I'm trying to figure out what type of underground pest I have
destroying my lawn--completely destroying it! All I've been doing
lately is to wake each morning and see the new soil mound.

At first I thought it was a golpher, then maybe a mole. But when I
compared what I've been reading to what I'm seeing in my lawn, it may
be something else but I don't know what?

I installed the sod about two months ago. This pest leaves mounds of
moist, brown soil but covers up its hole. It appears to be nocturnal.
I've tried smoke bombs and have also tried to identify its main run, I
can't. All the holes are completely covered, I can't get anything in
there.

The smoke bombs were inserted in the two available holes that I found
early one morning. But all the others get covered up--it's really
frustrating.

Any help on this would be appreciated. This is a new lawn and I'm
already fighting off a fungal disease because we're having a more
humid summer than usual.

---------------------
Alex
Escondido, Ca.

mole or vole i think. theres lot of info available if you google mole
trap . i know you can trap them if they make tunnel runs but not in the
mounds they push up.

http://www.minibite.com/america/malone.htm

Moles are prolific. I was at a friend's just yesterday. She showed
me the damage a single mole cause before the dog finally got it.

It tunneled completely around the perimeter of their house. The grass
died over its tunnel, so it was real easy to follow its insane,
winding trail. Probably 200 ft. all together.

On Jul 30, 1:37 pm, Mitch Mitch@... wrote:
Moles are prolific. I was at a friend's just yesterday. She showed
me the damage a single mole cause before the dog finally got it.

It tunneled completely around the perimeter of their house. The grass
died over its tunnel, so it was real easy to follow its insane,
winding trail. Probably 200 ft. all together.

Thanks for your replies. I think it "was" a gopher and I think we got
it. My brother in law is a landscaper and showed me how to get rid of
them. I needed to understand how gophers work though.

Basically, the holes in the lawn were below a small hill on my yard.
Those holes were just drainage so I was wasting my time by flooding
those holes--basically, I was testing the effectiveness of the
gopher's work.

We looked for the highest hole possible and began flooding there.
After we opened up all holes we waited a bit because the he told me
that the gopher would want to start covering the holes again--they
hate sunlight. So we dropped smoke bombs in the main hole and some of
the lower holes--five bombs total, there was no apparent escape. I
can't imagine that the gopher would have survived the onslaught.

I monitor the holes that are still open to make sure that a gopher is
not covering them back up. So far, they're still open and I don't see
any more holes--I think we got it.

I feel bad, I like animals and I wish that we did not have to resort
to these methods. I'm going to look for a less violent way eradicate
gophers in the future. Your suggestions are welcome.