Help to kill a varmint

**spudboy** · 23rd August 2008, 09:27 AM

It's a sad day when a farmer has to ask advice about exterminating something, but I have run out of ideas.

I am not sure what I am trying to kill, but it has excavated a HUGE amount of fill from under my main rainwater tank, near the house. (40 or 50 Kg at least). The holes going in and out are about as big/round as a mid-sized orange, and there are 3 or 4 separate entrances around the tank. I am worried my tank is going to subside with the big cavity under there.

It is carnivorous, as it steals dry dog food from the back porch as well as smaller dog bones and chicken wings. It only comes out at night (dogs go mad barking at it - but I have never managed to see it), and if I re-fill the openings and pack them down hard it still manages to dig itself out.

So far I have tried traps, ratsak, Phostoxin (a gassing compound we normally use on rabbit burrows), several litres of sump oil, and now am considering hooking up my something to the exhaust of the Series I to try and carbon-monoxide it out.

Any ideas what it might be, and any other ideas on how to get rid of it?

Cheers
David

**Xavie** · 23rd August 2008, 10:02 AM

I had a pig do very similar damage but.... It did not live under the structure it ruined. It also stole dog food and other scraps around the house.

This one has me a bit stumped. Maybe some rat shot aimed down the hole

Maybe it's just a hermit.

Edit that.

I was just asking my partner and we saw a fox do exactly what your saying as well and lived in the area. The whole that was dug was really impressive and heaps of local damage by it. And what is going missing makes sense too.... As it is mating now (from memory) it makes more sense then the piggy.

**EchiDna** · 23rd August 2008, 10:09 AM

how big is the tank? poly?

anyway, the animal could be a bandicoot or could also be one of the many types of bush rats...

sounds too small for a Quoll...

if your tank is on a concrete pad, I wouldn't be concerned at all.

**discomuzz** · 23rd August 2008, 10:16 AM

No weird droppings left to give you a hint?

I could lend you my two Jack Russells if you like! Those little buggers just love this sort of stuff.

**abaddonxi** · 23rd August 2008, 10:48 AM

Tank subsides, problem solved.

Sorry, nothing constructive.

Do you set the dogs out by the tank at night?

Cheers
Simon

**JDNSW** · 23rd August 2008, 10:54 AM

The hole as described is too small for either a fox or the other one I thought of, a wombat. Apart from the carnivorous habits it sounds like rabbits, and my bet would be on that. They are often very difficult to eradicate. I have seen rabbits eat insects, so the dry dog food (which is mostly vegetable anyway) is possible, although I don't know about the chicken. But it could be that something else is stealing the food, not the digger.

I would be inclined to try the gassing route, otherwise seek professional advice and possibly poison from whichever body in SA has the function of our RLPBs in NSW.

John

**long stroke** · 23rd August 2008, 10:59 AM

To me it sounds like it could be an escaped ferret

TIM.

**Disco_owner** · 23rd August 2008, 11:03 AM

I looked up "Varmint" in google and "look" what came up David .

that's gotta be telling you something...

**spudboy** · 23rd August 2008, 11:09 AM

Hey Disco-Owner - That made me laugh!! I was expecting a groundhog or something.

I've got a 12g shotgun but not too keen to loose it off in the direction of my rainwater tank for obvious reasons.

It's got us stumped. We thought maybe possum but have never heard of possums living underground, and anyway the hole is probably too small for something like that.

JDNSW - the bones and the chicken wings end up at the opening of the holes, so am presuming it is trying to store that stuff in its nest.

What about a lizard?

**spudboy** · 23rd August 2008, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by abaddonxi

Do you set the dogs out by the tank at night?

Cheers
Simon

We have tried leaving the dogs out all night to see if they can catch it, but we generally end up with a lot of barking and no caught animal. Mind you, one of the dogs is a 12 year old dobermann who's not so quick these days, and the other is a Cocker Spaniel which has to be one of the most mentally challenged animals to ever have walked the earth.....

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