American Animal Control
American Animal Control

Gopher, Vole, and Mole Control Experts
Yard Damage Photos
Moles are insectivores and tunnel through yards looking for earthworms, grubs, and beetles. This activity leaves a subsurface run that exposes the grasses roots to air and killing the grass.

dead grass from mole tunnels
Eastern moles often excavate large amounts of dirt, which form mounds. This is done so the mole can go deeper to find food. In areas like this the tunnels are sometimes harder to find because of their depth.

mounds from an eastern mole
Long, fairly straight runs like this are the mole's traveling runs between food areas and/or resting areas. Moles tend to keep these runs open for quick, easy travel.

mole run coming from neighboring field
Here we see damage done by a gopher to the root system of shrubs in landscaping. They don't always eat the roots, but will chew through them to get where they are going.

roots damaged by gopher
Pocket gopher mounds are typically found in a line like this. Their mounds are wider and less steep compared to mole mounds. They also often have a "dimple" on one side.

mounds made by pocket gopher
As you see here, even a little frost does not stop gophers from looking for food. As long as the tubers they eat aren't frozen they will keep collecting food. They often collect food and store it in caches located underground.

mounds made by pocket gopher in a field
Voles eat the grass as new shoots grow out of the soil. Here you can see the dead areas which look like trails. These trails are often very visible after snow melts in yards and the grass is recovering.

trails in grass made from voles
The damage seen here caused by a vole in a garden. This is an artichoke plant that voles chewed on.

vole damage on garden plants
This is an example of voles chewing on the bark of a small oak tree. This is called girdling. Because of the bark damage this tree will be deformed trying to heal itself.

voles chewing on a small tree