How fast is a mole?

16 years ago

Mercy! My hands are still shaking! I'm kinda a wimp, and I know I have a mole--he went around my house right at the foundation and left a neat little tilled trail. I bought a mole trap, but I decided against it. Eh, I've got big beds, a big compost pile, all organic. A trowel full of soil pulls out a half dozen worms--plenty to spare, and hey, a mole is aerating my soil.

Since I'm crazy, I was out, at midnight, extending my daylily bed. I'd put it under straw all winter so I was moving that and lightly forking the surface. I was sitting, working at the very edge of my backyard floodlights.

The ground moved. I put it down to my insomniac mind, and wondered if I needed to tell a psychiatrist about it. The second time I watched the ground throb, my mind clicked(snapped?) and...I panicked. I leapt up and stabbed the ground twenty times. Then I fled. It's really too much adrenaline and sudden exercise for a woman my age and weight. :)

Tomorrow...I'll have to go back out there. Will I likely find a mutilated mole? Do you think it would have had time to run away in the two seconds between the leap and the attack?

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Comments (9)

joepyeweed
16 years ago
You're not crazy for gardening at midnight, thats the best time to garden in the heat of summer. But you may be crazy for expanding a day-lily bed. ;-)

My dog catches moles quite frequently. And I know people who do get them with a shovel by watching the tunnels for movement and then slicing the tunnel at just the right spot...so its certainly possible you may have committed a midnight murder... but I think it was too dark for you to accurately aim and you have nothing to worry about. ;-)
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alfie_md6
16 years ago
My goodness! Don't leave us in suspense! Tell us what happened this morning!
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You problem is most likely Voles and not Moles. Voles are vegetarians and are the cause of destructive root damage of many plants. Moles are carnivorous, and eat grubs and worms. They will never eat enough earthworms in you garden to cause a problem. Both of these rodents tunnel. When I was growing commercially and had to overwinter thousands of perennials, baiting for rodent (Vole) control was a must. There is some controversy to baiting. Some are concerned that a Fox, Owl, or Bird of Prey will catch the poisoned rodent and get sick or die. My observations has been that once a rodent enters a covered bed, they donÂt leave. They are protected from the elements, and have all the food they could ever want. One year, I forgot to bait my last ground bed. When I uncovered in the spring, 1,300 plants from my stock were gone. I make my traps out of 1 ft long, 1Â½" PVC pipe. I put an elbow on each end. You will need to remove this elbow to put in your bait, so donÂt permanently seal it. Use the block bait only. Pellets can fall out too easily. Once the vole takes the bait they will go down into their hole to die. Many people would come to me with concerns about the damage being done to their gardens. They all thought it was moles. I would send them home with a trap and bait and tell them to hide it under some black plastic, and if the trap was empty in a couple of days then that was a sign that the problem was voles. Here is a link that might be useful: Article about Voles
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I just measured mine and they are 1/2 " squared. I bought some originally that is 1/4 " and that is too small for roses. I cut it 12" deep and 4 feet around. I put it in the ground so that about an inch is above the ground. I do not put anything on the bottom. This means that when a rose is planted inside a section that the length is 4 feet before making it a circle, there are only a few inches between the rose and the hardware cloth. The roots will go through, but there is too little area for a gopher to come up over the cloth and squeeze down between the rose and the cloth. The word hardware cloth is really misleading. It is 10 times stronger than chicken wire (well, maybe not 10 times), and needs to be cut with a wire cutter. I think there are people around who have workshops or who know their way around hardware places. But me, I cut it by hand and find it difficult to do. Sammy
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Ooo - I want to hear if this really works! We live next to a wooded area, so we have moles all over. It's a bit like walking across a mattress in our side yard, the ground is so riddled with their tunnels. I doubt it would get rid of lizards, since they're not underground. But why would you want to get rid of lizards anyway? They eat bugs! You could always get an outdoor cat to take care of the lizards - some big, burly barn cat. And then a dog to get rid of the cat, and a donkey to get rid of the dog, and a puma to get rid of the donkey ... <. ok so it early and i sleep deprived.>
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petalpatsy
Original Author
16 years ago
There's no sign of any struggle--he got away! I did open the tunnel down the bed extension just to see if he died of a heart attack a bit later. Me and my mole live to hybridize another day!
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gatormomx2
16 years ago
Moles will eat the roots of your favorite plants . Somehow they know which ones these are . They will eat the roots of young trees and kill them . They are a GIANT pest to us farmers and ranchers . They are after grubs and others goodies in your gardens but will just as quickly destroy your prized lawn or pasture . I have not found anything that truly works other than running over their fresh burrows with the truck or having the dogs turned loose . They dig up and kill those moles evey time and the dogs enjoy the heck out of the challenge . OR - you can just live and let live . Peace .
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adirondackgardener
16 years ago
How fast is a mole? (or a vole, perhaps?)

Not fast enough to outrun a well-placed shovel strike when one just happen to be in the right place at the right time with the right garden tool in hand when one emerges from it's hole or is seen forming that weird raised tunnel just below the surface of the soil.

By the way, I do not think you saw a mole, but a vole. A mole is an insectavore, eating some nasty bugs like grubs as well as the earthworms some gardeners have come to love. It will not eat your plants or their roots. And it will not tunnel to the surface. A vole will, however.

A mole looks like a furry sausage with a long, hairless snout and a vole looks kind of like a plump mouse, a mouse that has been gorging itself on your plants. The interesting things about voles is that there are two types, the meadow vole comes above ground to chew on your plants and the pine vole will nibble on the roots from below. Can't say I care for either.

Wayne
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joepyeweed
16 years ago
Moles primarily eat worms and grubs, and only a small amount of plants. Their primary damage is due to their tunnels disrupting the root systems of plants, especially seedlings and grasses....

Here is a link that might be useful: A good article about moles
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gatormomx2
16 years ago
Thank you - did not know the difference between moles and voles and now I do . I have only seen dead moles that my dogs have caught . Looks like trench warfare in my yard when the dogs are going after a critter !
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petalpatsy
Original Author
16 years ago
I think it's a mole. Voles are more like mice and my cats leave them on my doorstep pretty regularly. I've never seen tunnels in the past eight years here. According to this link, voles don't really tunnel a lot underground, rather make runways in tall/thick grasses. I've not had any plant damage at all. There seems to be a new tunnel every day and if I half smash in the ones to the compost pile, or the drippy wet place under my spigot it is repaired the next day.

I've never actually seen the animal. Only the throbbing dirt. It's either a mole or a rising zombie trying reach out and eat my brain. :)
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drmax
12 years ago
Not faster than a 4-10. Watch for the earth to move and pull the trigger...Bastards! (wear hearing protection, eye protection, never point directly down. Point at an angle, about 12" from ground and away from anything that may ricochet the shot. Be aware of your surroundings and of any city ordinance, if applies)
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How fast is a mole?

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How fast is a mole?

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