Aubrey Shirley, Tattnall County Agriculture Extension Agent
As an extension agent, I receive calls pertaining to a myriad of issues. How can get rid of these insects in my house? What should I use for fertilizer in my garden? What is causing my grass to die? Many times, with these types of calls I can give advice that should help resolve the issue. One of the questions where my advice falls short is controlling moles. I have found control of these little critters to be difficult. They are also mammals so any poison that might be used could be harmful to other non-targeted wildlife and pets.
In Georgia, there are two species of moles. The star-nosed and eastern mole. The star-nosed mole lives in wetter locations along the coast, with its range extending into Canada. The eastern moles range extends across all across Georgia covering much of the eastern and central US. The star nosed mole is not native to Tattnall, so mole issues in our county would be the eastern mole.
The eastern mole is about 5 to 7 inches long and weighs about four ounces. They have a grayish coat with soft fur. They have large front paws which are used for digging. They can dig up to 18 feet per hour. For such a small creature, they can wreak havoc in a lawn and cause some serious damage. The mounds that you see are their feeding tunnels, they have permanent burrows anywhere from 6 to 23 inches below ground. These animals can eat a variety of insects, with the favorite being earthworms, consuming up to 50 pounds of food per year. A typical lawn/yard are full of insects and this smorgasbord can attract moles. The key to control is identifying active burrows.
Star nose mole.
Eastern Mole (Kenneth Catania/Vanderbilt University)
You can try to trap them or place poison worms in their tunnels. There are many traps available online, simply do a search of mole traps and they should pop-up. Big box stores may also have poisons and traps as well. A preventative measure is to kill insects that are present in your yard such as grubs or mole crickets.
Some of the information presented came from https://georgiawildlife.com/out-my-backdoor-eastern-mole. This has some good information on moles and their habitat.