Last updated on October 9th, 2022
Lawn grubs are those insects you would find happily taking a stroll in your garden every day. However, they are not as useless as you’d think them to be.
There is a flurry of animals who love to grub on these creepy-crawly lawn creatures, and they often enjoy their meal. Most of these are lawn creatures themselves, so why not take unfair advantage of their size and feed on the little helpless creatures?
Well, that defines the ecosystem as it functions. So while we wouldn’t like to talk more about that, what we would like to do is to tell you more about what animals eat lawn grubs.
Animals that eat lawn grubs:
- Opossums
- Skunks
- Gophers
- Raccoons
- Squirrels
- Voles
- Deer
These grubs are often larvae of lawn beetles and chafers. They are nothing but eggs or creatures themselves at a very nascent stage in life. Healthy grass makes for a perfect living place for most of these creatures.
List of animals that eat lawn grubs.
1. Opossums
Since they have delicate feet and nails, opossums are unlikely to dig large holes. They may dig small holes in soft turf, though.
They usually dig such holes only to search for grubs to eat. Lawn grubs are a real treat for them.
However, they will always try to avoid digging up lawns in search of food unless they become desperate. They are one of the animals that love to eat grains like rice and greens.
They simply love lawn grubs most and these insects provide much of the nutrition that opossums need, and they are very tasty too. In fact, in some parts of the world, humans too eat lawn grubs for their taste when cooked.
It’s no wonder that we get to see more of these opossums in places where insect grub thrives.
Well, it can be said that lawn grubs are a favorite of opossums.
2. Skunks
Although skunks are primarily foragers and are famous for the pervasive stench that they can produce, they are great fans of insect grub that are found in dead wood and in your lawns.
These small cat-sized mammals are omnivorous creatures. So they eat pretty much anything. They love discarded food and a variety of other delicacies like snakes, frogs, lizards, greens, grasses, roots, berries, and so much more – the list just seems endless.
They can also act like scavengers when they eat the flesh of dead animals.
Although they have poor eyesight, they will dig holes in the ground in search of earthworms and insect grubs as well, so it is only obvious that they cannot identify food at a distance.
So, naturally, they are always moving in search of food, and insect grub is a delicacy they can find almost readily anywhere.
3. Gophers
Gophers eat a variety of things, including insect grub. But, funnily enough, the network of tunnels they’ve created helps them locate and eat the kind of food they prefer most.
Since they dig tunnels underneath the ground and up to the surface, and because these tunnels are hardly ever visible, these pay off in their quest to locate delicious and choicest of food. Of course, they aren’t too discerning of what is on offer.
They just love a regular diet of earthworms and insect grubs, and these are mostly available just above and below the surface of the soil, which can be accessed easily from within the tunnels themselves.
4. Raccoons
Not only do raccoons love grubs, but they may also even cause serious damage to your garden and lawns while searching for these little delicacies.
Raccoons are always out searching for grubs and then returning home after a good meal.
They will happily ransack any turf for these delicious and nutritious little creatures. And to top it off, they will keep returning for more almost daily.
Hence it is critical that you rid your garden and lawn of all the grubs. That way, you will ensure that both your garden and lawn are prevented from being destroyed by grubs, raccoons, and other pests.
5. Squirrels
I was quite amused to learn an interesting thing about squirrels. These little furry creatures can find food even beneath a foot of snow.
I always knew that they stash away a lot more food than they need. However, I never knew that they had an appetite for grubs.
Although these lawn grubs aren’t a squirrel’s first choice for food, they just love keeping them on their menu.
Mostly grubs make up a supplement for squirrels, especially when they fall on hard times. These grubs gain preference for squirrels because of their high protein content in them.
Here is a further explanation of why squirrels eat grubs.
6. Voles
Most people mistake voles for moles. First off, moles aren’t rodents. They use their big feet to dig and are all mouth and nose mostly.
Voles are small and stocky and may look like small field mice. Small rounded ears hidden in fur, short tails, and small eyes are characteristic features of voles. They are voracious consumers of lawn grubs.
The protein content and the lovely taste of grubs make these avid voles eaters of grubs. The two most common species of voles are the meadow vole and the prairie vole.
The meadow vole is more commonly known and more widely spread across different regions. However, the prairie vole is more commonly spread across the prairie areas, thus giving them the name.
7. Deer
I was amazed to find deer in many places when studying animals that damage gardens, lawns, vegetation, and landscape.
Although grubs don’t make the A-list of foods that deer love, they are by far one of the most popular delicacies that deer prefer to try once too often, and this is a primary reason why they made it onto this list of animals that eat lawn grubs.
Since they even dig up most of the landscape in search of this delicacy of theirs, if their digging goes unchecked, they can create permanent damage to any landscape.
Hence it is my earnest plea that you rid your landscape of all grub – both insect grub and other forms of grubs.
We wrote an entire article on deer eating grubs and you check that out for more details.
What animals eat lawn grubs?
The animals that eat lawn grubs are opossums, skunks, gophers, raccoons, squirrels, voles, and deer. However, opossums, squirrels, voles, and skunks normally dig shallow holes in your yard whereas a gopher will build a mound of dirt surrounding the holes that run 6-12 inches below ground.
