garden pest question?

[nightrider.36]

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.

[ds549]

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.

[Mitch]

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.

[nightrider.36]

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.