When you see a crawdad hole in the yard or field how do they dig that hole so the mound of dirt is on the top of the hole and the dirt is always wet on the outside?

Answer 1

The hole is from a gopher ( crawdads live in water only ) and they push the dirt up from below to close off the hole during the day to keep predators out. The wet dirt is evidence that the hole was just recently closed off ( active hole ).If you open the hole up and watch for a while he will come and close it again.

This is not necessarily the case.. I have lived in South East Texas near the gulf my entire life, and I can assure you, those can be crawdad holes (see first link below..which is a pic of a crawdad/crayfish/crawfish hole)..and they do not live in above ground water alone, but they also live in tunnels in areas near the coast and can even be found more north where they will tunnel in lower areas of your yard where it gets extra wet after a rain.

When I was younger, we would find a stick and wrap the end of it with a small piece of raw bacon (or we would tie a piece of string around the bacon) and stick it down the hole (if the hole is not too far down, you will hit water..this is where you stop lowering the bacon and wiggle it around a bit to attract the crawdad) then we would hold still..if we were lucky, the crawdad would grab on, and you could gently pull him up out of his hole!

**Note: NEVER stick your hand in a crawdad hole, as there could also be snakes and/or Spiders there as well if the crawdad has abandoned it.

Usually the wetter the mound (if there has been no rain for awhile)..the fresher the hole, and the more sure you can be that there is indeed a crawdad there...they roll up the mounds from underground and push them up to the top. They usually burrow far enough down to live where there is underground water (which is why the mounds can be wet) Larger crawdads can make pretty tall mounds! Here are some great websites and pictures if you would like to learn more! :)