Can moles drown?

Question

With all this wet weather we've been having my garden is water logged. I'm hoping that my pesky moles have drowned. Is this possible?

Answer 1

Sorry but you cant drown a mole.

I have it on good authority that when a mole touches water it goes into an amphibious mode, it develops gills, flippers and a snorkel.
Have you never seen moles carrying a little bag with them? That's where the keep their speedos.

Answer 2

hope this helps

Mole Control

Home Remedies, Exclusion and flooding are seldom effective

Moles will leave the security of their tunnels during floods and swim to higher ground to avoid
drowning. Temporarily displaced moles that survive a flood will return home when the ground begins to dry and re-inhabit their vacated encampments. Flooding mole tunnels in a dry soil using hundreds of gallons of water may drown the mole or may force it to the surface where it can be killed. Attempting to drown moles in a sand to loam soil is usually futile. There are few obstacles they cannot negotiate. They can swim across rivers and canals, and burrow beneath highways and buildings.

Home remedies such as placing hair, broken glass, mothballs, motor oil, etc. in tunnels and liming the soil are rarely effective although such actions may repel the moles for a short time. Chewing gum, Alka-Seltzer, etc. are not effective.

Some cats provide good mole control. Occasionally a cat learns to catch them as they push excavated earth out
onto the surface of the ground. In most cases, the small gray animals that cats catch are shrews and since shrews
are predatory on moles, such cats are actually contributing to the mole problem.
Dogs can be taught to dig up moles without digging up the entire lawn, but it is difficult.

Answer 3

Theoretically yes they can drown but when the ground becomes water logged they simply move to drier ground. They will come back to their old runs. Getting rid of them humanely is bloomin difficult but there are some devices you can get from garden centres but I don't know how effective they are,I'm afraid I use traps. Also it is coming up for their breeding season soon too.....

Answer 4

.Unfortunately Moles have a snorkel device hidden away inside their bodies, it is only deployed in conditions such as you describe. The snorkel is located near the anus of the mole and if you look very carefully you will see the tip protruding from the skin

Answer 5

it is possible, they are mammals, but the water is probably trapped on the survive, clay based soil.

Your little mole friends are probably quite dry underneath. Sorry.

Answer 6

Yes, like all airbreathers but it's not a nice death and they are only doing what comes naturally, it's nothing personal to inconvenience you.

Answer 7

not likley, as they block their entrance and exit holes and will
borrow new tunnels to escape any significant flooding and if
need by they will surface and swim to higher ground

Answer 8

Hey, nice one! I'll try that. Last time i buried mine alive but they survived

Answer 9

possibly