What you have is probably a gopher. Moles leave mounds too, but we'll go over those later.
Gophers are rodents with tiny tails, ears, and eyes. They are generally pudgy and cute. Once in awhile, they'll come out of the ground and walk around just daring you to come get them. They can be quite formidable as an opponent. They leave mounds of dirt atop your lawn and it seems they plug the hole when they leave.
Last year, I'd awaken and go outside in my tiny garden. What few plants I did have out there, seemed to be disappearing. I'd have a pile of leaves on the ground top, but the stem and roots would be completely gone. I did an article on voles thinking that may be the varmint, but I discovered a footprint on the soil after a rain had left some puddles. It's definitely a gopher footprint.
Watering became trouble because the soil got wet and the tunnels would sink. Not all yards do that. Mine is made of alot of sand instead of good soil. I'm still working on changing that, but the gopher kept digging all my good soil out and I have no clue what the bugger has done with my compost rich soil. Do any of you know where the gophers puts the soil after he digs through it?? I bet if I went out to the field behind the apartment, I'd find a nice hole full of compost-like soil.
Gophers eat roots, bulbs, grass, tubers, and seeds. They even harm trees, bushes, vines, and flowers. For me, it was the green bean plants barely a foot tall. They must not like tomatoes because I had no damage to them.
The best control is to get a gun...just kidding...try trapping them if you are squeamish about killing them. Fencing your garden in with the fence going down about 3 feet will generally deter them from your garden. My backyard fence (apartment kind) goes down about a foot and they come up under that so it has to go deeper than that.
Try fumigating the tunnels with ammonia or sulfur. They either leave and don't come back or they die trying to get out. I wonder if the Dial soap you hang to keep deer out would work on gophers.
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