Local mole information

Mole control in Massachusetts

Learn what to look for around your property, explore your city, and ask about an inspection or a quote.

Moles in Massachusetts: what to know

Around Massachusetts

Conditions vary across the state. Choose your city below, then describe what’s happening around your home or business.

What to note

Where you see moles, how long it has been going on, and anything you’ve already tried are the most useful details to mention.

A useful next step

Ask about an inspection, what treatment would involve, and whether follow-up visits are included. You don’t need to identify the problem yourself before getting in touch.

Local research

Moles in Massachusetts: what the public record shows

Before you compare quotes, it helps to know which moles actually live in Massachusetts, when they are busiest, and what the state figures look like. Everything below links to the agency or university page it came from.

Moles and voles are completely unrelated; moles are carnivorous and ignore plants

Mole versus vole

Voles are rodents that eat plants, tubers and seeds, and cause the plant damage often blamed on moles.

UMass Amherst Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment

Moles spend nearly all their time below the surface excavating tunnel networks that disrupt the turf surface

Where the damage comes from

Voles feed above ground; mole complaints are about tunnels, not feeding.

UMass Amherst Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment

Vole runway damage under lasting snow appears at snowmelt in March or April

Winter turf damage

New England lawns that look chewed after snowmelt are showing vole work, not mole work.

UMass Amherst Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment

Mole species recorded in Massachusetts

Star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) — Northeast and Great Lakes; wet soils; up to 7 young.
Hairy-tailed mole (Parascalops breweri) — Northeastern uplands.

When moles are busiest in Massachusetts

Mole tunneling is visible year-round; vole runway damage shows up at spring snowmelt.

UMass Extension's fact sheet covers the mole and vole distinction; it does not list Massachusetts mole species or state trapping law.

Rules that apply in Massachusetts

UMass Extension Mole and Vole Damage to Lawns

For context, nationally

7 — Mole species in North America. Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management
Up to 150 feet — New tunnel per day. Virginia Cooperative Extension (Virginia Tech)

Sources: UMass Amherst Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment; Moles; Virginia Cooperative Extension (Virginia Tech). Figures are quoted as the source prints them. How we check our sources

Explore Massachusetts cities

Boston

Humid Continental · urban setting

Mole control in Massachusetts

Moles in Massachusetts: what to know

Around Massachusetts

What to note

A useful next step

Moles in Massachusetts: what the public record shows

Mole species recorded in Massachusetts

When moles are busiest in Massachusetts

Rules that apply in Massachusetts

For context, nationally

Explore Massachusetts cities

Boston

Brockton

Brookline

Cambridge

Fall River

Framingham

Haverhill

Lawrence

Lowell

Lynn

Malden

New Bedford

Newton

Plymouth

Quincy

Somerville

Springfield

Taunton

Waltham

Worcester

Salem

Ask about mole control in Massachusetts