If I’m looking at the right spot, just to left of green veggie & under the leaf, that doesn’t even look like it has a hair coat covering.. Voles are the smallest thing I know of

Yes, that is fur... very silky as I recall - having picked one up once thinking it was a fig. ( I eat figs right off the tree, but didn't try to eat this one. ☺️ )

I didn't even think of a vole.

I think their playing dead instead of biting or running away is strange.

You sure that’s fur? it looks sort of like a reptile…ewwww

@CA Kate z9 You picked one up??! 😱 Mistake for sure! Hope the little thing didn’t get flung across the yard - that would’ve been my reaction at being so startled. Since you’re in CA & warmer zone, maybe nothing I would see though I’m not that much different zone wise. If you have a Master Gardener office nearby, or any kind of wildlife org., try calling them & sending your photo. I’m really curious too. Seems like Voles tunnel & eat tree bark - damage when they girdle the poor tree.

I wonder if it could be a kangaroo rat. They are larger than mice, although much smaller than roof rats. They have a fluffy end to their long tail and are really quite adorable. With the climate changing (hotter and drier in this context) I spotted one last year for the very first time in my northeast San Diego county garden.

^^^ i was thinking rat, too.

I've never seen one jump, tho' they may. They do have a big backend, which might have to do with jumping muscles. I'll have to google Kangaroo Rats and Voles to see if I can spot them.

Yes, as I said they like to play dead if caught out in the open. I had picked one up thinking it a fig and wondered how it got on my workbench. The Honey Fig is more yellow and I thought that was what I had. But, when I picked it up I realized right away that it was silky-furry... and... had paws. Not much scares me anymore and I gently laid it back down. I turned away to do something, and when I looked back it was gone.

I worked in the garden most of the afternoon and still didn't see any. I hope they aren't gone forever; I kinda liked having them around. Something different.

Ingrid, i think you got it right, I went on Google and looked at their photos and I found almost the same critter:

This is a Desert Kangaroo Rat. This guy is similar, but when I see them they are usually hunkered down into an almost-ball.

The ears are smaller and flatter and the nose is yellow-white too, but I was quite surprised at the variety of colors these critters could be.

Something is wrong with me. I can't even see anything furry in the photo. Maybe it's been a long day.

Mrs. S, in the photo the critter doesn't look very furry, maybe because of the shadows or light. They aren't "hairy", more slick, and seem a bit striped.

I checked out Voles and the ears are more the same - cubby, but the fur/hair is all wrong.

I now wonder if this was a critter that got brought here from an even warmer climate, either on purpose or by accident. This winter would have been hard for someone with not much fur to protect them. I hope they had a warm den for this winter.

And, not much to eat either. I usually have veggies planted in February, and fruiting plants that survive our usually mild winters. Not this year. I am just now planting out the seedlings that have grown too large with all the waiting.

I keep saying 'they', but maybe there was only one that lived a few years, and that's all I saw. I'll keep watching to see if he/she reappears. I hope so.

I see that, but to me it looks like a leaf with a hole in it. I am still unable to see how that's a mouse. My eyes just won't see it! Is that black spot an eye?

It reminds me of this photo.

@Mrs. S That black cat!! That’s a great picture.. I first thought it was a black bird sitting on a floor in a house - the ear being the beak. But my mind was thinking - that can’t be right- Oh! it’s a cat!! And yes, that black thing in @CA Kate z9 pic is an eye I think. I get your leaf view. I was seeing another piece of whatever the green thing was - a fig I think she said. But I thought it just wasn’t ripe.

The cat picture fooled me too. Hah!

Yes, the green thing is an unripe Honey Fig. And yes, the black thing is an eye.

This fig lives in a very large pot, as does it's friend the Petit Negro... in a near-by large pot. The photographic Iris lives directly up against the pot of the Honey Fig. A pot was sorta left there, the plastic pot disintegrated, and the Iris sorta melted into the earth beside the fig. Now they are a pair.

These last few days I cleaned and redid the potting area, including carefully cleaning under the bench. No nests. I guess that's not where they were living. And, no sign of the critters what-so-ever. They've either moved on or died-out. 😔