"You've got a MOLE PROBLEM" he said

[charlessenf]

He was on my land while downing a neighbor's large trees. It was a comment offered in passing and I neglected to ask him to explain how he knew, noticed or why he so confidently so declared.

Since, I have noticed burrow exits under the slab of my garden tool shed, in, around and underneath my chicken enclosure/coop/run thing as well as at the front of the house where we have a small garden patch about eight feet from the brick facade. Which eight feet is covered with two parallel concrete slabs 'walkways' the original of which has settled since it was built some fifty+ years ago.

There are exits at the one end and two in the garden - it appears the soil beneath has dropped such that the original slab has cracked midway and the slab is lower at the crack than at either end - each sloping toward the center crack. I believe "they" have carved out a den of some sort - whatever "they" are.

However, with the exception of that Tree Fellas' comment, I have no certain knowledge of what's digging all these tunnels and disturbing the earth about the shed and chicken coops.

I write in hope that I am not the only fella with such a problem and that one or more of you may be able to help me identify the culprits (goota be more than many) and, ideally, offer a sure fire way to encourage them to leave my happy acreage. If necessary, of course, I'd be open to a solution that simply let them (preferably every last one of) rest in peace beneath my coops and abode.

Any one?

 

[Roadworthy]

You can usually see mole trails as they tunnel very shallowly. They appear as linear humps on your lawn. Gophers usually have a pile of dirt at their exit holes. You can't actually see the hole without probing the dirt pile for the soft spot then digging to expose it. Ground squirrels and chipmunks leave entry/exit holes. I don't know what fauna you have around there but a county extension agent could probably help you.

 

[oldnslo]

What size holes are the entry and exit? 2” diameter 4”, etc.

Around here wood chucks love to dig under buildings but they leave a big hole vs a mole.

 

[dodge man]

Sounds more like ground hogs(wood chucks). Moles are a pain but they don’t tunnel under stuff as far as I know.

 

[JTKub]

I only experienced a mole problem once. It was at our previous home. They tunneled just under the roots of the grass/weeds and left little piles of dirt in various locations. Applying Grub-X totally got rid of them. Get rid of grubs and you will get rid of moles, if that's what they are.

For tunneling under slabs and sheds, I've had that problem with chipmunks. Made the darling bride get rid of the bird feeders (other than the humming birds) and that fixed the chipmunk problem.

 

[charlessenf]

Applying Grub-X totally got rid of them.

Thank you for the feedback.

 

[charlessenf]

What size holes are the entry and exit?

Thank you for the response.

Around the garden shed they are closer to 4" in diameter, though oval.

Good catch, I've got a camera and meant to take and post images.

I know what a mole looks like:

because our dogs used to dig them up and present them to us on the driveway.

Other than that, I've never seen one around here. Nor have I seen a ground hog/wood chuck if they look like this:

I'm learning.

I'll try and get images of the openings and ground disturbance and post them when I do.

Thanks again.

 

[MossRoad]

If you have openings to air, it's not moles. Moles will plug up any hole to the surface in their tunnels. This is coming from someone who has dispatched well over 300 moles in a 6 year period.

If you could post a picture of what you have, that would be helpful.

 

[Blue Mule]

They decimated my yard this year, after 8 years of no problems and the lawn looking like a golf course. Really upsets me.

My plan going forward is to use Grub-X to remove insects and food sources for the moles at appropriate times of year, and crabgrass/weed preventative in spring each year to hopefully restore my fescue to health again before it's totally gone.

This has been the year of the pest in Kentucky. Ticks were the worst I've seen in my 46 years. I even got Lyme Disease for the first time ever. Cicadas came and wiped out a few hardwood tree limbs. Caterpillar cacoons mowed down several of my evergreens. And moles decimated my lawn. It's been one hell of a year. I hope to not see a repeat in my lifetime.

 

[MossRoad]

My father in-law used to have a cow if a mole showed up. He had a very nice lawn. However, the moles did not stick around very long because, in effect, his lawn was a sterile growing medium for grass and there was nothing for them (or anything else) to eat. He used more chemicals on a lawn than anyone I ever met.

He told me the moles were coming into his yard because he had a grub problem. I laughed hard. I took a shovel and peeled back a section of his yard and filled a coffee can with the soil beneath.

Then I went through the soil and we found two(2) tiny insects, maybe 1/2" long. That's it. No other forms of life.