Raccoons are well-known for their intelligence and opportunistic eating habits. They will eat almost anything they can get their paws on, and they can find quite a lot! Raccoons eat a wide variety of foods, including plants, insects, small animals, fish, and garbage. But a lot of people are confused about that do raccoons eat moles?
Raccoons do eat moles because they are night predators; they come out at night looking for their food, whether it is trash, fruits, earthworms, grubs, or moles. However, not every time raccoons can catch moles as they liver underground.
This article will help you understand raccoons a little better and give you some good ideas on keeping raccoons out of your trash and off your yard.
Who Is the Natural Predator of Moles?
It is extremely rare to encounter moles because they mostly live in underground tunnels. They see their tunnel as a means of protection. They come above the ground only on rare occasions and mostly at night.
Raccoons are also known as the natural predator of moles. They catch the moles of guard when they come out of their tunnel searching for food.
What Do Racoons Eat?
The raccoon’s diet depends on the time of year and whether they live in their natural habitat or live in an urban area.
As raccoons are omnivorous, they can eat anything. Their diet includes fruits, plants, nuts, insects, eggs, chickens, moles, rabbits, rats, rodents, etc.
Raccoons that live in the Urban environment also eat garbage that we leave outside our house which makes it easier for them to get food. They seek high-calorie food, and our garbage cans provide them with all they need.
Why do Racoons Dig Holes in The Ground?
Raccoons can be a destructive nuisance when their food search can lead them into your yard, where they can destroy gardens, lawns, and flowers.
Raccoons will dig holes in your yard by digging deep holes, completely destroying it and looking for moles and insects.
What Are Mole Holes?
If you are here because of all of the holes you see in your garden and worried about what might be there. Well, they may be moles digging holes in your perfectly maintained yard looking for food.
If you are lately seeing moles and holes on the surface that they may be looking for food, a mate, or a new home. Moles usually live deep in the ground and don’t often come to the ground and get their food from underneath the earth.
When they don’t find enough food to survive, they usually leave that place and look for another location or dig more deep holes in your garden.
How To Stop Raccoons from Eating Moles?
Mostly Racoons cannot eat moles because moles spend the majority of their lives underground and only come to the surface looking for food or in search of a mate.
As they come mostly at night and raccoons come at night too, they often get caught and killed by a few other natural predators.
Here are a few tips to stop raccoons from coming to your yard and eating moles.
- Secure garbage cans.
- Install motion-activated sprinklers.
- To scare them away from your yard.
- Use your pet hairs or let your dog guard your yard.
- Get help from a professional pest control company.
- Grow plants in your garden that racoons hate
How To Keep Racoons Away from Your Yard?
Raccoons want easy meals, so make it difficult for them to get them. Moles are one of the main reasons they come to your house every night.
These guys are intelligent and determined, so the easiest way to get rid of raccoons is to remove their food source and make your little visitors feel unwelcome.
Here are a few tips to keep moles away from your garden as well as from the reach of the raccoons.
- Insects like earthworms and grubs are their food source so try to remove them from your yard first with the help of insecticides killing products to keep moles away.
- Use a Specific mole trap to get rid of them.
- As moles love grubs and earthworms so, use them as bait to catch them.
- Use moles repellent.
Do Moles Carry Diseases?
Moles are notorious and spend most of their lives deep underground. They are usually shy of humans and mostly bite humans in confusion, panic, or feel threatened.
They don’t only destroy your yard, but they are also known to carry various diseases like rabies, and the infected one can transfer it to humans through their saliva. They also carry parasites in their furs, and humans pick up these parasites by touching them.
Conclusion
We hope you enjoyed our article about raccoons and moles. Raccoons are causing problems in many of our lives, so we wanted to shed some light on a question that people may not be totally sure about, like what types of animal raccoons like to eat, or do raccoons eat moles?
We hope this article has answered your questions on any potential interaction between raccoons and moles! If you have any other questions or concerns about raccoons, please get in touch with us anytime.
References
Managing wildlife damage: Moles Justin C. Davis and Michael T. Mengsk
Foxes, moles, and mink: how to protect your property from damage