Damage and Damage Identification

Eastern Mole (Scalopus aquaticus)

Moles remove many damaging insects and grubs from lawns and gardens. However, their burrowing habits disfigure lawns and parks, destroy flower beds, tear up the roots of grasses, and create havoc in small garden plots.

It is important to properly identify the kind of animal causing damage before setting out to control the damage. Moles and pocket gophers are often found in the same location and their damage is often confused. Control methods differ for the two species.

Moles leave volcano-shaped hills (Fig. 4a) that are often made up of clods of soil. The mole hills are pushed up from the deep tunnels and may be 2 to 24 inches (5 to 60 cm) tall. The number of mole hills is not a measure of the number of moles in a given area. Surface tunnels (Fig. 4b) or ridges are indicative of mole activity.

Pocket gopher mounds are generally kidney-shaped and made of finely sifted and cloddy soil (Fig. 4c). Generally, gophers leave larger mounds than moles do. Gopher mounds are often built in a line, indicative of a deeper tunnel system.

Legal Status

Moles are unprotected in most states. See state and local laws for types of traps, toxicants, and other methods of damage control that can be used.

Economics of Damage and Control

Perhaps more problems are encountered with moles than with any other single kind of wild animal. Unfortunately, people lack an appreciation of the importance of moles and the difficulty of gaining complete control where habitats are attractive to moles.

Before initiating a control program for moles, be sure that they are truly out of place. Moles play an important role in the management of soil and of grubs that destroy lawns. Moles work over the soil and subsoil. Only a part of this work is visible at the surface. Tunneling through soil and shifting of soil particles permits better aeration of the soil and subsoil, carrying humus farther down and bringing the subsoil nearer the surface where the elements of plant food may be made available.

Moles eat harmful lawn pests such as white grubs. They also eat beneficial earthworms. Stomach analyses show that nearly two-thirds of the moles studied had eaten white grubs.

If the individual mole is not out of place, consider it an asset. If a particular mole or moles are where you do not want them, remove the moles. If excellent habitat is present and nearby mole populations are high, control will be difficult. Often other moles will move into recently vacated areas.