AboutStephen Vantassel Expertise I was a professional animal damage controller. If you are having problems with squirrels, raccoons, beavers, moles, voles, etc. damaging your property, I can help give you information to resolve that damage. I was an assistant editor for Wildlife Control Technology magazine and have published numerous articles as well as two books in this field.
Experience former Assistant Editor of Wildlife Control Technology magazine, the nation's only exclusive professional magazine for animal damage controllers. I have published two books, the Wildlife Removal Handbook and the Wildlife Damage Inspection Handbook.
Expert: Stephen Vantassel Date: 7/13/2008 Subject: varmint ID by droppings
Question We live in rural North Central Texas app. 7 miles from the Tx/Ok border. Our problem is with a varmint of unknown species. I can only identify the droppings. Whatever it is, it has dug a big hole under our shop concrete foundation and continues his reign of yard terror. We have three dogs, a very sweet mutt, and two female huskys. They all love to hunt but so far the varmint has eluded them. Could possibly be a skunk because we have smelled faint odors of skunk parfume from time to time on the dogs. I can identify at least one varmint by its droppings. The stool is approx 3 inches and cresent moon shaped. Can't identify its diet however. Just a smear of asundries that come out black. Got any ideas?
Thanks,
Remona, a bothered and bewildered new country girl in Texas
Answer Got various ideas but to list them would only add confusion. My first suggestion is to visit http://www.icwdm.org/Inspection/Default.asp It has a variety of ways to identify animal damage both by holes, and feces.
At minimum, it will help narrow down the list of possibilities.
Second, more precision will be needed regarding the damage. I need measurements of hole sizes (as you will see at the site, different animals create different size holes and holes with different characteristics.
Smell is a weak identification tool. Opossums can have a skunky smell if they discharge their glands. Of course, it could be a skunk too. Sometimes, animal A dug the hole only to have it occupied by animal species B.
the short answer is too many variables at this point. Visit the page. Then we can talk more concretely.
