The weasel, a member of the Mustelidae family, is a slender, carnivorous mammal known for its intense activity and predatory skill. Weasels do dig holes, but this excavation is usually not to create a permanent home. Their digging is a focused, high-energy activity driven by the immediate necessity of securing food or finding temporary cover. This behavior is linked to their high metabolism, which requires them to hunt almost constantly.
Digging for Prey
The primary motivation for a weasel to dig is to pursue or reach prey, especially the small rodents that make up the largest portion of their diet. Since species like mice, voles, and shrews spend time in subsurface tunnels, digging is a routine hunting tactic. Their long, thin bodies are perfectly suited for navigating these tight, underground spaces, allowing them to follow their quarry directly.
A weasel’s digging is characterized by speed and efficiency, often involving rapid excavation to breach an existing tunnel system. They use their sense of smell to locate a rodent’s burrow and quickly dig down to intersect the tunnel or flush the prey out. This type of digging is transient and exploratory, not intended to be a structural addition to the landscape. When a weasel enters a burrow, it uses its agility to follow the prey, often killing the rodent with a bite to the base of the skull.
Weasel Housing Habits
Weasels are generally opportunistic when it comes to denning, preferring to utilize existing structures rather than expending energy to construct their own permanent burrows. They frequently take over the abandoned tunnels of other animals, such as pocket gophers, moles, or ground squirrels, which provides immediate, secure shelter. The entrance to a weasel’s den is often lined with insulating material like dried vegetation, or fur and feathers from past meals.
Weasels also make dens in a variety of natural and human-made locations. They seek out secluded, undisturbed spots like rock piles, hollow logs, spaces beneath tree roots, or voids under old foundations and sheds. These dens serve multiple purposes: sleeping, escaping inclement weather, raising a litter of kits, and caching excess food. Since weasels are active year-round, they may use several different shelters within their home range, moving based on prey availability and security.
How to Identify Weasel Holes
Identifying a weasel’s excavation relies on observing specific characteristics that differentiate their digging from other common burrowing animals. A hole dug by a weasel for hunting is typically small and neat, measuring only about 1 to 2 inches in diameter, just large enough for its slender body to pass through. These exploratory holes rarely feature the large, distinct mounds of dirt characteristic of animals like moles or gophers.
The hole is usually circular and appears to lead directly into a narrow tunnel, often found in areas with dense vegetation or near a rodent run. In contrast, a mole creates a raised ridge or a volcano-shaped mound of soil, while a gopher’s hole is usually plugged with dirt. When a weasel digs a permanent den, the entrance may be closer to 3 inches in diameter and is typically concealed within thick cover or under a structure. A weasel’s den entrance may also be distinguished by the presence of scat, which is dark, thin, and often twisted, left near the opening as a form of scent marking.