What Do Moles Eat? Why Moles Are Not After Your Plants

One of the most common misconceptions about moles is that they eat plant roots and bulbs. They do not. Moles are insectivores — their entire diet consists of earthworms, grubs, beetle larvae, and other soil invertebrates. Understanding this distinction is important because it changes how you interpret mole damage and explains why some control approaches that work for gophers are ineffective for moles.

The Mole Diet

The primary food source for the broad-footed mole — the species found throughout Southern California — is earthworms. A mole may consume earthworms equal to 70-100% of its body weight per day, which for a 3-4 ounce animal means significant daily foraging activity. Earthworm density in the soil directly determines mole foraging patterns: moles tunnel through areas of high earthworm concentration and spend less time in areas with few worms.

Moles also consume white grubs (beetle larvae), soil-dwelling pupae, and other invertebrates encountered during tunneling. They do not eat plant material — roots, bulbs, seeds, or above-ground vegetation. If you have bulbs or roots that are being eaten underground, the culprit is a gopher, vole, or ground squirrel, not a mole.

Why Mole Damage to Plants Is Indirect

Despite not eating plants, moles cause real plant damage through their tunneling activity. The mechanism is physical disruption rather than feeding. Mole tunnels running beneath lawn turf lift the soil and separate grass roots from soil contact — roots that have lost their soil contact cannot absorb water or nutrients and die. The visible result is the raised ridge of dead or dying turf running across the lawn surface above the tunnel.

Deeper feeding tunnels running beneath planted beds can dislodge and dry out plant root systems through similar physical disruption. Plants in mole-tunneled areas may die from root desiccation even though the mole never touched them as food. This indirect damage pattern is genuinely harmful to lawns and garden beds — the fact that moles are not eating the plants does not mean the damage is not serious.

What This Means for Control

Because moles follow earthworm populations, mole activity is concentrated in areas of high soil invertebrate density. Well-amended, consistently irrigated garden soil with high organic matter — exactly the kind of soil that grows excellent gardens — supports high earthworm populations and therefore attracts moles. Reducing irrigation or soil amendment to deter moles is not a practical strategy because it undermines the garden conditions you are trying to maintain.

Poison bait designed for gophers — which is formulated to mimic plant material — does not work on moles because moles do not eat plant-based food. Mole-specific bait is formulated to mimic earthworms. This is a critical distinction when selecting control methods: gopher control products do not control moles.

Related Articles

• How to Tell Gopher Damage from Mole Damage
• Gopher vs. Mole vs. Vole — Complete Identification Guide
• Mole Control Methods — How Professional Mole Trapping Works

Call 909-599-4711 for professional mole control throughout Southern California. We correctly identify your pest before treatment.