If you have ever dealt with a mole infestation in your yard, you know that these creatures can be a nuisance. Moles often create tunnels that result in piles of dirt and destruction to your landscaping.
If you think you may be dealing with a mole infestation in your yard, here are some ways to identify it to prevent the animals from causing further damage to your property.
What Moles Look Like
While moles are a common burrowing animal in much of the United States, they are not the only creatures that create tunnels. To ensure the animal causing damage to your lawn is a mole, here are some identifying features to look for:
- 6- to 8-inch long body
- Long claws
- Gray/brown fur
- Paddle-like forefeet
- Pointed snout
Other creatures like gophers sometimes create tunnels in lawns, but only moles have these identifying characteristics.
What Moles Eat
Another way to determine what creature has burrowed into your yard is to look for the foods they eat. Moles most often eat insects, although certain species eat fish, too. Other burrowing creatures eat plants like carrots, lettuce and radishes.
If the creature in your lawn appears to love munching on your vegetables, you may be dealing with a different type of animal issue.
Typical Mole Behaviors
Moles spend most of their lives underground and primarily in solitude. Male and female moles only come together to breed. Usually, males expand their tunnels in search of female mates between February and May.
Moles make homes beneath solid structures like sheds, patios and sidewalks. Their primary living tunnels are typically deeper underground, but they also create surface tunnels to trap food like worms. When they tunnel under gardens, moles might kill plants, too.
Signs of a Mole in Your Yard
Since these creatures spend most of their time underground, identifying them visually can be difficult. The best way to determine whether the animal on your property is a mole is to look at the tunnels they leave behind. Moles make two types of tunnels — mounds and runaways.
Mounds are deeper tunnels and provide long-term access to a food source. On your lawn, mounds of soil will appear in a conical shape and often kill your grass.
Runaways are shallower tunnels and create ridges on the surface of your lawn that feel soft to walk on. These tunnels won’t have open holes, but you can determine whether a mole currently lives there by stepping on the runaway to flatten it. If you come back a day later and the runaway is rounded again, you will know that a mole lives there.
Contact Us Today for Mole Animal Removal
Whether you own a home or business, moles can cause frustrating damage to the lawn you work hard to maintain. If you suspect that you might have a mole problem and want to know how to get rid of the moles in your yard, contact a wildlife removal specialist. Urban Jungle Wildlife Removal has recurring preventative services to keep these animals away from your lawn in the long term.
At Urban Jungle, every staff member is a wildlife biologist, so we are fully equipped to remove pests from your lawn. Contact us online for mole removal services.