Moles Breeding Season

[Le Braconnier 49]

From what I've read up on moles they are supposed to breed around March / April which would entail young being kicked out of their maternal homes around June. Last October we got a new infestation in one paddock that resulted in 6 young moles being trapped from a smallish area of around one acre. Last week I took another 6, being 5 young and an adult female from a garden of around 25 sq yds. Today, I got my first double capture, adult male and female in the same trap. Looks like the wet year we've just had has resulted in a year long breeding season.

 

[Waz 4,274]

Nice pix, looks like your getting the hang of it. Always had it in mind they pair up Febuary time, been mild round your way so....

Edited January 8, 2013 by GD Waz

[bird 9,985]

Nice pix, looks like your getting the hang of it. Always had it in mind they pair up Febuary time, been mild round your way so....

 

try to send you a pm ?

[moley 115]

moles breed in april , they dont pair up

[Waz 4,274]

Blimey didnt know they was hermaphrodites..

Edited January 8, 2013 by GD Waz

[reddawn 2,173]

any more info on the breeding habits of moles?? never even give it a 2nd thought to be truthfull, dont know why, but i dont have the mole down as being good parents...

 

would like to know more now, made me think

[Le Braconnier 49]

moles breed in april , they dont pair up

 

That's what I understood. Male travels to the burrows of females, has his wicked way then buggers off to leave her to bring the kids up herself.

[talpa 55]

So much of the information about Moles is supposition and or made up by Biologists of the past, shown by the belief still maintained that the mole is solitary.

I have no proof of my theories but I believe that the mole has a breeding cycle like its close relative insectivores in the UK the shrew. (Shrews are much easier to study because they don't hide their habits and family life underground) Shrews have a breeding period typically from April - September during which they will have about 3 litters + or - like most things dependent on weather, food body condition. Moles have a much more stable environment so should have a more predictable temp, food availability etc and like shrews do not hibernate. The other British insectivores Bats and Hedgehogs only have one litter, again they are more easily studied and 'attractive subjects '. As they are True hibernators and the young born in the year need to gain a good body weight to to have the body condition and build food reserves to take them through the winter so one litter is all that can be achieved reliably without wasting gestation time and potentially risking the mothers own survival of hibernation.

One of the other difficult things to establish is which moles are 'young ones' even when catching in spring and summer all my moles tend to be within similar size parameters as in the winter, again this is unscientific as only done by eye.

I would be interested to hear others thoughts or if there are any recent studies into moles.

T

[Butler 396]

I have taken doubles in almost every month of the year nothing strange about it imo. What i would say though looking at that picture both moles are foul caught so i would be working on the trap so it catches more humanly.

[Le Braconnier 49]

Talpa,

I tend to agree that the long held theories are either outdated or based on misinterpreted research. Having read extensively all things mole in the last twelve months I've found much contradictory information. From my own limited experience on the French farm where I live I reckon that there have been three litters in the last year. There was a noticeable infestation in June, another in October and recently every field in the Charente has masses of new diggings. Whilst walking round the 300 hectare estate I've found lots of transit tunnels, i.e a single line of tumps stretching over 100 metres, sometimes 250 metres or more with no deviations or side runs.

 

The farm is a good place for studying moles as 20 years ago when the current owner took over it had no moles at all and is basically 300 hectares of pasture interspersed with a few maize and wheat fields. There is every type of soil you can imagine. Sometimes within a few yards it can go from fine tilth to grit sand to granite. On one side the River Vienne, fast flowing and 100 metres wide offers a boundary that no moles would cross and on each of two sides are marshes. I've cleared the pastures along the river and back towards the fourth side, the road bordering neighbour's land. As I clear the pastures and see a temporary lull in activity the new infestations re-occupy the old tunnel systems. It is pretty easy to remove them now that I'm on top of the job and I hope that as I clear the land towards the road (I have to wait for stock to be moved from the fields) the re-infestations will reduce.

 

The garden jobs I've done have been equally interesting. Yesterday I planted traps in an unused pasture and one tump in particular would indicate a nest having been excavated. Then today, in a different location I got a male and female head to head. Last week, in a different location I trapped six, one of which was a young (undersized) male and one a female that was flabby compared to most female moles I have trapped previously. None were full sized males. Three moles came from the same trap in two days. I take that as a family group, mother and 5 young.

 

From my limited experience here in France I would agree with you that there are multiple litters, I would say at least three, possibly four per yer dependant on weather conditions. Last winter was the coldest for fifty years but this summer was the wettest for fifty years. The previous five summers were total drought from May to October. I think that the wet summer this year and mild autumn / winter have contributed to a continuous cycle of breeding.

[Le Braconnier 49]

I have taken doubles in almost every month of the year nothing strange about it imo. What i would say though looking at that picture both moles are foul caught so i would be working on the trap so it catches more humanly.

 

I appreciate your advice. The traps are Flat Pack and these were both caught by the throat which I admit is a little further forward than is usual. I have bent the trigger loops forward a bit as when using cheaper tunnel in the past traps the moles tended to be back end captures. So far all the Flat Pack captures have been chest or neck captures. These two were a little unusual, but when I checked the triggers they were the same as the others I'd got with me. There was no excavations around the trap so I reckon they both died instantly

[Le Braconnier 49]

I have taken doubles in almost every month of the year nothing strange about it imo. What i would say though looking at that picture both moles are foul caught so i would be working on the trap so it catches more humanly.

 

Same trap caught another two...

 

[Guest clairian09]

how do you know the difference between male & female moles?

[Le Braconnier 49]

Males are bigger and have a willy.

[moley 115]

there are two apendages(sticky out bits)the females almost touch , the males have a slight gap, and males are a bit bigger , but not something you can rely on