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The Daily Insight

How do you keep moles from digging holes in your yard?

Author

Samuel Coleman

Published May 25, 2026

How do you keep moles from digging holes in your yard?

Moles and gophers can damage your lawn and garden. Control them humanely by eliminating their food source, spraying with liquid repellents, scattering repellent granules, using barriers and/or digging trenches lined with wire mesh or hardware cloth.

What is causing raised tunnels in my yard?

When your plants start dying or tunnels and holes appear in the yard, an underground pest is a likely culprit. The most common underground pests include moles, voles and gophers. Many insects, such as the cutworm and wireworm, cause problems from beneath the soil as well.

What animal is digging tunnels in my yard?

Burrowing animals are the prime suspects when a homeowner discovers tunnels and holes in the yard. Many kinds of small animals, such as moles, voles, chipmunks and rats, make holes in the ground. Some, such as moles, create complex tunnel systems, while others, such as rats, dig burrows in which to hide.

Why are moles digging tunnels in my lawn?

With the decrease in available food, there is often a sharp increase in tunneling in frantic attempt to find more food. By the time the mole gives up and leaves, it has already wrecked your lawn. Moles live their lives below ground and will rarely travel on the surface. The tunnels they dig are more organized than they appear.

What to do when you find a mole in your yard?

Determine whether a tunnel is active by stepping on it to compress the soil. If it is active, the mole will raise the soil or turf again within 24 hours. When you have found an active tunnel: Compress the soil over the tunnel.

What kind of tunnels does a mole have?

Moles have deep below-ground tunnels as well as surface tunnels. Entrances to mole tunnels may have mounds of excavated soil, often called molehills, near them. Damage

How big do moles get in the ground?

Moles are solitary, insect-eating animals that live underground and rarely come to the surface, usually only to find a mate. They burrow a foot deep into the soil, using their front paws to dig a network of underground tunnels. How can you identify a mole? They are around seven inches long with pointed muzzles, tiny eyes and hairless snouts.

Why do moles dig tunnels in the ground?

Moles – Even though moles do not eat plants, their tunnels can cause damage by disturbing plant roots. Moles dig tunnels just under the soil surface, searching for grubs, worms, and insects to eat and unintentionally damage or destroy grass roots along the way. This results in the death of the grass directly above the tunnels.

Why are there moles in my back yard?

Once that happens, the moles will create a variety of tunnels underneath your yard in search of their favorite type of food. There’s a common misconception that moles directly dig underneath plants to eat their roots. While moles don’t eat plant roots, a close relative to moles called voles, do.

How big are the mole tunnels in Indiana?

According to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, deep mole tunnels are generally about 10 inches (link to DNR) below the ground. If you’re finding a deep mole tunnel, this is one of the main ways that moles will go back and forth from spot to spot.

What to do about moles and voles in your yard?

If you have rodents making tunnels in your yard, it’s important to figure out which critter is the culprit so that you can use the proper management practices. Vole and mole damage look quite different from one another, so they should be easy to identify and then manage appropriately. Vole damage in lawn.