Tag Archives: mole hills

Moles

Moles in the Lawn

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get rid of moles

The moles in my lawn are driving me absolutely crazy.  Every day, I knock down about ten or fifteen mounds and try to fill in the holes.  Every morning, when I look out the window, I see ten or fifteen new or re-built mounds.  I’ve lived in this house for eleven years, and never had moles in the lawn before.  But, now, the yard looks bumpy and ugly, grass is dying, I’ve lost a couple of bushes, and I’m just sick and angry about it.  I don’t even want to let my kids go out and play back there, because I’m afraid they might twist an ankle in a hole left behind by a mole, or fall over one of the tunnels.  What if they catch some disease from mole droppings or parasites that might live on moles.  Do parasites live on moles?  I didn’t know anything about them, except what they look like and the kind of destruction they leave behind.

 

So, I’ve hopped on the internet and I’ve done some research.  I know how often they breed, what they like to eat, how they killed my bushes, how quickly they dig through dirt, what kind of tunnels they use to travel through and the types of burrows they use as nesting grounds.  I know all kinds of facts, and they only make me more frustrated and angry.

 

Of course, there are all kinds of websites that tell you how to get rid of moles in the lawn.  People will suggest anything, and they all swear that their method is the best technique.  I’ve read about and watched on-line videos of idiots with dynamite or firecrackers.  Some people advocate liberally spreading poison all over your lawn, or piping the exhaust from a car or truck down through the tunnels.  I just have to shake my head.  I don’t want to do any further damage to my yard, I’m afraid of what the poison would do to my dog (who is useless at catching moles, by the way), and I don’t want to risk blowing myself or my property sky-high.

 

I did get one important fact from my web searching.  I found the Allstate Animal Control website.  They are a national network of professionals.  These are people who are trained to remove moles from my lawn and who can even help me repair the damage the moles caused.  Despite what my mother-in-law believes, you really can’t believe everything you read online.  Results are results, though, and I can believe in a legitimate company that seeks out professionals in every region who know exactly how to handle the problem animals in their area.  So, thanks to my online research, I know a great deal more about moles.  More importantly, I have an excellent company that will solve my problem with moles in the lawn.

 

 

Moles

Mole Hills and Mole Tunnels

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Mole
Your typical, yard ruining, mole.
(Artwork by Sharon Davis. Contact us for her contact info.)

I do all the work, swimming through the dirt to create all my mole tunnels and surfacing all over the place, carefully displacing dirt to make mole hills.  So, why is it that voles think they can just move on in?  They’re perfectly capable of making their own tunnel system and burrows.  So, why use mine?

I don’t think I do too much damage to a yard.  Well, sure, you’ll have to deal with mole hills damaging a mower blade or two.  Or, someone might trip in a hole, twisting an ankle.  And, although I don’t mean to, I’ll often dig the dirt away from roots in my never-ending quest for grubs, but I’m not after your plants.  I eat grubs and insects, so I’m not munching on flower bulbs or grass roots or chewing on vegetables in the garden.  I just do my thing, sometimes making mole tunnels as fast as 18 feet an hour, making little mounds of dirt every now and then, just the bare minimums of what I need.  We can co-exist, right?  You don’t mind a little bit of mole damage, I’m sure.

But, when these opportunistic and lazy voles move in, and run rampant through my mole tunnels, popping in and out of my mole hills all proud like they’re the ones who are in control, it makes me so upset.  They’ll happily infest my mole tunnels and gobble up the roots I’ve accidentally laid bare, and I know how mad that makes you.  It’s hard enough to deal with subsurface tunnels, but to have dead grass making them stand out must be very irritating to you.  I know we can coexist, but voles are a pest to both of us.  They’ll use my tunnels to hide from predators and your pets, and safely access your garden, flower bed, ornamental trees and devour as much as they can cram into their stomachs.

I just want an understanding between us, that we moles are not eating our way through your property.  Think of us more like pest control.  We’re eating the grubs, larvae and insects that cause yard and garden damage, so let’s not focus too much on a few necessary mole hills or mole tunnels, or accidental plant damage.  But, voles aren’t here to help you.  They take advantage of me and the plants you so carefully planted and tend.

So, just to be clear, I’m suggesting you exterminate the voles and let me go about my business helping rid your yard and garden of other pests.  And, maybe you won’t get so upset over a few random but necessary mole hills and mole tunnels.  I’m very good at what I do, but not when voles move into my house.  Let’s work together to get rid of our vole problem.

Moles

Mole Problems

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Mole eating a worm
Mole eating a worm and putting holes and tunnels all over your yard.
(Artwork by Sharon Davis. Contact us for her contact info.)

“So, pumpkin, tell me about the latest weird case you’ve seen in the E/R.”

“Dad, seriously, I’m beginning to wonder about your morbid fascination with the odd and the gross.”

“Hey, give an old guy a break, will ya?  Retirement’s not so easy.  It’s either this or reruns of Walker, Texas Ranger, and there’s only so much Chuck Norris I can take.  You’re an Emergency Room nurse and I need my stories.  Besides, you owe me for all those bedtime stories you made me tell you.”

“Okay, okay.  I’m just trying to think what tops the goiter lady.  Well . . . there was this guy who came in with second-degree burns on his hand and arm.  He’d been trying to get rid of a mole problem.”

“Ooooh, painful.  So, what’d this guy do?  Try to burn a mole off his arm with a lighter or something?”

“No, not a skin mole, a real mole.”

“So he captured a mole and tried to burn it?”

“Not exactly.  I guess he’d been fighting a losing battle with a mole in his yard for over a year now.  He says he’s tried all kinds of things to get rid of the mole, but nothing really seems to work.  It’s already cost him a lot of money.  He says he’s spent over a grand fixing the damage, but he just keeps finding new mole hills on his property.”

“Hey, mole hills are no laughing matter!  I switched golf courses, remember, because my favorite course had a major mole problem.  You know, one mole can make a lot of holes, and the mounds of dirt all over the place damaged my golf game.”

“Dad, I hate to break it to you, but you never did have much of a golf game.  You can’t blame a couple of moles.”

“You ingrate!  I can’t believe I raised such a spiteful daughter.”

“Ha ha, Dad.  You missed your true calling in life.  You should have been an actor, not an engineer.”

“Fine.  Just go on with the story.”

“Well, he finally got fed up one day.  I got the feeling some of his friends were over and they’d been drinking, because he got the not-too-bright idea to stick some old firecrackers down some of the mole hills and set them off.”

“Uh oh.”

“That’s right, uh-oh.  I don’t know what kinds he used, but probably just anything left over from last July 4.  He said he and his friends went from mole hill to mole hill sticking the firecrackers down into the ground.  Then, they took turns lighting them.  I guess the one he lit was too old, or he didn’t get out of the way in time, but he ended up with massive burns all over his hands and arms.  He’s lucky he still has all fingers.”

“Sigh.  Why don’t people learn to get a professional if you want to get something done right?  If you’ve got mole problems, get someone out there who can remove the moles.  It would’ve cost him a lot less to do it right the first time instead of all the money he spent repairing the damaged yard.”

“Not to mention the hospital bill.”

“True, so true.  Now I’m just sad for the guy.  You up for some Chuck Norris?”