Mole Problem

[Myrl Jeffcoat]

I have a herd of moles that are tunneling beneath my lawn. I understand that moles are supposed to be solitary creatures, but I have a hard time believing one critter could be this destructive.

Occassionally, the dog in the yard next door will dig one up, so I know it is actually moles, that are doing the damage.

I've tried the little wind driven decorator devices that make the ground clatter, I've tried pouring clorox down their holes. I've tried eradicating any worm and bug problem, I may have, hoping to remove any mole food source. . .All to no avail. This has been going on for several years now!

Help!

Myrl Jeffcoat

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

There is a good reason for the mole-catcher being the most respected and highest paid tradesman in 'olden times'.

First, any solution will require close observation and testing to determone where current activity is taking place. They will abandon tunnels in some areas after feeding and any controls tried on those tunnels is a wasted effort. So, before using your chosen weapon, take a broom handle or something similar, and some plasic straws/whatever to mark the test points, and plunge a hole straight down through a run/tunnel's roof. Observe for 2-3 days. Any unrepaired hole is an abandoned tunnel. Now, choose your weapon, many folks still prefer traps, and Talpirid is one bait that seems to have some success. The one I just got rid of seems to have been killed by the use of Giant Destroyer. It is a 'smoke bomb'.

sigh - I expect to have to do this again next year.

I hate moles.

Carl

[Myrl Jeffcoat]

Yep!. . .Moles are the worst. I tried a couple of those Giant Destoyer smoke bombs, and about killed myself;-) Alas, I think I can still hear that Mole laughing, from all the choking I was doing out on the lawn! Thanks for the tips however!

If I were an inventor, I'd probably come up with a contraption that looked like a lawn areator device. You know - those roller drum thingys with the little spikes on it! I'd just make the spikes about a foot longer than they already are;-)

I'd probably destroy my sprinkler system in the process though! But, it'd make for a really good "blonde" joke!

Myrl Jeffcoat

[Frank]

A few years ago I bought a poison for moles based on a phosphorous compound and it got rid of them and they never returned. Other stuff, I believe called something like, mole-nots, worked but not nearly as well. You bury these poisons in their tunnels.

Frank

[taktshawf]

Hi all -- I work for the manufacturer of Talpirid, and I received a Google Alert about this post. I won't turn this into a sales pitch, just know that Talpirid (Tomcat Mole Killer on the retail end) works -- and is the only bait that works.

Thanks

tim

[Mel M Kelly]

I have good luck with the harpoon traps. Keep them clean and sharp. Put them in place and work them up and down a few times then set them.

From Mel & Donnie in Bluebird Valley

[hob]

I have had them in the city - used gas grenades, poison pellets, and the like with no success-

finally got the old mole trap out of the barn on the farm - end of problem

It's one of those 4-pronged type, available from farm and garden stores, where you pull the handle up and set a flap plate under the trigger. Hint - I got a new one, and its spring is weaker than the older one, so if you have hard soil, you need to either add a heavy weight to the handle or make sure the prongs are over the surface tunnel. (You push down the tunnel only above the trap itself, so when the mole comes by and pushes it back up, the trap is tripped)

fwiw

[Mel M Kelly]

Pull up the prongs and let themgo into the ground several times so the holes are there. keep them clean and sharp.

From Mel & Donnie in Bluebird Valley

[Myrl Jeffcoat]

You guys are talking to a gal, who wants to buy her chicken already cut up, and Safeway wrapped! I'm not much for blood and gore;-)

I think I'll try Tim's "Talpirid" next. My neighbors swear I'm running a yard full of those little windmill thingys - while trying to run the little varmits out of my yard. They're right of course - I figure one of my back fence neighbors will not be as squimish as I am, and will haul out their traps!

Myrl Jeffcoat

[hob]

You'll never know it got it --- the prongs just come up out of the ground, leaving no trace. Just nature's fertilizer

Know no mole left behind, as it were.

[Myrl Jeffcoat]

It's a quandry that's for sure. . .I hate the behavior of these little varmits, but I still love them too;-)

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

I didn't know Tomcat was the same as Tapirid! the 'active ingredient is the same, but I was concerned the 'bait' may be different.

Carl

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

Quite likely you only have one mole - they are not social but their territory can be quite large.

Got mole problems? call, Avogadro 6.02x10^23 !

Carl

[Myrl Jeffcoat]

That's what I've been told!. . .But if you could see my yard, you'd swear there was a herd!

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

I sahred one with my neighbor. From my backyard, around the south end of my house, across the front, UNDER the driveway and 2/3s across his front yard - with multiple brancing tunnels and several 'mounds'.

it was killed either by delayed discovery of Tomcat baits or Giant Destroyer. I guess we'll never know.

Carl

[Emery Davis]

One mole can put up 12 hills per day, no problem. After a very short time this looks like Avogadro's number.

I am lucky enough to have a fellow who traps the moles for the occasional bottle of wine. (He doesn't drink, so I try and find something to suit his wife's tastes.) He's the retired local mail carrier, so we always get a good story about the youthful indiscretions of some town elder out of the deal.

He's a very skillful trapper. He then uses the dead moles as fox bait; we've a big fox issue, my neighbor just lost about 30 chickens.

Find a mole man, if you can! :)

-E

[Dwayne]

The best and most permanent way is to get rid of the grubs in your yard. That is what the moles are after and once they are eliminated the moles go away. I once read about using a "white (something) powder" that was safe on everything else, but that killed grubs and was effective for 20 years. Maybe one of the readers will know what it is called. One of the colleges had put our an article about it.

Dwayne

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

The do eat invertebrates and probably will consume every grub they find, but my reading conviced me their number one prefered food (one source says over 70% of the diet) is worms. That means they are gonna be attracted to healthy lawns and gardens.

Carl

[Myrl Jeffcoat]

I had a really prolific population of earthworms in my yard. I treated them with Sevin (that white powder that you are perhaps thinking of). It helped a bit for a short time, but "they're" or "it" is back with a vengence!

Myrl Jeffcoat

[Dwayne]

That wasn't the white powder I mentioned. This one causes a fungus or something to kill grubs, and not hurt anything else. It was to take 2 or 3 years to become fully established, but lasted for up to 20 years. I've heard of several people on various newsgroups that use that method sucessfully.

Dwayne