There’re various types of moles available around the world but in Florida, you may see a few species of them. Eastern Moles and Star-nosed moles both of them are commonly found in Florida State. Eastern Moles considered being ground moles as they prefer to spend most of their time underground. On the other hand, star-nosed moles can live wet low lands areas as well as underwater.
However, if you live in Florida State and love to gardening you may want to know which moles are started to living with you. In this post, I’ve included the information about the species of Moles in Florida and the ways to control them. Hopefully, you can get rid of them from your place easily by applying these processes.
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Types of Moles in Florida
There are two types of moles are mainly founded in Florida, Eastern Moles and Star-nosed moles. There is a short description of these moles given below, check it out to know everything in details about them.
Eastern Moles
Eastern moles can be usually found throughout the state of Florida. An adult Eastern mole can grow up to 7 inches in length, not including their tail which usually reaches 1.5”. They have short greyish-brown fur with large front feet. They use their front feet for digging their tunnel. Moreover, they have very tiny eyes and ears which are covered by their skin and fur. Eastern moles are usually like to live in gardens, fields, woodlands, and lawns. They like to spend almost all of their time underground so they make tunnels to get around here.
Like other moles, Eastern moles also like to eat earthworms, insects, snails, spiders, and other small creatures. They are active for most of the day except very early in the morning and early evening. In addition, eastern moles have some predators as they are not easy to catch. Owls, foxes or snakes will eat them if they can catch them.
Star-Nosed Moles
The Star-nosed moles (Condylura cristata) are the small mammals found in wet lowland areas in the Northern parts of North-America. They can grow slightly larger than other available moles, reaching 8 inches in length as adults. Their fur can be dark brown to black and lighter-brown fur on their underside and belly. You can easily identify them by their 11 pairs of pink fleshy appendages snout. They use their star-shaped snout to prevent soil from entering their nose and sniff their way around underground.
Moreover, the star-shaped nose also allows them to detect their prey and understand their environment. In addition, Star-nosed moles are a very good swimmer and can forage along the bottoms of streams and ponds. Like other species moles, star-nosed moles also dig tunnels to search for their prey. They prefer moist-to-damp soil to make their tunnel or burrows. Though star-nosed moles regard earthworms as their first choice however they also eat aquatic insects as well as amphibians and small fish.
Some Most Effective Ways to Get Rid of Moles in Florida
Even though moles are insectivores they do not usually eat plants still they can be destructive to your garden. Their nonstop digging habits can damage your entire lawns within a few days. So it’s very important to control them as soon as you notice their activities in your garden. There are some most effective and easy ways to get rid of moles from your garden given below.
Set-up a Live Trap to Catch the Moles
Using a Mole trap is the most common and reliable way to control the moles in your yard. You should place the trap in early spring when tunnels are first noticed. Before setting a trap, make it sure that which tunnels are active. You can place trap with bait near the tunnels or the place where you notice mole’s activities. If you do not want to kill moles you can set a live trap to remove them from your garden. Once you have a mole in your live trap you can release him far away from your side.
Eliminate Grubs from your Garden
If you have lots of grubs in your garden like Japanese beetle grubs it could be difficult to get the moles to leave their current place. This is because these grubs are serving as meals for moles. So it is very important to get rid of grubs from your garden as soon as you can. You can use milky spore, lawn aerator sandals or beneficial nematodes to eliminate grubs from your lawn.
Apply Homemade Natural Repellent
Castor oil can work as a natural mole repellent as they do not like the scent of it. This essential oil irritates the mole’s skin causing itching. For the best result, make a mixture of half a cup of castor oil with an equal amount of liquid dish soap. Add these ingredients with a gallon of water and mix them properly. Now mark the place where you see the activity of the moles and spray the solution on the area. This solution will keep the moles away from your lawns or gardens.
Check: Best Mole Repellent
Make an Underground Barrier
Another great way to control moles is making an underground barrier around the perimeter of your garden. Ensure that the barrier is deep enough to make it difficult for the moles to dig under it. To make a mole proof barrier dig a trench roughly 6 inches wide and two feet deep. Now fill the trench with rock or line it with wire. The barrier will prevent the entering of the moles in your garden.
Attract Mole’s Natural Predators
Like other animals, moles also threatened by their predators like owls, cats or dogs. You can attract owls to your garden by buying or building a nest box. Nest boxes look like a large birdhouse that can be attached to a tree high of the ground. It will help the owls to make regular visits in your yard so they can prey moles easily.
Final Words
In conclusion, controlling moles in your lawn is may not be necessary as they don’t like to eat plant roots. But still, they can damage your property by digging tunnels or burrows throughout your lawns. However, Florida is regarded to be a suitable place for moles, because they can easily find out their prey from here. Above the post, I’ve added types of Moles in Florida as well as their controlling methods. You can choose one of these methods to get rid of them from your garden.
