Artificial burrows provide a temporary home for the prairie dogs during the relocation process.
The nesting boxes, or artificial burrows, are constructed of 15-25 gallon nursery pots. The bigger the pot, the more prairie dogs it will accommodate (keeping family groups in mind). You can usually get these donated. However, you want the rigid ones that are injection molded, and not the flimsy ones that are blow molded. The flimsy ones can crush during the back filling. To find out how to make one, click here.
The nesting boxes must have 2, 4” holes drilled into them with the hole cutter, one in the middle of the bottom, and 1 on the side, about 2” down from the top. The holes must be slotted (8 slots about 1” deep) using the mini grinder and cutting wheel. The slots allow the tube to be forced into the pot and held securely.
A piece of 1/2”x1/2” hardware cloth needs to be cut to fit over the open end of the nesting box. The rim of the pot is either drilled with a number of holes so that the cloth can be sewn to the pot using wire or the cloth can be stapled to the pot. If it is stapled to the pot, care must be taken when handling and setting the pot so that the hardware cloth is not pulled away from the pot.