recently I noticed a bunch of piles of
dirt popping up in my grass subterranean
pests have moved in our digging tunnels
in my yard and doing a ton of damage so
I thought I'd start a new video series
reviewing different traps for catching
these unwanted animals that way we know
which traps work best and how to use
them now in my case these unwanted
animals are moles pocket gophers and
voles and this is the first video in
this series where I'm going to show you
how to identify which pests you have
both by the physical characteristics and
the types of dirt they leave behind that
way you know which traps to use and how
to catch them now these animals will
vary greatly in size depending on what
region you're from and what species you
have this is the mole they're pretty big
in my area they have soft fur their eyes
are tiny you almost can't see them same
with the ears because they live
underground in the dark they don't need
them and that way it keeps the dirt out
of their eyes and ears and they have
this nose in front this is for smelling
their prey moles are carnivores they're
eating worms grubs they're digging for
invertebrates to feast on now if you
turn them over you'll notice these moles
have really big paws with these claws
for digging these can do a ton of
digging you'll notice these mounds
popping up everywhere once they move in
now what's interesting is the teeth the
teeth on these are sharp for catching
their prey they're not rodents like the
Gophers voles squirrels these are
insectivores so these are similar to
shrews and these can do a ton of damage
so I'll show you how to catch these this
is a pocket gopher these are pretty big
as well they're called pocket gophers
because along their mouth here they have
two big pockets almost like a kangaroo
two of these big incisors on top and
bottom indicate that they're rodents
they have claws for digging and these
are great at digging extensive tunnels
they'll make a main run with side runs
and these can do a ton of damage as well
so it's good to know how to catch the
pocket gophers the third one is a vole
with a V not a mole of old they're not
related because this is also rodent
these don't leave these big piles but
they can still do a lot of digging and
damage so I'll show you how to identify
bowls as well and how to catch them
so first we'll go start looking at the
dirt piles and we'll start with the
Gopher here's a big pile of dirt out in
the
and looking at this I instantly know we
have a problem with Gophers the way I
know that is the shape of this mound
what we have is a low spot here this is
the hole where the animal dug the dirt
out of their tunnels and then we have a
high crescent shaped or semicircle ridge
there's no dirt on this side of the hole
now Gophers when they dig their mouths
they come up at an angle here and then
they just kick or fleeing the dirt out
now they don't throw it on this side
because to do that they'd actually have
to come out of the ground and expose
themselves to predators so if you see
any dirt mound that has a hole and then
a semicircle or crescent shape you know
it's a gopher here just like this guy
you'll also notice that these are bigger
chunks in my area Gophers tend to do
bigger chunks the moles have really fine
dirt almost like sand and that's going
to be a perfect cinder cone almost like
a little volcano so crescent-shaped dirt
gopher now that you know what a gopher
Mountain looks like here's a really good
example of a molehill
it's a round dome shaped pile of dirt
the dirts pretty fine and the highest
spots in the center here that's where
the hole is where the mole push the dirt
out of its tunnel and it pushed it in
all directions
these can pop up pretty quickly once a
mole moves into your yard they have
these huge claws for digging and they
dig an extensive network of tunnels
looking for worms grubs and other food
so if you see a bunch of dirt pop up in
your yard that's round dome shape almost
like a little volcano you have a problem
with moles here's the third kind of
damage that I've seen in my yard it's a
hole about as big as a quarter and it
has runs going to it one going this way
when going this way one going this way
there's a huge network of pathways and
holes and these remain open that means
the animals are living below ground but
coming above ground to feed and go
through these pathways they like to eat
grass and other plants can do a ton of
damage these of course are being caused
by voles this is a really big vole
predators like owls love to eat these
but the populations can get huge so I'm
gonna be trapping voles as well they
don't leave a mound like the Gophers or
the moles if you see holes everywhere
you may have a problem with voles
hopefully after watching this video
you'll be able to identify if you have
Gophers moles or voles in your yard now
stay tuned because I'm going to be
testing out as many traps available in
the market as I can
hold of thank you so much for watching
and stay tuned to see how to catch all
these pests
you