Moles, Voles And Shrews: How To Deal With Your Tiny Neighbors
Those unsightly mounds and tunnels in the snow may look like lawn damage, but there's another way to think about them.
Mole hills (not mountains)
- Wikimedia CommonsWe call it “our” yard, “our” garden. But is it, really? The outdoor space you tend and enjoy is already home to someone — probably a great many someones. They’re not gonna come ask you to borrow a cup of sugar or turn your music down, but you have tiny neighbors all over the place — and knowing a bit about them will enhance your gardening abilities and enrich your understanding of what’s going on.
First, the moles. If you find your lawn or garden space riddled with holes or tunnels, you’re likely to suspect moles as the culprits, and you may be right. Moles are oddly adorable, with their rounded cylindrical bodies, barely visible eyes and ears, velvety fur and broad front paws built for digging — but that digging habit leads some people to fear that moles may cause trouble in the garden.
Mole (left) and vole (right)
Not so much, says James Fischer, Research Director at the White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield, Connecticut. Moles won’t gnaw your plants; they’re insectivores who actually help out with pest control. “Some people find them a nuisance because they don’t like seeing the little raised areas in their yard,” says Fischer, “But moles are actually beneficial. They eat the grubs and Japanese beetles, not the plants; when they dig, they’re aerating your soil and moving and mixing the organic material around. If the little dirt mounds are a problem, just go around with a trowel and a bucket and pick the dirt up before you mow.”
Most common in our part of the world are the Eastern moles, but you may also share space with hairy-tailed moles or the otherworldly-looking star nosed moles, which sport 22 pale proboscises springing like tiny tentacles from their noses. “These are highly sensitive, and the mole uses them like tiny fingers, feeling for food,” says Fischer. “It’s incredibly cool.”
Less chill, from a gardener’s point of view, are the voles. These little folk, omnivorous rodents with a strong resemblance to their cousins the mice, love nothing more than snacking on tender green shoots, tree bark or your lovingly planted bulbs. But they’re not the deep divers that moles are, and a perimeter of pea gravel or hardware cloth sunk a few inches into the soil may be enough to deter them. Or, as Fischer points out, you can use raised beds.
Unlike moles, which are largely solitary except at mating time (when the males burrow through previously uncharted areas squealing to attract a female), voles live in colonies, adapting to monogamy or polygamy depending on their living conditions. A study of their stress hormone levels has even suggested they’re capable of empathy for each other — which could get rough, considering that a high percentage of voles don’t survive their first month of life.
Sadly, this empathy does not extend to your gardening efforts. If you find yourself with a rash of vole activity — besides gnawed shoots, voles often make noticeable straight pathways in the dirt — simple snap traps are far better than poison. “They’re quick and humane, and you can toss the bodies aside for scavengers to clean up,” he says, “whereas poisons can negatively impact the rest of the food chain.”
Shrews, another wee neighbor you’re probably sharing space with, are closely related to moles and are the true badasses of the small mammal world. “They’re actually vicious, aggressive little animals that like to be left alone,” says Fischer. “They’re highly territorial, and they eat constantly -- their metabolism demands that they eat their body weight every day, mostly in animal protein.” They won’t bother your plants, but short-tailed shrews — common in our region — have venomous saliva that can produce results much like a bee sting. Should a living shrew end up on your doorstep thanks to the cat, or paddling frantically in your pool, be sure to wear heavy gloves.
Short-tailed shrew
All of these critters, Fischer points out, are vital links in the network that keeps your yard healthy — aerating the soil with their burrowing, fertilizing it with their rice-sized feces, and providing vital nourishment to the foxes, hawks and eagles that we all love. “When the forest is disturbed by logging or construction, the small mammals are the creatures that move the fungus around, restoring the mycorrhizae that allow the tree seedlings and other plants to flourish,” he says. “They’re like little furry honeybees in their own way, crucial to have around.”
Incursions from moles and shrews are vanishingly rare — but voles, Fischer says, can cause a problem if they come inside, like any other gnawing rodent. ”Keep food tidied up, and block any little holes — copper wool is about the best,” he says. “Most often, outdoors or in, these animals will know you’re there long before you see them and get out of your way. So if you happen to glimpse one, consider yourself incredibly lucky.”
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