Good morning everyone-Early in the year we got a lot of rain and when there were a lot of areas of the ground that were very soft I just thought it was the ground being saturated from all the rain. As the summer wore on I began to see several areas of grass furrowed up like something was under the ground burrowing. I would step on the furrowed up and then a day later or less I would find them somewhere else. I never saw holes coming out of the ground for something coming above ground. I didn't know what it was.
When living in NY my kitty Lindsey when younger was very much a hunter and she would bring me her little trophies to the front steps. There were mice and what I knew as meadow moles. Both very small. At Mom's place in the country when the snow would melt I would see all they little tunnels where they had been under the snow and it was quite a mess.
When I saw all these furrows in the yard they were quite high and large and all over the 1/2 acre yard. I never dreamed it was a mole. A friend of mine who has lived here a long time told me that is what they were. Still in my mind I was thinking about this little rodent no bigger than a mouse so I dismissed the possibility.
The first weekend in October we had a visit from my brother and sister in law and when I was talking to them about it they said that is what they were. So when each day would go by and I would see more and furrows in the grass even though I had stepped on them shortly before that.
When I would mow the lawn with the riding lawn mower the mower would chew all the furrows up and so there was no grass just these areas with dirt all over. What a mess. So I decided to google how to get rid of moles. Imagine my surprise when I saw this picture. A whole lot BIGGER than the meadow moles that I was used to seeing.
The saying they have a face only a mother could love comes to mind and look at those feet. Holy crap! Now the article I read about how to get rid of them said they are a formidable enemy that can dig 18' in an hour. Now one would think that all these furrows there were LOTS of these critters running around making this mess but the article stated as did my brother that most likely it was only one or two of them making this mess. I learned in the articles they are unsocial critters that don't like to share spaces with their kind.
There is a number of different methods for getting rid of them but they say a trap is the best way. I haven't done anything yet. I also read that they like moist soil so between the large amt of rain we had this spring coupled with my watering is probably why I now have this problem. Who know such a little critter could make such a BIG mess. It also stated that they can eat up to 45-50# of worms and insects annually. WOW! Yet they still only weighing about 5 oz.
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