Moles: Pest or partner?
By Kevin Reed
It’s February. In the northern hemisphere, mounds of fresh soil are popping up in frustrated homeowners’ yards, maybe yours. One reason for the activity is that moles are getting it on below ground. Male moles (boars) are solitary most of the time, but come February, males give out a subterranean squeak to start to find females (sows) and mate. Seven weeks later, 3-5 pups are born, and 30-45 days after that, the pups head off to find their own territories.
Someone, somewhere, has a nice lawn that they spend time and money maintaining. Maybe it’s their home lawn. Maybe they’re managing grounds professionally. Maybe it’s you. You come outside to do something on your lawn, or maybe to mow it, and you see a number of tiny dirt mountains sticking up out of the grass. In some regions it’s just dirt. In others, the dirt is peppered with rocks of various sizes, many of which are large enough to bend a lawnmower blade or shaft, in some cases requiring major repair or replacement.
So people start looking at how to get rid of them. They buy steel spring traps, put poison out for them, try to smoke them out of holes, or even stand over a mound waiting for it to move a little so they can discharge a 12-gauge shotgun into the dirt. Maybe after a bit of this, they call a pest control company.
There are several common methods to irradicate moles. Baiting is where the moles consume bait as a food source that kills them within 24 hours, which seems like a long time. Trapping uses several types of traps to kill a mole. And it’s not easy. You have to do it in the spring and fall – after a rain, no less - when moles are active. Then you have to identify active tunnels without crushing them, mark active tunnels with lawn flags, set up traps, then hopefully catch something before emptying a trap. Traps can be spring-loaded harpoons or scissor jaws that are set on an active tunnel. Gassing involves using rodent smoke bombs to pump poisonous gas into the tunnels. Repelling uses various agents to try to keep moles out of the area. Another tactic is to use insecticides to kill off the grubs and other invertebrates that moles feed on. Traps and poisons cost money and trapping moles takes time and patience and can be hit or miss. It even gets to where people are advised to trap and kill moles in the spring, so you can kill as many pregnant females as possible! But is it all necessary?
If you have any type of parks, wooded areas, open fields, or general wilderness near you, keep your eye out for mole hills in those areas on your next later winter/early spring outing. At various times of the year mole hills will likely spring up along a trail and off into the woods. Dogs sniff each pile of dirt with mild interest, then move on. Other than that, nobody cares.
In this setting, moles serve a beneficial purpose. Moles are insectivores and eat many types of grubs and other insects. They eat pretty much all the time, and they eat as they dig. As they dig, they move dirt particles around and aerate the soil. This dries out sod and helps organic matter, like fallen leaves and pine needles, work its way deeper into the ground, which helps fertilize soil for productive plant growth. Their digging also helps bring nutrients from below up closer to plant roots.
Moles just go about their business in the woods and meadows, and they improve their surroundings as they live their lives.
Degrees of Mole Hill Alarm
Seems like battling moles is a symptom of misdirected human design, at least in the context of grass yards around homes or buildings (vs pastures, ball parks, and golf courses where they are a more serious concern). If, for example, a yard was primarily or entirely native ecosystem and not managed grass, we wouldn’t even notice if moles were there at all. At the same time, we’d be providing environments for all sorts of animals, birds, insects, and other invertebrates as well. I mean, you look at a lawn – what the hell lives there? It’s a manicured life-void that we dump time and money into. In contrast, a native extension of an ecosystem around your house would be a blooming plethora of biodiversity and health where the mole is just another happy life form filling out the ecosystem.
If we redesign our yards, which we have to do anyway (water use, pesticides, biodiversity), then moles become an ally, not an enemy, and our shared goals benefit both humans and moles. If you’re currently a Human Who is Concerned about Moles, think of all the other things you could be doing with that time and energy! You could make a bee city or travel or go out to breakfast or read a book or start a new hobby or turn your yard into a native ecosystem. “The possibilities are endless,” as they say.
And if you really want or need a lawn, or are just sort of stuck with one for now like I am, a good option is to just live with them. You can cut around mole hills, and either leave them in place or scoop up the hills when you need some dirt elsewhere in the yard, or smooth the mole hills out into the grass. Because ultimately, moles benefit the ecosystem, even a human lawn. They mostly eat grubs, which eat grass roots and turn into beetles that love decorative plants. They also eat cranefly larva (which can feed on grass faster than it grows) and slugs. They aerate soil when they dig, which benefits lawns by reducing compaction, oxidizing the soil, and making it easier for roots to pull in needed nutrients.
