Are the areas dug up, tunneled under, or is it something bedding down into the straw? Maybe if you could post a picture, it would spark an idea.

pansyface -- I have what we call "ninja squirrels." I'm not sure if squirrels are digging in your beds, but ours make digging marks of that size in our pine straw.

I'm in Marietta too -- I was just driving down Dallas Highway and saw a dead armadillo! I've only seen them further south, up to this point. So -- maybe you DO have an armadillo! (And if you live near Kennesaw Mountain, maybe the dead one I saw was the one who was digging in your bed! Wouldn't that be lucky!?) (Not for the armadillo, of course.......)

:)

Pansyface,

I have the exact same problem. Almost every night, the pinestraw beds in my back yard are torn to pieces by this creature. It's really becoming a problem. The holes are exactly as you have described them. I'm west of 41 in Acworth. Did you ever discover what the problem was?
I included wild turkeys in my suspect list, but I have never seen one in the heavy woods behind our house. The squirrels hang out under the feeder all day long, but don't make this kind of disturbance in the straw during the day. I'm baffled and very annoyed.

Please watch where you step. This could be something as simple as a feral cat using the leaves as a sandbox and fastidiously covering the letter that he/she posted, circling carefully as he/she tidies up the premises.

Have armadillos actually made it into North Georgia? I know they've been migrating eastward along the I-10 corridor for decades but was unaware they've arrived in Zone 7B. I hope they'll find the Piedmont a hospitable environment.

I have those circular areas too and they are made by a skunk during the night digging for grubs and such.