That rat was squirrel sized! My dog is 30 lb.s.
It was an epic battle. He dropped the rat twice because it bit his lip. My little Pooper squealed in pain but kept going back in until the enemy was vanquished. He was a proud lad that day

^^^ Your dog deserves some treats after that.SmileWavy
Hopefully the rat bites aren't serious...prob not..dogs are tough.

That's a mole? Biggest freaking mole I've ever seen if it's 5".
The ones around here are a little smaller than field mice.

^^^ If you are meaning the one I posted in the beginning of this...yes it is.
I was walking to the mailbox and noticed the snow was 'cratered up'...then I saw a patch of exposed lawn with the tell-tale ridges from moles. I set a couple of my wire-tek traps and a little later one of them was showing a catch.

Our moles here are mostly around that size....one of them can do a lot of damage.

With over an acre of lawn...I'm sometimes late to where a mole has moved in. It will often look like there is 6 or more moles in one area because of all the raised tunnels.

Almost every time, it's just one. When there are multiple tunnels, I set 5 or 6 traps. It works every time.

Right, the only mole that I've ever seen was very small.

Your method may be effective, but I think you're doing it wrong.

<iframe width="720" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fp0idqc-tMc" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

^^^
Need any more evidence?? I can ship a body on dry ice.:D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1670352830.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1670352936.jpg

Oops...sorry Norm...look the other way.:)

I've had these suckers running around in the little trenches they build when I'm cutting the grass.
I'd be squealing like a school girl if they were that big!

Yesterday, I noticed another raised ridge of dirt next to the paver walkway.....so I set a couple traps. First thing this morning I noticed one of them was tripped. The overnight temps were below freezing so I had a tough time pulling the trap and mole out of the lawn. He finally popped out...the jaws took most of the skin off his belly.

I have never seen them active in Jan. around here....of course it helps to have no snow cover.
This one is a little smaller than the one in the op.

Looks like 7" body length easy.

I've never seen one out the ground...until the trap catches them.
You're not talking about voles, are you?
Voles are mouse size and make above ground tunnels thru the grass...and they have eyes as a mouse.

Not sure as there were not any formal introductions :D

:D

mole...
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-p...-113942422.jpg


vole...
https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.ama...6939/large.jpg