by Carole MacMullan, Fulton County Master Gardener Extension Volunteer
This article is part of Garden Buzz, a series from Appen Media and the North Fulton Master Gardeners, where rotating columnists explore horticulture topics like herbs, insects, and wildlife conservation. Find all Garden Buzz articles here.
Could it be moles or voles? If you’re like me, you’ve probably been told the difference between these two small rodents and have since forgotten.
I just learned a wonderful way to help remember the difference using a mnemonic or memory device. Moles begin with an “m” and are meat eaters. These small creatures spend their entire life underground, searching for earthworms, grubs and small insects. As they search for their next meal, they create a series of tunnels much to the distress of homeowners.
The word vole begins with a “v.” Voles, on the other hand, are vegetarians and search underground to find roots or aboveground to find stems to provide the nourishment to survive. When voles begin to search underground, they create an opening about the size of a golf ball and do not create a continuous tunnel underground. Sometimes they skip the task of digging a tunnel and use former mole tunnels. Vole tunnels are usually deeper than mole tunnels and cannot be seen from the surface.
Take a look at the pictures that accompany this column, and you can see how the bodies of moles are adapted for survival. The mole has the most unique set of front legs. They are paddle-shaped with five digging claws that enable them to form the tunnels necessary to find their food underground. They are high-octane diggers! They can plow through your grass, creating 150 feet of tunnels in one day, a necessity since they need to find the equivalent of 60% to 100% of their body weight in food each day.
Mole senses are modified for life underground. They have an excellent sense of smell and touch but no exterior ears, and as a result, they have poor hearing. They are color-blind and have small eyes that allow them to differentiate between light and dark. Recently it was discovered they are sensitive to light even with their eyes closed. Another adaptation is their pointed snout, which they use to accomplish the task of tunneling through their underground world in search of worms, insect larvae and other small invertebrates.
Voles are about the same size and appearance as a field mouse but have strong jaws and sharp, orange front teeth that enable them to chew through woody roots as well as soft herbaceous roots. Because they destroy the roots of plants, one day a plant will be healthy and the next day it will show no signs of life as a result of its damaged root system.
I hate to suggest killing anything, but there is no other solution to the mole/vole problem. Some wild animals can be captured and released, but this is not suggested for moles or voles. If you find the opening the vole uses to enter its underground world, you can place a mouse trap at the entrance. Load the trap with peanut butter, apples or oatmeal and add a shoe box or similar size box on top of it and secure it with wire to prevent any harm to domestic animals. Do not try to kill them with poison, as this can also be a risk to pets. If you find a vole or mole in the trap, use gloves to remove the animal from the trap and dispose of the animal by placing it in a sealed plastic bag along with the gloves and disposing of the bag in the trash to avoid spreading any possible disease they might carry.
Before you decide to take drastic measures to remove moles from your property, I have read that taking a firm foot to flatten each and every one of their tunnels will discourage them from continuing to tunnel through your lawn, landscape plants and shrubs. The only problem is they need to eat and will probably move on to your neighbor’s property. Another issue is that they can live three to six years, and they will reproduce and have offspring! The best way to eliminate mole damage is to use a trap. Please consult your county Extension agent for the best way to use these traps and where to place them.
Happy Gardening!
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About the Author
This week’s “Garden Buzz” guest columnist is Carole MacMullan, a North Fulton Master Gardener and a Milton resident. She taught biology for 35 years in the Pittsburgh area. In 2012 after moving to Milton, Carole completed the Master Gardener training program and joined the North Fulton Master Gardeners (NFMG) and the Milton Garden Club. Carole uses her teaching skills to create a variety of presentations on gardening topics for the NFMG Lecture Series and Speakers Bureau. She also volunteers weekly at the Assistance League of Atlanta (ALA) thrift store and acts as chair of their Links to Education scholarship program. Her favorite hobbies are gardening, hiking, biking and reading.
