What's digging up my yard?

[msrocket]

I have some small dug-out spots on the edge of my yard today. I would think it might be pigs, but the spots are fairly small, and most pig digging I have seen is pretty big. If I were on the mainland, I would guess skunks or raccoons.
What else might dig up small pieces of my lawn? Birds? Mongoose? Any ideas?

[bananahead]

if not chickens scratching the leaves... its prob pigs....
the pigs will use their noses to sniff out earthworms, and leave small open areas in the vegetation, usually less than 2' wide and only like 5"-8" deep.. they move around looking for the best place to hunt worms, and sometimes roots... when they hit a good spot, that when it gets bad, and can look like a hand grenade went off...

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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha

[msrocket]

Thanks bananahead. We don't have chickens, so it is something else. The holes are small, 3" across and 2" deep, which seems too small for pigs. Piglets? Someone mentioned maybe they were looking for mushrooms, as we have had some in that area.

[1voyager1]

I have spread a thick layer of mulch around in several locations around our yard.
Something has been digging small holes about 2" to 3" wide by 3" to 5" deep around in the mulch.
I'm certain it is not pigs.
I thought it might be rats, because I had caught a few in traps around our kitchen waste composter last year.

I've been putting out the bromethalin rat poison bait chunks in order to kill off the rats.
Something has been eating them up out of the bait boxes like they were candy, as fast as I can get the boxes rebaited.
Then, I built a "third-world" rat trap out of a 5 gallon bucket, a piece of wire and a small plastic bottle, baiting it with peanut butter.
Something ate the peanut butter and evaded the trap.

Today, looking out the kitchen window, I watched a mongoose saunter across the yard around to the bucket trap.
He jumped up to the top edge of it [I had removed the wood ramp that I had placed to access the baited bottle.], and stretched out to check the now unbaited bottle without falling into the bucket.

I'm beginning to think my digger about the yard might be a mongoose.
So, my question:
Will bromethalin bait kill mongooses, or would that be mongees?

[terracore]

quote:

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Will bromethalin bait kill mongooses, or would that be mongees?

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According to this, yes?

"Brodifacoum and bromethalin are or have been used under emergency exemptions (FIFRA §18) to control introduced rats on U. S. islands in the Pacific Ocean. Twenty-three states have SLNs for chlorophacinone and/or diphacinone, mostly to control meadow voles (M. pennsylvanicus) and/or pine voles (M. pinetorum) in orchards or
ground squirrels in rangeland or other uncultivated areas. Other limited uses include control of mongooses (Herpestes auropunctatus) in Hawaii, voles in small-grain crops in Washington, and a variety of other rodent pests and jack rabbits (Lepus spp.) in California"

http://pesticideresearch.com/site/docs/b...eRisks.pdf

[1voyager1]

Thanks terracore for that link to the pdf, an interesting read.
But, I only find that Diphacinone not Bromethalin is tested and approved for use against mongooses.
He might be eating the bait "like candy" without any effects.

This brings up another question:
Are mongooses considered to be another link in the Rat Lungworm chain?

EDIT:
I have answered my own question:

Here- http://pharmacy.uhh.hawaii.edu/rlw/faq.php - they state that mongooses have not been shown to be hosts for RLW.

[msrocket]

Well, it seems like pigs are our diggers. We found an even bigger spot of digging, and, worst of all, some of our pineapples eaten up. Gotta be pigs that will munch into a pineapple.
We are trying some home-style deterrents at the edge of our lot (stuff with smells the pigs won't like).
But now my question is, does anyone know a person who will trap a pig and haul it away?

[Cagary]

http://honolulu.craigslist.org/big/grd/4980698114.html

-Veritas odium parit”(Terence 195–159 BC))-"Truth begets hatred".

[msrocket]

We found someone in our neighborhood to help trap the pig(s). We might be able to salvage a couple pineapples out of this year's crop, after all!
Mahalo everyone for your help!

[msrocket]

75 lb pig in the trap last night, pork chops tonight!!