Hairy-tailed mole
Dark gray, velvety, about six inches long with a short, furry tail and big digging forefeet. Found throughout New York and the mole most Orange County homeowners are actually dealing with, especially on drier, upland lawns.
Mole & vole control · Orange County, NY
Mole Control and Lawn Pest Exterminators in Orange County, NY
A single mole can lace a front lawn with tunnels in a few weeks, and the voles that people blame on moles can girdle shrubs and orchard trees over one winter. The fix starts with figuring out which animal you actually have. Call to reach a local pro who traps moles and manages voles across the county.
- Mole trapping that works
- Vole damage control
- Lawns, gardens & orchards
Moles, voles, and which one is wrecking your yard
They sound alike and they both dig, but moles are insect-eaters built for tunneling, while voles are small rodents that eat plants.
Star-nosed mole
Instantly recognizable by the ring of 22 pink, fleshy tentacles on its nose. Lives in low, wet soil near streams, ponds and wetlands, and can swim. Common near the Wallkill and in soggy yards along creeks.
Eastern mole
The species most lawn-care articles describe, with a naked tail and webbed-looking forefeet. Its range barely reaches the lower Hudson Valley, and experts debate how established it is in New York, so in most local yards the culprit is one of the other two.
Meadow vole
A stocky brown mouse-like rodent with a short tail and small ears. Cuts grass-width runways on the lawn surface, often uncovered when snow melts in March. Chews bark at the base of shrubs.
Pine vole
Smaller, reddish-brown, with very short fur and tail. Lives almost entirely underground and feeds on roots, bulbs and tubers. A major orchard pest in the Hudson Valley and a common cause of hostas and tulips vanishing.
Chipmunks
Small, neat holes about two inches across with no dirt piled around them, usually near walls, patios and foundations. Not a mole issue at all, though people often mix them up.
Fresh ridges every morning?
Active tunneling is the best time to trap. A local pro can often set lines within a few days.
34 pest calls from the Orange County area today. Most recent: 5 minutes ago.
Why Orange County soil is mole country
Moles go where the earthworms are, and Orange County has some of the richest soil in the Northeast. The black dirt around Pine Island and Florida is old glacial lake bottom, deep and organic and full of life. Lawns near those fields, and the river-bottom soils along the Wallkill and the Delaware, give moles easy digging and plenty to eat.
Wet ground is where star-nosed moles thrive. Yards that back onto the Moodna Creek in Salisbury Mills, the swampy low spots in New Hampton and Westtown, and lawns that run down to ponds and streams in the Town of Montgomery all see them.
Then there are voles. The Hudson Valley is serious apple country, and pine voles have been chewing orchard roots here for generations. Homeowners in the Warwick Valley and around the orchards of the northern towns often have pine voles in their foundation plantings without realizing it. Meadow voles show up anywhere tall grass meets lawn, which in a county with this much open field is nearly everywhere.
New construction plays a part too. Freshly graded, irrigated, heavily fertilized lawns in subdivisions around Chester, Monroe and the Town of Wallkill draw moles in from the surrounding fields within a season or two.
Reading the damage in your yard
- Raised, spongy ridges that collapse underfoot: shallow mole feeding tunnels
- Volcano-shaped mounds of loose soil with no open hole: moles pushing dirt up from deeper tunnels
- Two-inch-wide runways through the grass, often visible after snow melts: meadow voles
- Small open holes with no dirt piles near shrubs: voles or chipmunks
- Wobbly plants and missing bulbs with roots chewed off: pine voles
- Bark gnawed off at the base of shrubs and young trees: voles, usually under snow cover
How professionals deal with moles and voles
Find the active runs
The technician walks the yard, presses down short sections of tunnel and checks which ones the mole reopens. Traps only work in tunnels that are in daily use, which are usually straight runs along edges, walkways and foundations.
Trap and monitor
Moles are trapped with specialized tunnel traps set into active runs and checked on a schedule. Voles are handled with traps or tamper-resistant bait stations placed in runways and protected from pets and birds.
Reduce the attraction
Recommendations may include pulling mulch back from trunks, mowing tall grass edges, wrapping young trees with hardware cloth, and changing irrigation habits that keep the soil soft.
Killing the grubs will not necessarily get rid of the moles
It is the most common advice at the garden center, and Cornell wildlife specialists have pointed out for years that it rarely works by itself. Earthworms are the main food for moles in most lawns, not grubs, and you cannot (and should not) get rid of the earthworms. Grub treatment can help a lawn in other ways, but trapping is what removes moles.
