This is a mole hill...right??

[Trish1974]

Discovered this mound as I stepped in my Araucana pen this morning. I am pretty sure it is a mole hill, but wanted to make sure. I am unfamiliar with smaller pests/predators like rats and mink so I don't know if they can dig up mounds like this or not. I have barn cats, so I would highly doubt it is a rat, but I've read rats can dig so... There were no footprints or scat around, no signs of any other disturbance. Outside of the fence about 6' away there were 2 smaller mounds 2' apart from each other. We've been above freezing for about 4 days now, but still kind of surprised to see mole activity in December. Could this be something other than a mole? That's a 4 month old cockerel behind it for size comparison.

 

[Kessel23]

Yep, that's a molehill. Rats make burrows with open entrances and they push and spread the dirt out in a long, more flat, pile. Kind of like a rabbit or a woodchuck. Moles don't actually leave the burrow when they dig, they just push the dirt out through that hole and a big mound is slowly created above it.

 

[centrarchid]

Most likely a mole hill. Gophers can make similar. A friend used to study insects in the latter and could tell with a reasonable degree of accuracy what made the mound.

 

[CCUK]

Yeah that looks like a mole hill. You may have to trap it to stop any more appearing. The hens look interested in the mound of soil, it may make a good dust bath for them!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Likely a mole, definitely not a rat, which would make a much smaller, obvious hole without mounding.

My moles are active most of the year, only don't see mounds forming during freeze since the soil is too hard.

 

[mixedbreeds]

Looks like a mole but as centrarchid said it also could be a gopher I hate gophers. I don’t know if they are in your area or not. If they are they would eat any garden you may plant.

 

[EggWalrus]

That's one impressive hill!
We only have the little star nose moles around here. This is what their hills look like.

 

[PirateGirl]

Or maybe a vole. Voles move a bit of surface dirt as well.

 

[llombardo]

We had a bad storm and when I was trying to get the branch off the run either a mole or a vole scurried out from under the wood. I don't have any huge mounds anywhere. I originally thought mole because of the color but it more resembled a vole. It was in the same area that my snakes hang out. Where do garter snakes go in the winter? I know something is underground, always thought grubs only. My dogs, especially my older dog will dig and I think she ferls the vibrations.

 

[PirateGirl]

We had a bad storm and when I was trying to get the branch off the run either a mole or a vole scurried out from under the wood. I don't have any huge mounds anywhere. I originally thought mole because of the color but it more resembled a vole. It was in the same area that my snakes hang out. Where do garter snakes go in the winter? I know something is underground, always thought grubs only. My dogs, especially my older dog will dig and I think she ferls the vibrations.

My dogs try and dig up rodents all the time. My yard is full of holes. My cat knows to sit next to rodent holes and wait for them to come out, then he reaches his paw down and snatches them up. There's probably a crazy tunnel network under our feet at all times. I'm fairly certain prairie dog villages can span miles!