# What is this critter living among my hedges? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890 "2008-11-15T19:29:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/1 "2008-11-15T19:29:57Z")
So I was walking along the walkway that leads from my front door to my driveway today. Between the walkway and my house, I have an area that has various types of bushes and other plants (although I wouldn’t call it a garden) growing out of soil covered with mulch. Today, I noticed that several of those bushes, had small (1-2 inches in width) tunnels radiating from out from under them, and connecting to other bushes. I witnessed one of those tunnels as it was being dug, as I saw the earth displacing itself from underneath. I caught a glimpse of the critter as the earth fell around it for a moment before it disappeared underground. I didn’t get much of a look at it, but it appeared to be a small rodent-like mammal, like a large mouse or a small rat. Any idea what I’m dealing with here? My first, completely uninformed thought, was that it was a mole, but when I image googled “mole” the results didn’t look at all like what I thought I saw – what I saw was much smaller, and more mouse-like in appearance. I live in suburban Boston, if that helps. Thanks in advance for any help. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/2 "2008-11-15T19:32:54Z")
If it was black in colour it probably was a mole. Apart from that I got nothing ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/3 "2008-11-15T19:33:59Z")
Shrews? ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/4 "2008-11-15T19:38:49Z")
Could be a [vole](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vole). Tunneling right under the surface of mulch is typical vole behavior. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/5 "2008-11-16T02:58:51Z")
Gopher. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/6 "2008-11-16T03:08:49Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Gopher. I think gophers are true burrowers – as in they make underground tunnels – because they are hoarders. What the OP described (shallow tunneling right beneath the surface of the soil or mulch) is more typical of voles. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/7 "2008-11-16T03:41:10Z")
It’s a spring clean for the May queen. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/8 "2008-11-16T03:46:41Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > It’s a spring clean for the May queen. Whew! Good to know. I was starting to get alarmed! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![spoike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@spoike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spoike)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/9 "2008-11-16T05:05:59Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > I think gophers are true burrowers – as in they make underground tunnels – because they are hoarders. > > What the OP described (shallow tunneling right beneath the surface of the soil or mulch) is more typical of voles. The shallow tunneling is definitely what we’ve seen with the [meadow voles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meadow_vole) we have in our back garden. We’ve confirmed their presence via a couple of bodies we’ve found in the swale, and via the cotoneaster they destroyed (they ate all of the roots early last spring). ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/10 "2008-11-16T05:41:42Z")
> [@spoike](#): > > The shallow tunneling is definitely what we’ve seen with the [meadow voles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meadow_vole) we have in our back garden. We’ve confirmed their presence via a couple of bodies we’ve found in the swale, and via the cotoneaster they destroyed (they ate all of the roots early last spring). Yeah, they can be destructive little buggers. They will tunnel through snow in order to gnaw the bark off plants. They can girdle young trees and kill them. ---
**Author:** ![Debon\_Err](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ea924/32.png) [@Debon\_Err](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debon_Err)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/11 "2008-11-16T06:37:28Z")
I vote vole. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/12 "2008-11-16T15:59:19Z")
I doubt it was [Leonard Vole](http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CP7GRY13L.jpg), as I believe Tyrone Power is dead. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/13 "2008-11-17T14:14:57Z")
Did it look like [this](http://www.badmovies.org/movies/killershrews/killershrews4.jpg)? Because if it did you’ve got big trouble. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/14 "2008-11-17T18:27:07Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Did it look like [this](http://www.badmovies.org/movies/killershrews/killershrews4.jpg)? Because if it did you’ve got big trouble. Hey, I just watched that movie last week! It’s one of the fifty – yep, count 'em – fifty choice offerings included in the horror movies box set (fifty flicks for twenty bucks) available at certain big-box electronics retailers… ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-critter-living-among-my-hedges/472890/15 "2008-11-17T19:22:34Z")
Is that the one with \*\*Wild Women of Wongo \*\*as one of the 50? I _almost_ bought that set at Fry’s last night.