“My lawn is full of holes – it looks like I have aerated, but I have not. What could be causing these holes, and what should I do about it?” -Jan

Small holes in your lawn are almost always caused by a digging or burrowing creature, and before you can address the problem you have to identify the cause. Holes can be caused by anything from voles to bees to worms to crawfish, and the solution depends on correctly identifying the creature. And unless you can catch the critter in the act, you’ll need to do a little detective work. Take a look at the holes and try to answer these questions:

• What’s the size and shape of the hole?
• Is it just a hole, or does it lead to a burrow or tunnel?
• Is there loose dirt around the hole, or is it relatively clean?
• Are there any small hills, mounds, or piles of soil elsewhere in the yard?
• Are any plants (or grass) damaged, chewed, or shredded?

Once you’re armed with these answers, you’ll need to consult a reference to match your holes with the correct creature. Here are a couple of suggestions:

• The Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management has a great interactive search tool, with reference photos to take you through the identification process step-by-step.
• The article Holes in the Lawn from Clemson University has descriptions of holes dug by various creatures.
• This Wildlife Control article from Clemson University discusses various solutions for damage from wildlife.

Once you know what critter you’re dealing with, you can find a solution targeted to that creature.

Good luck!

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12 Comments on “Identifying the Cause of Holes in Your Lawn”

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1. bob Says:
   July 22nd, 2009 at 1:23 pm

   hey, i have the same thing exept for me there no hole unless that dirt is cleared?

2. roy Says:
   August 7th, 2010 at 12:50 pm

   right now the most common suspect is the cicada who emerge evry 17 years

3. kc thomas crown Says:
   December 5th, 2010 at 6:35 pm

   Can not find an explanation for these tiny holes.. please anyone??
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EdPulyxOxk

4. kathy Says:
   August 9th, 2011 at 7:31 pm

   They could be cicada killers. They look like a huge wasp but they do not sting. They actually pull cicadas out of the trees and drag them into their holes, and lay their eggs in the dead cicada. So they are actually the good guys. But they can populate quickly. I have to kill 60-70 of them each summer to keep them from taking over the lawn.

5. Ben Says:
   October 3rd, 2011 at 7:20 am

   holes are about 1 inch in diameter and about 2 inches deep.Very neat, no tunneling just the hole. What might this be?

6. CAROL O'NEILL Says:
   April 2nd, 2012 at 10:48 pm

   We been having this problem for 2 years now. Dirt bumpy… and the grass dyeing. 2011 terrible problem with japanese beetles… Professionals came – said it could be night crawlers.. ..said it was just because it was dry… Now this year my grass looks awful.. huge dry spots and lumps of dirt… we put the bug stuff(powder)on it. Now we have little holes all over the place.. I don’t know what is going on. I had beautiful grass.. Now it looks awful

7. chris Says:
   April 15th, 2012 at 1:25 pm

   The holes are about 6 to 8 inches wide in about four feet deep. we have the sandy soil in it in the backyard with plenty of trees. we have found turtles in our backyard.

8. Navajochick Says:
   April 29th, 2012 at 6:25 pm

   They are the cicada killers! Cool ! Should we just leave them alone? We are in Joplin mo this is the second year we have seem the holes!

9. Mike Says:
   May 1st, 2012 at 7:57 am

   I have 1/8 to 1/4 inch holes all over the lawn with 3/4 inch piles of dirt around them. Most of the lawn is in the shade. by the end of the summer the grass has a lot of bare spots. It looks really thined out. I’m sure it’s some kind of bug, but what, and what do I do or put on the lawn to prevent this from happening?

10. Kathy Says:
    May 18th, 2012 at 12:24 pm

    Last year I found two holes about 7-8″ wide. Grass all scratched off surface and about 4-5″deep. Here it was a big turtle. Have the same size hole this year but have not found a turtle—yet.

11. Jan McMahon Says:
    May 21st, 2012 at 6:11 pm

    My neighbor has holes infront of her house. It is a brick wall about 8″ high and the area is about 1 ft wide of earth in the front of the house. The holes are about 1″ to 1 1/2″ circular no extra dirt the dirt outside the hole looks like a golf hole that you would putt into. smooth dirt outside, have not seen andy thing. I have thought about placing flour around the hole to see if we can find prints. Any suggestions. Thanks
    Jan

12. pat Says:
    May 23rd, 2012 at 10:24 am

    Was wondering if you can help me identify a hole dug in my grass, it looks to be about 3 inches around, very rounded opening with fine soil strewed flat in front of it. It is some kind of burrow as it looks to go in pretty deep. Could a rabbit have done this, as I have quite a few in my yard. I am concerned as I have 2 small dogs and don’t want them getting hurt confronting something in my hard. Should I fill the hole in, or put a garden hose to it and flush it? Thanks for any help you can give.

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