Moles vs Voles
Before we talk about how to get rid of garden moles from your yard and garden, let’s clarify the difference between these similar rodent-looking garden nemeses.
Since many people search online for how to get rid of skin moles, we need to specify that this article is about how to get rid of moles, the animal that can destroy lawns and gardens!
Voles and moles are often confused one for the other. Having similar sounding names, both are small gray furry rodent-looking critters. Moles and voles also both spend most of their lives unseen underground, so it’s no wonder there’s confusion between the two. Let’s begin with this distinction:
Voles are mostly vegetarian omnivore rodents; moles are insectivores.
What is a Mole?
Moles are insectivores. An insectivore is a carnivorous plant or animal that eats insects. Moles are small mammals that live and burrow underground and eat insects along with earthworms and garden grubs.
An easy way to remember which critter eats what is to say that:
“Voles are mostly vegetarian omnivores, and moles are meat eaters, (grubs and insects).”
What is a Vole?
Voles are rodents. Rodents are mammals with a single pair of incisors in the upper and lower jaws that are continuously growing. Voles are sometimes called meadow mice or field mice and are actually in the subfamily Arvicolinae, along with lemmings and muskrats.[1]https://icwdm.org/handbook/rodents/voles
Voles look like a cross between a mouse and a mole, as you can see in this picture of a mole, vole, mouse and shrew, shared from NorthernWoodlands.org, illustration by Adelaide Tyrol.[2]https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/shrew-or-mole-mouse-or-vole#prettyPhoto
What’s Eating My Garden?
The first thing to do is to try to identify what kind of pest is killing your plants or grass.
Get to know your furry intruder: What is it? If you don’t already know what kind of animal is disrupting your garden, finding out should be your first step. If you identify the creature you can learn more about their habits and behavior so that you can find the best solution to protect your garden.
Knowing what these creatures eat (insects, plants, worms, and such) can guide you to taking the more appropriate action. Both moles and voles may occupy tunnels but vary in their feeding habits. [3]https://extension.psu.edu/natural-resources/wildlife/faqs/nuisance-damage/identifying-moles-voles-and-shrews
Photo Comparison Between Common Yard and Garden Pests
If you identify that your garden pest is a vole, you can find more on how to get rid of voles here.
YARD AND GARDEN MOLES
Do Moles Eat Plants?
No, moles are insectivores, not vegetarians, so moles don’t eat your plants. However, they can still demolish a crop overnight because they do dig tunnels that contribute to plant loss.
What do Moles Eat?
10 Common Mole Meals, listed alphabetically
- beetles
- centipedes
- crickets
- earthworms
- insects
- larvae
- millipedes
- snails
- spiders
- white grubs
Reportedly, moles favor earthworms above all other garden insects.
Okay, so we’ve already established that moles are insectivores, and that moles are not eating your plants, so how can they can destroy a crop overnight from the tunnels they burrow?
Have you ever found a garden plant shriveled up for no apparent reason? If you pressed upon the soil with your toe only to have the plant drop into a tunnel below, chances are it’s a mole tunnel. The effect is to leave plant roots dangling in the tunnel, dying as they starve for nutrients.
Anyone who’s ever lost a crop of lettuce or other garden veggies practically (or actually) overnight in this way will agree that these harmless appearing critters aren’t so harmless in your garden and yard, if you have a cultivated lawn.
Are Moles Bad for the Garden?
The good thing about insectivores is that they do help control unwanted insects.
The problem with moles is the collateral damage that occurs from their feasting. Moles are ravenous and undiscriminating prospectors. The garden is their perfect environment for the abundance of soil life and loose, moist, organically rich earth in which they can tunnel. and consume up to 70 to 100 percent of their body weight per day. Yep… per day!!!
Moles can range over an entire acre and consume an average 85% of their body weight per day.
“It has been demonstrated that if a mole was a 168 pound miner, he would be moving the equivalent of 12 tons of soil in one hour.”[4]https://hartley-botanic.com/magazine/801409421-moles-can-benefit-gardeners/
Garden and yard moles are mostly solitary creatures who come together only to mate and (for females) to nurture their young in deeper burrows. Because of this high food intake, moles can range over an acre.