Specialized jaws and strong muscles aid the teeth in loosening the soil. Almost all of the orbit, for example, is occupied by muscles for working the teeth. Another aid in burrowing is the broad, padded, horny snout, with which the animal packs excavated ground into the burrow walls. Although the feet are small and quite delicate, the forefeet aid to some extent in breaking the soil, and the hind feet help push the dirt out behind. Their course is marked by mounds of excavated earth about 500 cm wide.
Vertical shafts lead to the deeper corridors, which connect the actual living quarters.
Each burrow system has one or two nesting chambers, about 20-30 cm wide and lined with bedding material, plus several storerooms and latrines. Activity goes on even during extremely hot periods or drought, though there is then perhaps less digging, and burrows are made deeper. One individual excavated 284 mounds in an area of 61 ha. Spalax generally feeds on roots, bulbs, tubers, and various other underground parts of plants. Although they are truly fossorial, blind mole-rats are occasionally active above ground at night.