Moles vs. Gophers: How to Tell Which One Is in Your Yard

The quickest way to tell moles from gophers is to look at the dirt. Moles leave raised ridges snaking across the lawn and only a few small, round, volcano-shaped mounds. Pocket gophers leave no ridges, but they push up lots of fan- or crescent-shaped mounds, each with a plugged hole off to one side. The animals themselves are just as different: moles are insect eaters that rarely touch plants, and gophers are rodents that live on roots. Both are common in Oklahoma, and telling them apart matters because the control methods and traps are different.

Moles vs. gophers at a glance

Sources for the table: OSU Extension (NREM-9001), University of Nebraska–Lincoln (G1538), University of Missouri (G9440) and the Oklahoma Biological Survey checklist.

Moles in Oklahoma

The eastern mole is the only mole in Oklahoma. It is built for life underground: a long, naked snout, velvety gray to brown fur that lies flat in either direction so it can move forward or backward in a tunnel, and huge paddle-like front feet with heavy claws. The eyes are tiny and hidden under fur, and there are no external ears, so many people never see one even when the lawn is full of ridges.

Moles eat a lot. Nebraska Extension says a mole can eat 70 to 100 percent of its body weight in a day, mostly earthworms, insect larvae and other insects, and only occasionally plant material. Missouri Extension found that nearly two-thirds of moles studied had eaten white grubs, and they also eat Japanese beetle larvae. They feed day and night all year, with digging peaking in warm, wet months.

Moles dig two kinds of tunnels. Shallow feeding runs just under the grass make the raised ridges you see in spring, summer and fall, and a mole can dig these at up to a foot a minute. Deeper permanent tunnels hold the nest and are used in winter. Molehills form when a mole pushes soil up from a deep tunnel, which is why they look like small volcanoes. Moles are solitary, have one litter of two to five young a year in early spring, and rarely number more than three per acre.

Pocket gophers in Oklahoma

Yes, Oklahoma has gophers. According to OSU Extension, the plains pocket gopher lives across most of the state, and the Mexican pocket gopher, also called the yellow-faced pocket gopher, lives in the Panhandle. They are stocky, short-legged rodents with a broad head, small eyes and ears, long front claws and yellowish front teeth that stay exposed even when the mouth is closed. The University of Arkansas notes that their lips close behind those teeth to keep dirt out of the mouth. The "pocket" is a pair of fur-lined cheek pouches used to carry food. Fur runs from yellowish tan to brown or black.

Gophers eat roots of grasses, trees, alfalfa and dandelions, along with tubers, bulbs, seeds and tender stems. Their tunnels run 4 to 18 inches deep, and one gopher’s system can stretch several hundred feet. They seldom come above ground, do not hibernate and stay active all year, with the most mounding in spring. OSU says one gopher can make as many as 200 mounds a year.

Gophers are loners. One gopher per tunnel system is the rule, except during breeding or when young are present, though several gophers may have separate burrows in the same field. The old idea that gophers live in colonies, and that one gopher means a dozen, is not right. A yard covered in fresh mounds is often the work of just one or two animals.

How to read the mounds

• Gopher mound: fan, crescent or horseshoe shaped when you look down on it, made of fine, sifted soil. On one side is a small round depression where the gopher plugged its hole from below. The main tunnel runs off to the side, not under the mound. Gophers also make feed holes with no mound at all, ringed by grass clipped short.
• Mole mound: round and cone-shaped like a little volcano, with coarse clods of soil and the plug in the middle, if you can see one at all. Usually there are raised ridges nearby.
• Raised ridges, no mounds: moles feeding just below the surface.
• Narrow runways in the grass, small open holes, no mounds: likely voles (see below).

What about voles?

Voles are the third suspect, and they are often missed. The Oklahoma Biological Survey lists two in the state, the prairie vole and the woodland vole. Voles are small, stocky rodents with short tails, often called meadow mice. Unlike moles, they eat plants: grass, bulbs, roots, garden plants and the bark at the base of young trees and shrubs. Nebraska Extension notes that voles often travel through mole tunnels to reach bulbs and roots, so their damage gets blamed on moles. Signs are surface runways about 1 to 2 inches wide with the grass clipped close, small holes leading underground, and gnawing on bark near the ground. The woodland vole lives mostly underground and leaves few surface runways.

Shrews also use mole tunnels, according to the University of Missouri, but they eat insects and do little damage to plants.

How each one affects your yard

Moles

• Ridges and mounds that make mowing hard and leave the lawn lumpy.
• Browned grass where tunneling lifts roots and lets them dry out. Moles rarely eat bulbs or ornamentals, but their digging can disturb them.
• Some benefits: moles eat grubs and other lawn insects, and their tunnels aerate the soil. In a field or wooded area they cause little harm.

Gophers

• Plants eaten from below: garden crops, flower bulbs, shrubs and the roots of fruit trees. A plant that wilts or pulls out of the ground with its roots gone is a classic gopher sign.
• Many mounds that smother grass, dull mower blades and can damage mowing equipment.
• Chewed lines: gophers can gnaw plastic water lines and sprinkler systems.
• Some benefits: OSU notes gopher digging improves soil fertility, aeration and water infiltration, which is why they matter in rangeland even though they are unwelcome in a lawn.

Getting rid of each one

The method is the same in principle, trapping in an active tunnel, but the details differ. Mole traps are set on top of a flattened surface ridge, while gopher traps go into the main tunnel, which you find by probing beside a fresh mound. The University of Missouri notes that mole traps usually will not catch gophers, and gopher traps usually will not catch moles. Killing grubs rarely gets rid of moles, and chewing gum, sonic stakes and castor bean plants do not work on either one. Step-by-step trapping instructions, barrier depths and the full list of remedies to skip are in our guide on how to get rid of moles and gophers. For gophers alongside mice, rats and squirrels, see the Oklahoma Rodent ID Guide, and the pest guides page has the rest of our ID guides.

Not sure which one you have? Call an exterminator who works on yards

Emtec Pest Control has served Oklahoma homes since 1979. If you are not sure whether the damage is from moles, gophers or voles, our technicians will walk the yard, identify the animal from its tunnels and mounds, and set traps in the runs it is using, then come back to check and reset them. We are the local exterminator for yards in Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Owasso, Jenks, Bixby, Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Stillwater, Oklahoma City and Edmond. Learn about our mole and gopher control service or contact us to set up a visit.