Optical distinguishing features - an overview
The similarity of their tunnel systems and mounds of earth is only superficial. If you look closely, you will see striking differences between the mole and the vole. The following overview presents the most important criteria:
also read
- Mole devastates the garden - what to do?
- Fight water vole in the garden - this is how it works without poison
- The imperial crown: biological remedy against the mole in the garden?
Hill shape and nature of the earth:
- Mole: tall, circular, without roots, leaves or grass, two fingers wide
- Vole: flat, uneven heaps of earth, interspersed with plant debris, three fingers wide
Position:
- Mole: Pile exactly in the middle of a passage
- Vole: mound on the edge of a passage opening
If bitten roots or other plant remains can be found on or in a passage, you are dealing with a vole as the culprit. Moles only feed on insects or earthworms. The soil in a molehill is therefore as clean and crumbly as if it had just been sifted.
Dilapidation gives final security - this is how it works
If the optical distinguishing features are not clear, there is another option of identification. The demolition test leaves no doubt as to whether it is a mole or a vole. How to proceed:
Use a hand shovel or spade to dig up the passage in question in several places. A vole will carefully close the holes again within 6 hours because it uses its tunnels permanently. Since a mole usually only uses a passage once, the openings are not clogged with soil or only in the course of the next few days.
Tips
Are you still unsure whether you are dealing with a mole or a vole or water vole, despite the visual hints and the burrowing method? Then there is an effective and non-toxic control method in accordance with the Nature Conservation Act. The vole gas from Neudorff is based on purely vegetable lavadin oil to scare away the diggers.
