GOPHERS! or is it moles??

[curly_kate]

I noticed last year some raised areas in our yard where it was obvious that something big was at work under the ground. It was far enough away from the garden that I didn't worry about it too much. We're not too particular about how the yard looks, as long as the grass/clover/weeds are mowed. Anyway, last week I saw the same pattern next to the barn, and today I noticed the tunnels in my garden close to my tomatoes. The almighty Google said it could be moles or pocket gophers, but honestly, I have no idea which, given the description I read. They are about 4" or so across, and in some places it looks like a pile of dirt. In other places, it's just soft spots under the grass. Judging from the hole I made when I stepped on one, they are probably about 4ish" deep, too.

This is a picture of a couple of the spots in the grass, with my size 7 shoe for comparison purposes.

My questions:
Is it more likely moles or gophers?
Will they peacefully coexist with me and my veggies, or do I need to blast the living daylights out of them?
If they need to go, what is the best way to get rid of them? I read about traps, poisons, etc, but it seems pretty tricky to get them in the right spot to be able to kill them.

 

[Dave2000]

I'm not too far east of you, we never see gophers but plenty of moles. The moles often dig close enough to the surface that you see quite a bit of the tunnels but not so much with gophers. Moles leave little roundish dirt patches with a raised center while gophers make bigger mounds with their (exit hole) raised portion off to the side. https://www.google.com/search?num=40&hl=en&safe=off&q=gopher mound


Your problem looks like a mole to me and they're hard to predict. You might have one pass through and find nothing it wants to eat so it keeps going onto the next neighbor or there might be one or more that sticks around and destroys the yard, essentially making laps around your flower and vegetable beds. They primarily eat worms and other bugs not the plants but that's little consolation if they tear up the yard and dig through your plant roots to find what they're looking for.

The key is to be observant of where the new tunnels are. They will often travel back through a tunnel already dug. There are various poisoned baits you can shove down into a tunnel, making sure you cover over the hole made to get to it as they can see light. I'm not as fond of those as I am spring loaded traps because with the trap you know when it went off and may find the mole pinned or dead while with the poisons you're left wondering if the mole just made a longer lap or didn't like the bait. On the other hand if you set the trap to go off too easily, you may find yourself digging holes in your yard only to find nothing there.

Spring loaded traps are the same basic positioning issue as poisoned baits, find a fresh tunnel and set it up so the mole tunnel passes under the trap. Compress the dirt a little in that point of the tunnel so when the mole pushes the dirt up it trips the trigger on the trap.

 

[Carol Dee]

Looks like a mole to me. Moles love grubs. If you have grubs, try getting rid of them and the moles may go on their own. Good luck.

 

[vfem]

Maybe voles! We have voles like no one's business... they're little evil veggie destroyers.

 

[so lucky]

We used to have what I think were voles. They would make little paths through the grass; so small that they would tunnel under the blades of grass, kinda like a country road with a tree canopy.

Moles are EVIL! So hard to get rid of. I would think using that milky spore stuff on your lawn would be the surest bet. My DH has threatened (promised?) to hire me out to kill moles. I am pretty good at watching the runs, then when I see action, stomping down the run behind the critter, and quickly slicing a shovel into the ground in front of him, shoveling him out and ...well....you can picture what I do with him.

 

[curly_kate]

DH talked to the neighbor who said it was moles; they've been battling them for years now. They gave us what appear to be poison gummy worms. You stick them in the burrow and then they eat them & no more mole. The neighbor said it works well for them. Hopefully we have the same luck.

So lucky - no mercy for moles!!

 

[catjac1975]

Moles leave tunnels in your lawn. Gophers eat your garden.

 

[Carol Dee]

Moles leave tunnels in your lawn. Gophers eat your garden.

Both are evil

 

[desertlady]

grrrrr! something ate my beans ! grrrrr ! didnt bother corn, pumpkin, squash thats around it !! grrrrr !!