Home remedies, store traps and when to hand it off
Castor oil repellents, vibrating stakes, chewing gum, mothballs and flooding the tunnels with a hose have all been tried on Orange County lawns, and the results range from disappointing to nothing at all. Mothballs used that way are also an off-label use of a pesticide. A few homeowners do well setting their own mole traps, but placement is everything, and a trap in a dead tunnel catches nothing.
Where a pro earns the fee is in reading the tunnel system, getting traps into active runs on the first try, and recognizing when the real problem is voles chewing the arborvitae rather than a mole in the grass. A licensed operator also knows the rules: New York regulates who can take wildlife for a fee, and the companies we refer operate under the appropriate DEC licensing.
If you have a garden full of disappearing bulbs, a hedge of shrubs girdled at the base, or orchard trees going yellow, call early. Vole damage under snow can kill plants before you see it in spring.
What affects the cost of mole or vole work
| Yard size and activity | A few runs along one walkway versus tunnels across an acre. |
|---|---|
| Moles or voles | Vole control in plantings and orchards often involves more stations and monitoring. |
| Number of visits | Trapping usually includes several checks over a week or two. |
| Pressure from outside | Yards bordering fields or wetlands may see new moles move in and need seasonal service. |
| Plant protection | Hardware cloth guards and tree wraps add materials and labor. |
Lawn and garden habits that help
- Water deeply and less often
- Keep mulch two or three inches deep and away from trunks
- Mow tall grass strips between lawn and fields
- Wrap young tree trunks with hardware cloth in fall
- Plant bulbs in wire baskets
- Rake out vole runways in early spring
- Clear dense ground cover from foundation beds
- Keep bird feeders tidy to avoid feeding voles
Searching for mole control near me?
If you are typing "mole exterminator near me" while standing in a lawn that looks like a relief map, the most useful thing is a local pro who traps moles in Hudson Valley soil every season. Our free referral line puts you in touch with one.
Providers cover the whole county, from the orchard towns near Warwick to newer neighborhoods in Scotchtown and the creek-side yards of central Orange. Describe the damage and they can usually tell you right away whether it sounds like moles, voles or something else.
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Mole and vole questions from local homeowners
Do moles eat my plants?
No. Moles eat earthworms, grubs and other soil insects. Plant damage from roots being disturbed is possible, but chewed roots, missing bulbs and gnawed bark point to voles.
How many moles are in my yard?
Usually fewer than you think. One or two moles can make an impressive network. They are solitary and territorial, so a heavily tunneled lawn may hold only a couple of animals.
When is the best time for mole trapping?
Spring and fall, when the soil is moist and moles are tunneling near the surface. In hot, dry summer weather and frozen winters they go deeper, which makes trapping harder.
Why is my lawn full of runways after the snow melts?
Those are meadow vole runways. Voles stay active under the snow, clipping grass and building trails. Rake them out, reseed if needed, and keep tall grass edges mowed in fall to reduce next winter's damage.
Lawn and yard pest help by region
Black dirt farms, river flats and suburban lawns. Pick your area to see what else local providers handle there.
Newburgh & the Hudson Riverfront
- Newburgh
- Town of Newburgh
- Balmville
- Gardnertown
- Orange Lake
- New Windsor
- Vails Gate
- Rock Tavern
- Cornwall
- Cornwall-on-Hudson
- Mountainville
- Highland Falls
- Fort Montgomery
Middletown & the Town of Wallkill
- Middletown
- Town of Wallkill
- Scotchtown
- Circleville
- Mechanicstown
- Howells
- Wawayanda
- Slate Hill
- New Hampton
- Mount Hope
- Otisville
Montgomery, Walden & Pine Bush
- Montgomery
- Town of Montgomery
- Walden
- Maybrook
- Pine Bush
- Crawford
- Bullville
- Thompson Ridge
- Campbell Hall
- Hamptonburgh
Goshen, Chester & Blooming Grove
- Goshen
- Chester
- Sugar Loaf
- Washingtonville
- Blooming Grove
- Salisbury Mills
- South Blooming Grove
Monroe, Woodbury & Tuxedo
- Monroe
- Harriman
- Central Valley
- Highland Mills
- Woodbury
- Kiryas Joel
- Tuxedo
- Tuxedo Park
- Southfields
Warwick Valley & the Black Dirt Region
- Warwick
- Greenwood Lake
- Florida
- Pine Island
- Bellvale
- New Milford
- Minisink
- Westtown
- Unionville
- Johnson
Port Jervis & the Upper Delaware
- Port Jervis
- Deerpark
- Huguenot
- Cuddebackville
- Sparrowbush
- Westbrookville
- Greenville
Get your lawn back from the moles.
Call to connect with an Orange County pro who traps moles and manages voles in lawns, gardens and orchards.