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Child Item

Something is burrowing in my shed

wicklowtown

Hi, Im hoping someone can help me. I went to my 7 x 6 foot metal shed that has a wooden floor for the first time this year, I couldnt get the sliding doors to open and as the sheds in a shaded area of the garden i couldnt see what what preventing the doors from opening so I went and got a torch. When i shined it inside the shed most of the wooden floor seems to have rotted away. On top of the floor (or what was the floor) in different areas of the shed are big mounds of earth and im just wondering if anyone would have any ideas of what kind of animal is obviously living under the floor of my shed. Most of the floor is covered in earth but the actual mounds are around 1- 1.5 feet in diameter. To be honest im a bit scared to check it out as im a middle aged lady and though im not scared of many animals its the fact i dont know what this animal might be and thats whats worrying me. I should also add i have 6 small dogs and 3 cats who use my garden so i would have thought any animal would avoid taking up residence in my garden even if it is inside my shed. My dogs are house dogs but in good weather my cats often stay out at night. Any help would be appreciated as im extremely nervous to investigate these mounds of earth when i have no clue what i might be dealing with. Thanks
P.S I originally put this up in the interior design section so moving it here as i dont know what to do. Thanks again

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blackbox

Great thread. The suspense is killing me.

My money is on rats.

gozunda

magicbastarder wrote: »

one or two of those sites are blocked in work - but four attacks document in the last ten years, across ireland and the UK.
i know more people who have been injured by babies than by foxes. not hard, since the latter is zero.

Nope. That's just selection of reports on attacks tbh - though not all by any means. And its not a competition with humans either - attacks by foxes have happened - also seems a bigger problem with urban foxes who have lost their fear of humans.

RebelButtMunch

OP Any chance of pics and something to help with the scale of the mounds?

Grab All Association

Badger my aśś, it’s probably Milhouse.

deletthis

Grab All Association wrote: »

Badger my aśś, it’s probably Milhouse.

Man that’s a sweet looking reply, why doesn’t mine look like that?!

my3cents

Cantona's Collars wrote: »

Maybe it's an ass blaster?

Anyone that's seen Tremors will know what they are.

Worse still it could be Kevin Bacon :eek:

TomOnBoard

Any progress on getting a trail cam installed? The suspense is clearly driving some ppl mad..

They now have a Right to Know... ;-)

BarryD2

If it's an established urban area in Wicklow town, I'd be thinking fox. They are pretty mobile, good climbers and adaptable - more cat like than dog like. I associate badgers more with rural ditches and woodlands, maybe if there's new housing nearby their old habitats have been disturbed and they moved to your shed but seems unlikely otherwise. Rats are funny creatures, seem to have a great sense of territory. We used to have them in an old outhouse which I cleared away to build a house extension and they kept trying to move back in!

wicklowtown

wexie wrote: »

I have to say I'm pretty curious, if there is no obvious way for something to have gotten in or under the shed.

Yet something is now inside?

Ive been all around the outside of my shed and theres no signs of burrowing or digging, not even from my dogs

wicklowtown

I live just up the road from the main street in Wicklow Town, Ive never seen foxes anywhere near my house or estate and i havent seen rats anywhere near since building finished on the estate above us around 20 years ago. one of my three cats is always catching birds so i would assume if there were rats in my garden she would have caught one by now and left it on my back door step like she unfortunately does with birds. Someone from @chg.gov.ie emailed me saying "Hi Donna,I was passed on your inquiry regards burrows in your shed. I hope to call out to you tomorrow and will contact you before hand." So im just waiting on this phone call and hopefully he will know what kind of animal would do this. I should also of mentioned there a real strong animal smell in the shed but we had pet mice and rats as children and its doesnt smell like i remember them smelling when their homes needed cleaning out its just a real musky smell

wexie

wicklowtown wrote: »

Ive been all around the outside of my shed and theres no signs of burrowing or digging, not even from my dogs

You're back!!! We were all a bit worried that the beast in the shed had caught and devoured you

wicklowtown wrote: »

Someone from @chg.gov.ie emailed me saying "Hi Donna,I was passed on your inquiry regards burrows in your shed. I hope to call out to you tomorrow and will contact you before hand." So im just waiting on this phone call and hopefully he will know what kind of animal would do this.

