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Squirrels & Wildlife

Do Squirrels Make Holes in the Ground? Small and Shallow

Tree squirrels dig shallow caching holes, not burrows. How to tell their 2-inch divots from chipmunk, vole, rat and ground squirrel holes.

By Salma 3 min read Save to Pinterest — opens Pinterest in a new tab
Fresh molehills pushed up through a grass lawn
Photo: Counselling, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay
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Tree squirrels dig shallow caching scrapes, not burrows. An inch or two across, soil scattered rather than mounded, often patted back down. Anything with a proper tunnel is a different animal.

The identification table

holesizemoundpatternanimal
Shallow scrape, loosely refilled1–2 inscattered soildozens, random, autumntree squirrel caching
Clean round entrance~2 innonefew, near coverchipmunk
Smooth entrance, worn path2–3 insomeby walls, decking, compostrat
Small holes with surface runways1–1.5 innoneruns in the turfvole
Mound of fine soil, no visible hole—volcano-shapedraised ridgesmole
Cone-shaped divots, turf rolled back1–3 inscatteredovernight, in patchesskunk or raccoon after grubs
Large entrance, soil fan4–6 inlargenear structuresgroundhog
Multiple entrances, system2–4 inoften moundedslopes, banksground squirrel

The mound tells you most of it

Chipmunks carry spoil away in their cheek pouches specifically so the entrance is not advertised, so a clean hole with no soil beside it is almost always a chipmunk. A hole with a fan of soil is a rat, a groundhog or a ground squirrel depending on size.

What the squirrel scrapes are for

Scatter-hoarding. A squirrel carries nuts away individually and buries them across its range, one per hole, rather than in a single store.

  • Autumn peak. Estimates put a single grey squirrel’s seasonal caching in the low thousands of nuts
  • Assessed first. They turn a nut over, judging weight and soundness; light or damaged ones get eaten rather than buried
  • Patted down deliberately afterwards
  • Found by smell, not memory of the location — which is why a large share are never recovered
  • Those unrecovered nuts are one of the main ways oaks and hickories get planted

In spring you will see the opposite behaviour: digging to retrieve, which leaves similar scrapes.

Why they dig your containers and beds

Loose, soft, reliably workable soil is the easiest caching medium in the garden, and a pot or a freshly turned bed is exactly that.

They are burying, not eating the plant — though bulbs are taken as well, especially tulips and crocus.

The fix:

treatmenteffect
Coarse grit or 10–20 mm pebble top-dressingvery effective; still conserves moisture
Half-inch hardware cloth disc with slits for stemseffective, invisible once covered
Chicken wiretoo open — they dig through
Capsaicin granules in the top inchuseful secondary; reapply after rain

The same grit layer discourages dust bathing, which uses the same loose dry material.

Reducing it generally

  • Sweep up spilled birdseed daily, or move the feeder 15–20 ft away
  • Switch to hulled seed so there is no shell litter
  • Pepper-treated seed — birds do not detect capsaicin, mammals do
  • Plant daffodils, alliums and fritillaria instead of tulips and crocus in exposed beds
  • Do not bother filling the lawn scrapes. They are shallow, grass grows through them, and a refilled hole is just easier digging next time

Common questions

Do squirrels dig holes in lawns?

Tree squirrels dig shallow caching holes — typically an inch or two across and an inch or two deep, with the soil scattered rather than mounded, and usually patted back down. They do not dig burrows. Dozens of small scattered divots appearing across a lawn in autumn is squirrel caching; a single defined hole with a mound beside it is a different animal.

How do I tell squirrel holes from chipmunk holes?

Size and tidiness. A squirrel cache is a 1 to 2 inch scrape, scattered randomly, often loosely refilled. A chipmunk burrow entrance is a clean round hole about 2 inches across with no mound of soil at all, because chipmunks carry the spoil away in their cheek pouches to hide the entrance. The absence of a mound is the giveaway.

What animal digs holes in my lawn at night?

Squirrels are diurnal, so night digging is something else. Skunks and raccoons roll turf back and leave shallow cone-shaped divots while hunting grubs, and they work at night. Voles leave surface runways and small holes, moles leave mounds with no visible entrance, and rats leave smooth 2 to 3 inch holes with a worn path leading to them.

Why are squirrels digging up my pots and beds?

Loose, soft, reliably diggable soil is exactly what caching needs, and a container or a newly turned bed is the easiest digging in the garden. They are burying nuts rather than eating your plants, though bulbs are taken as well. A top-dressing of coarse grit or a disc of half-inch hardware cloth under the surface stops it without harming the plant.

Do ground squirrels dig burrows?

Yes, and they are a different problem entirely. Ground squirrels, unlike tree squirrels, excavate extensive burrow systems with multiple entrances two to four inches across, often with soil mounded at the opening, and those systems can undermine paving, foundations and slopes. If you have burrows rather than divots, identify the species before deciding what to do.

Should I fill in squirrel holes?

For caching divots, there is no need — they are shallow, the grass grows through, and filling them simply invites a redig. What is worth doing is reducing the reason: clear spilled birdseed, switch to hulled or pepper-treated seed, and top-dress containers and newly planted beds with grit so the easy digging disappears.

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