Two of my small Sabals have small animal tunnels at their basses. One does not show damage, and I pulled the center out of the other, it was dryish on the inside not soaking wet. What else could have cause the death of a palm of their size? I'm not sure of any pests of sabal. The first thing that came to mind was crawfish that could have dug the holes, but I live so far form any body of water. The castings in front of the tunnels reminded me of a crawfish burrow. I cant see how that would could have killed the one palm other then the possible unknown animal? I looked around at all the other sabals in my yard for evidence of tunnels and found none. Any possible answers for central Texas?

That palm's leaf bases are below the soil surface so my first impression is one of rot due to being planted too low. I can see the palm's heal but the base of the palm looks really deep into the soil.

It's perfectly normal for sabal to dig themselves down. I doubt that's the issue.

Looks like you might have rhinoceros beetles, Strategus aloeus. Refer to this website, it will explain what is going on: http://sanantoniopalm.blogspot.com/.

Here is another PalmTalk thread about the same issue: http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/24842-critter-attacking-palms-from-below/.

Voles can also be a problem, they will usually burrow from the side below ground and hit the heart out of the sabal while it's still underground. The way to diagnose that on the palm that has the center pulled is to dig around the sabal until you get the subterranean trunk exposed, and see if there is a hole sideways.

See this thread for the voles.

Thank you, I agree it is probably the rhinoceros beetle. They do live in the area, I see them from time to time but very seldom in my yard. Time to do something about it.

That water trick to extract the beetle found in Axel's link to the Palmtalk thread (spanish speaking PT board but English added in some cases) was quite interesting. And seemed to work! Can't imagine younger palms who have had their hearts chewed out manage to come back though. These beetles look as nasty as the voles we've experienced in our yard. Good luck Catcuskid. Let us know the ultimate outcome of pest and palm.