Hope they'll be able to shed (hurhur) some light on this for you and perhaps help you get rid of (relocate) whatever is living there.

Do keep us informed, I doubt I'm the only one curious

Doctors room ghost

My money is on hedgehog first and rat second.fox third now that I saw mention of a musky smell

mugsymugsy

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

My money is on hedgehog first and rat second.

What odds you get quoted at paddy power

Doctors room ghost

mugsymugsy wrote: »

What odds you get quoted at paddy power

Power not taking any more bets but I got evens on the hedgehog with Boyle sports and early morning reports of rat being backed off the boards.also a strong afternoon market reported for fox after mention of musky smells with big money bets reported and plenty of parade ring whispers

recedite

wicklowtown wrote: »

Ive been all around the outside of my shed and theres no signs of burrowing or digging, not even from my dogs

Vampires can control wolves and dogs.

TheShow

easily the best thread on the whole of boards.
Please keep us informed.

Glass fused light

It just occurred to me that as its in an urban area it may not be native but a missing pet.

(What's the odds on hedgehogs )

Oliolioli

If it's a real musky smell, my money is on a fox. There is a very distinctive fox smell & it's rather pungent. Question is how are they getting into the shed though. You would have to be able to see some sort of way in unless they have a very long tunnel which would be surprising.

wexie

Oliolioli wrote: »

If it's a real musky smell, my money is on a fox. There is a very distinctive fox smell & it's rather pungent.

One of my dogs absolutely loves it and will roll around in it every chance he gets.

And it's pungent alright

Doctors room ghost

Glass fused light wrote: »

It just occurred to me that as its in an urban area it may not be native but a missing pet.

(What's the odds on hedgehogs )

Hedgehog currently at evens with Boyle sports
Mole declared non runner as not native to Ireland.

Day Lewin

Now fielding an outsider: it may not be coming from below at all, but dropping from above!

Bat colony, or birds' nests. Both very possible. The former are protected by law from disturbance, by the way.

my3cents

Day Lewin wrote: »

Now fielding an outsider: it may not be coming from below at all, but dropping from above!

Bat colony, or birds' nests. Both very possible. The former are protected by law from disturbance, by the way.

We have bats in one of our sheds the droppings are very obvious and our dogs have no interest in them.

OwlEye

It's most likely one of these,
Heterocephalus glaber sp(Vampirus Gigantus Hibernicus).
They can get to about 7 foot in length.
Best leave town if I were you.

wicklowtown

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

Power not taking any more bets but I got evens on the hedgehog with Boyle sports and early morning reports of rat being backed off the boards.also a strong afternoon market reported for fox after mention of musky smells with big money bets reported and plenty of parade ring whispers

Quick update, Jason from Parks & wildlife came out & said he doesnt think its a fox or badger as there's no other holes or damage in my garden. I asked if it could be a mole but he said we dont have them in Ireland, i would have assumed we did. He thought it might be rats but didnt think they would throw so much dirt around the shed as you cant see any or the wooden floor for earth all over it. I would have thought there would be shredded paper/plastic around the floor if it were rats. Jason found scat, some still fresh so with the lovely weather yesterday i would guess it was less than an hour old, Jason & i both thought the scat looked far too big for rats. The wet scat was in about 5 pieces and would be about an inch long and half an inch wide and, i will try to get some photos of the scat and put them up. Jason is going to come back on Saturday and loan me a trail cam and see if that catches anything over the weekend. At least it gets me out of mowing my front lawn (always an upside) as i told Jason i'd rather not disturb anything until i know what im dealing with

wicklowtown

I dont think anything can control my dogs

wicklowtown

my3cents wrote: »

We have bats in one of our sheds the droppings are very obvious and our dogs have no interest in them.

I actually wouldnt mind if it were bats

wicklowtown

Bats and hedgehogs i wouldnt mind i just dont want it to be rats or anything that might bite me or my dogs

wicklowtown

I spoke to a friend who lives down the road from me and he said he often sees foxes up our way late at night, i dont go out much at night so thats probably why ive never seen them

Doctors room ghost

Was there a tint of green in the scat

my3cents

wicklowtown wrote: »

Bats and hedgehogs i wouldnt mind i just dont want it to be rats or anything that might bite me or my dogs

What dogs do you have? Ours would have dug under the shed or stood around barking at the shed all day if there was even the slightest chance of there being wildlife under it.