

Originally Posted by hadleyzoo

My vote is toads. I've got them all over my yard and have been out at night when they've come out. But gosh darn it if the local feral cat didn't get a hold of one and left a nice mess on my patio early one morning. I had to let the dog out and thought I was going to hurl.

Ewe! One of our dogs got a hold of a toad once. You'd think she'd learn, right? NOPE! It took two toads for her to figure out that she needed to leave them alone! On the other hand, our other dog figured it out the minute she mouthed the toad.

Anyway, back to the topic. We have toads all over the place, too. The bigger toads and those little ones that look more like frogs. I find the toads
underneath things where they have buried themselves, but no long tunnels.
Do toads dig tunnels? I have no idea where those little frogs hide. Maybe they are the ones digging tunnels?

[SATX56]

I find the toads just burrowed into the soil in my potted plants. They may be squatters in something else's hole in the ground. My daughter and her husband lived just outside Floresville and they got these really bright green frogs. They stick to the walls outside and they'll get in your cars. Makes me wanna go giggin'!

[texasdreamin]

My first thought would be snake. My second thought is ground squirrel. I have those all around my house from those little critters.

[gwrober]

We had toads at my last place, and they dug where ever the soil was soft - we had an old stump in the front yard and they dug around that, but they didn't leave piles nearby...

[the_dimwit]

AFD,

We had one in our back yard until about three weeks ago. Whatever was there must have died because there was an insect "feast" going on. A couple days later I went back to the hole and found the remains of a large stag beetle. After some research, I found that some types of stag beetles do in fact burrow.

My suggestion would be to fill the hole with water and see what happens!

--Dim

[ciJay]

Yes, sounds like the Cicada killer wasp. Had them in my yard B4.

[AirForceDoc]

Yep, that picture you posted was exactly what it looked like. Wasps. Cool. ThanKS !!

[texasdreamin]

Wasps that dig holes????? Lordy they must be huge. I'm afraid of anything that stings.