On one of your photos I commented that the tracks and trails that you found were
that of a mole. I was wrong. These tunnels were created by a vole (probably
several). You can see that the vegetation in the proximity of the tunnels to be
damaged from feeding. The reason that this discounts the mole is that moles are
insectivores.

Both moles and voles create tunnels just under the surface of the soil to avoid
predation. Mole tunnels go much deeper and often create volcano-like mounds
(similar to ants).

This is a really cool find. Thanks for posting.

Brendan White


--- In animaltracks@yahoogroups.com, "__tracker__" <tracker@...> wrote:
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I sent off a reply last night and I hadn't had a chance to look at the photos.
Yahoo kept giving me a message that said "connection refused" every time I
tried. I was finally able to view the photos this evening. When I tried to guess
what they were from the description alone last night, I guessed wrong. They
aren't antlion/doodlebug tracks. I'm not sure what they are. Maybe emerging
cicadas or some type of beetle? I'm stumped.
>
> Kim
>
>
> --- In animaltracks@yahoogroups.com, "tomkings_wife" <tomkings_wife@> wrote:
> >
> > Hi All,
> > Last weekend we pulled up six pallets that our bales of hay were sitting on.
We scrapped the ground to level it for a new platform so the ground was down to
bare earth with a light covering of loose soil.
> >
> > The next morning I discovered  numerous small holes about the size of a
thumb, and lots of squiggly tracks.  The holes were in the tracks.
> >
> > I have uploaded photos to an album titled "snake tracks? Two of the photos
have a 12 inch ruler in them for scale. Can anyone help identify the critter
that made these tracks?
> >
> > I think it must be a snake or several snakes.  I scrapped away the soil
around one of the holes and it is a small hole in hard packed dirt.
> > What do you think?
> >
> > Our farm is in an inland valley in San Diego county.
> >
> > tomkings_wife
> >
>