They may also pop up along a line of hedges or another protected area. The main runways moles construct tend to follow certain landscaping elements, like fence rows, paths, or other human-made borders. They’re active throughout the day and prefer moist, cool soil that helps them regulate their temperature. Cool TemperaturesĬontrary to popular belief, moles are not blind or nocturnal. Moles will construct elaborate burrows in areas where these insects are abundant. Their diet consists of earthworms, white grubs, beetles, and larvae. In fact, the NWF reports that many species eat up to 100% of their body weight in insects each day.
Here are 3 environmental factors that moles love: 1. Moles live their entire lives in their tunnels, so they’re more likely to frequent areas that offer the ideal habitat for feeding, breeding, and burrowing. If you notice gnaw marks on your garden plants or vegetables, it’s likely that voles or mice are responsible – not moles. Instead, they eat earthworms, grubs, and centipedes. Since moles are insectivores, they don’t chew plants or root systems. If you’re wondering whether you have moles in your landscaping, it’s equally important to know what not to look for. Moles, on the other hand, dig the earth up in chunks.Īs you evaluate the mounds in your yard, look for clumps of soil, which is a sure-fire sign of moles. When gophers dig in your yard, they pulverize the soil into a smooth powder. However, the difference is that gopher mounds are close together, while molehills tend to be about six feet apart. Moles aren’t the only creatures that make entrance and exit mounds. When moles dig their tunnels, they act like mini excavators, moving all that dirt out of the tunnel and up to the surface, creating a telltale, mounded molehill at the tunnel entrance. Have you ever heard the saying, “making a mountain out of a molehill?” Dead GrassĪs we mentioned in a previous blog on the topic, patches of dead grass are a good indication that you have a mole problem.Īs moles make their tunnels, they disrupt the root systems of nearby grasses, killing the grass at surface level and leaving dead patches in their wake. While mole damage may seem similar to the damage caused by voles, mice, or rodents, some key differentiators exist.
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How To Identify Mole Damage In Your Yard & Garden When you have too many moles affecting your landscaping, though, it’s time to act. In reality, moles are insectivores, and they make tunnels to locate the worms and other insects that live in the soil around plants.ĭid you know that small numbers of moles can be beneficial for landscaping? They help aerate the soil and eliminate excess populations of harmful insects. In fact, eastern moles (one of the most common mole species in the U.S.) can hollow out a 160-foot burrow in a single night.Ĭontrary to popular belief, moles don’t eat the roots of plants and trees, although they do tunnel around and beneath them. Male moles are usually bigger than females, although most species don’t exceed 10 inches in length. This prevents soil from becoming trapped in their coats when they back up through a tunnel.
Rather than having fur that lays flat and points toward the tail like most mammals, eastern moles have dense fur that sticks straight up. The 22 tentacle-like protrusions on the star-nosed mole’s snout are six times more sensitive to touch than a human hand. All moles have very sensitive snouts and long, clawed digits that they use to dig tunnels. Their eyes are poorly developed, but what they lack in sight, they make up for in their sense of touch. Here’s how the National Wildlife Foundation (NWF) describes them: While rats and mice are rodents, moles are mammals that spend most of their lives underground, digging burrows. While moles and mice look somewhat similar (they’re both small and furry), they’re very different creatures. Moles are small burrowing animals that many people believe are related to mice or rats. In this post, we’ll share our top tips for getting rid of moles. Here at Smith’s Pest Management, our team has helped thousands of customers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area reduce mole populations and enjoy their landscaping once more through our mole control services. If you want to reclaim your yard, the only solution is to learn how to get rid of moles.ĭon’t worry – it is possible to figure out how to eradicate them humanely. Moles construct intricate networks of tunnels and mounds in the ground and quickly kill or damage the plants, grass, and trees in your outdoor space. Moles: while some people think they look cute, they can cause severe damage to your lawn and landscaping.
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