If you happen to live in a rural area, chances are you’ve seen or at least have heard of an animal called a mole. People with gardens look at the cute little mole as a major nuisance that digs tunnels, destroys roots, and devastates lawns. But to many animal enthusiasts, moles are cute, fascinating creatures that are lots of fun to watch.
At first glance, a mole may look as cute as a button and appear as though it’s both blind and deaf. This is because a mole doesn’t seem to have any eyes or ears like other animals. The truth is, that moles do have tiny eyes and ears hidden under a thick layer of fur. So does a mole make a great pet? The answer is unfortunately, no. Moles do not make great pets and we’ll tell you why. We’ll also provide you with some interesting information about moles we hope you’ll enjoy!
Why Moles Make Bad Pets
Even though moles are adorable, they should not be kept as pets. For one thing, moles don’t handle stress well. Just a few hours above ground could easily stress a mole to death.
Another reason why moles make bad pets is that they don’t like to be interacted with. These creatures are used to spending most of their time underground alone searching for food. And, considering that moles have to eat about every hour to stay alive, it would be extremely hard to satisfy this animal’s voracious appetite.
A mole can eat half its body weight in worms every day. Even if you were to manage keeping a mole’s dish full of earthworms, finding those worms every single day would be very hard to do.
Moles are solitary animals that bite when handled. They are also very territorial and fight other moles of the same sex. This means you could never keep two males or two female moles together as pets, nor would you ever be able to handle the moles safely as you’d surely get bitten.
To keep a mole as a pet, you’d have to have a big yard and be willing to let your mole dig tunnels. Your yard could easily and quickly become a big mess and your pet mole could make its way to your neighbor’s property to cause lots of destruction and bad vibes between you and your neighbor.
Moles Are Insectivores
Many people think moles are rodents because they look somewhat like mice and rats. However, moles are not rodents at all. They are insectivores, which is a group of mammals that eat insects. Other animals in this group include shrews, hedgehogs, anteaters, and armadillos.
A mole is 5 to 7 inches long and a very solitary animal that rarely leaves its tunnel system. Moles eat many types of insects found in the ground like grubs and ants but their favorite food is the earthworm. Moles catch worms by tunneling underground using their big paddle-like front feet.
When an earthworm burrows and ends up inside a mole’s tunnel, the mole will scurry to the site and quickly gobble down the worm. Moles are known for their humongous appetites and extremely fast eating. A mole can kill and eat an earthworm faster than a human eye can track, which is an incredible fact about this animal that makes it truly amazing.
Moles Hear and Smell Very Well and Dig Holes Like Champs
While moles don’t have excellent eyesight, they do have an amazing sense of hearing and smell. Moles also appear fat and sluggish but the truth is they’re very fast movers that can dig tunnels through loosened soil at a dizzying speed of about 20 feet per hour in quest of their favorite food, the common earthworm.
In a single day, a mole can dig a tunnel system that’s 150 feet in length. A mole is not an animal that takes long breaks from work either, as it will dig tunnels year-round. It’s very possible for a single mole to completely decimate a medium-sized yard in just one day! This animal’s ability to dig tunnels so quickly and efficiently is why most gardeners hate moles and will go to great lengths to get rid of them.
In Conclusion
Even though they’re cute, moles are not good pets. In fact, moles make terrible pets because they don’t like to interact with people and they have sharp teeth that cause nasty bites.
Moles are wild animals best left outdoors on their own to do what moles do best, which is to build elaborate tunnel systems to hunt and capture prey. If you want to get a small animal to keep as a pet, play it safe and get a hamster or gerbil that adapts well to being kept in captivity!
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Featured Image Credit: ahmad kanbar, Unsplash
