Mole control from All Aspects Pest Control - we don't make mountains out of molehills
Posted on 29th October 2016 at 10:46
Moles have had their breeding season and its time for the young to leave - find out about mole control from All Aspects Pest Control covering Wokingham, Reading and surrounds of Berkshire.
The mole breeding season is in the spring with mole babies being born in early April; litter sizes are around 3 to 4 pups and these will stay in a grass lined nest which the female mole or sow builds around 30 cm below the surface to prevent foxes from sniffing out and digging up the nest.
I've never seen a mole what do they eat?
Being mammals mole pups' suckle from their mother when young and within four weeks they are fully mobile and will begin venturing from the nest into the tunnel system; when seven weeks old they are fully weaned and now like adult moles, they'll eat worms and invertebrates competing for food with their siblings and mother. If food is plentiful then the mother mole may tolerate her offspring for a longer period of time but usually the physical stress of birth and milk production is to great for the mother and food resources will be low with so many mouths to feed; she will evict the young from her tunnels and they will have to set off and find their own territory.
Where do the moles go when they've been evicted?
Usually in early June young moles are forced out onto the surface where they faced predation from foxes, badgers and crows and accidental death on roads and from farm machinery. Of the young moles leaving their mothers tunnels only around 30% will find empty territories. Other moles may pick up a vacant tunnel system caused by the demise of the older resident mole and some will undoubtedly fight to the death for territories they encounter.
We've never had moles in our garden but suddenly molehills have started to appear?
Early to mid summer sees the peak activity in mole tunnel digging; the breeding season is over and the expanding young are building new territories. Whether an adult of a young mole, they all have new tunnel systems to be dug and existing systems need to be repaired and expanded. Its thought that 1000 metres is the average size of a mole system; the weight of soil displaced from each metre of tunnel weighs in at 2 kilograms, that's 2 tonnes of soil for each mole system.
Mole population increases by around 50% during the summer months, harsh weather (drought and floods), predators and accidents will bring the population back to a lower level but the sheer size of mole activity brings them into conflict with farmers, gardeners and green-keepers.
Tagged as: Moles
Share this post: