If you follow our blog for a while, you might know that we talked about moles and shared facts about voles before. They are very interesting but different animals that can wrack havoc on your lawns! Continue reading to learn the differences of vole vs mole damage.
What is the Difference Between Moles and Voles?
We get asked this question a lot. And we understand the confusion because both moles and voles are very tiny creatures that have a lot in common. Both moles and voles burrow in the ground.
What is a vole? Vole vs mole damage
Picture of vole animal
Voles primarily live in tunnels and runways under the lawn surface and hence are rarely seen. They create numerous surface or subsurface burrows and tunnels in a relatively small area and disturb your lawn this way. Many people mistake them for mice when they first see them. Having small eyes, tiny rounded ears and a tail makes them look like mice, and they are aslo rodents.
What is a mole animal?
Moles are also diggers. Many people believe that there is a mole in every tunnel they see, but the good news is, it’s probably just a couple of moles wreaking havoc on your lawn or garden. A mole animal doesn’t have a tail and their eyes and ears are hardly recognizable as such.
They have big paws with long nails for digging and pointy snouts. They create tunnels and mounds underground that have a maze like shape because that is where they forage for their food.
Picture of mole animal
Vole vs mole damage
Both moles and voles cause quite distinctive damage to your backyard, turf and plants.
When you compare their diets, voles eat plants only. So they will also nibble and bite on your plants and usually live in dense vegetation. But unlike moles, they do not burrow in tunnels and their diet consists of plants, seeds, grass, and roots only. They leave tracks in turf and can reproduce like mice very quickly.Vole damage typically consists of removing the bark around a tree and gnawing on them and other plants, destroying vegetable gardens because they love to eat the roots of plants. They are also likely to tear up the mulch in your flowerbeds.
Moles on the other hand are carnivores. Their diet mainly consists of insects and worms that they find in the soil and underground. They have a bigger tendency to leave so called molehills in your garden. These are mounds of loose soil raised by them digging and clearing earth out of the tunnels. Often, these molehills are the only indication that you have a mole infestation in your garden.
