Getting rid of Moles/Voles

[shutt40]

I tried those on pocket gophers... got some young ones but the older ones were 'trap smart'.

I normally don't have any problems, maybe I have dump gophers. All I do is find the opening in a fresh mound, dig the trap in at about a 45 deg angle with the back half of the trap sticking up, then add some of the extra dirt around the trap. Make sure you leave the hole in the end of the trap open, they don't like the light so they try to plug the hole and then get trapped.
If I don't get one in 2 days I move the trap, normally I can clean up my hole acre of grass in about a week. There is an open 10 acre field next to my lawn so they always come back need to go trapping about every 6 months
Frank

 

[GreatWhitehunter]

I've waged war on moles for the last few years here in CT. The juciey friut is a wives tale and been around for ages. The traps aren't too successful for me either. The tunnels seen on the surface are feeding tunnels. Moles spend the rest of the time in tunnels almost three feet down. That's why there so hard to get rid of.They're also nocturnal so the feed tunnels are mostly made at night. As for elimiating the grubs,moles eat alot more then that. Earthworms and other insects and will even eat mice. The only real treatment for them is this stuff called tapril. I believe you need to be licsenced to use it. Do a goolge search and you'll see alot of info on this subject. I've had some success with ultrasonic spikes that go in the dirt. But the moles still come back. I've been told that even if you kill there food source they just make more tunnels to feed. Then eventually move or die. Best of luck in the fight.

Matt

 

[alltoys]

I normally don't have any problems, maybe I have dump gophers. All I do is find the opening in a fresh mound, dig the trap in at about a 45 deg angle with the back half of the trap sticking up, then add some of the extra dirt around the trap. Make sure you leave the hole in the end of the trap open, they don't like the light so they try to plug the hole and then get trapped.
If I don't get one in 2 days I move the trap, normally I can clean up my hole acre of grass in about a week. There is an open 10 acre field next to my lawn so they always come back need to go trapping about every 6 months
Frank

I see I am not far from you just little east. I have tried the gophenator or what ever it is called. I had a fellow come in last year went around my place but either they came back or it didn't work. I have tried the juicy fruit and it is just a wives tail definitely does not work. I havn't tried any traps yet and this is my next recourse I do believe.

So UFA has the traps and you leave a little day light at the end of the trap. I will have to try this.

 

[alltoys]

I've waged war on moles for the last few years here in CT. The juciey friut is a wives tale and been around for ages. The traps aren't too successful for me either. The tunnels seen on the surface are feeding tunnels. Moles spend the rest of the time in tunnels almost three feet down. That's why there so hard to get rid of.They're also nocturnal so the feed tunnels are mostly made at night. As for elimiating the grubs,moles eat alot more then that. Earthworms and other insects and will even eat mice. The only real treatment for them is this stuff called tapril. I believe you need to be licsenced to use it. Do a goolge search and you'll see alot of info on this subject. I've had some success with ultrasonic spikes that go in the dirt. But the moles still come back. I've been told that even if you kill there food source they just make more tunnels to feed. Then eventually move or die. Best of luck in the fight.

Matt

Like yo say they must be very deep as my frost level here is 7 feet so they must be at least that deep to escape the frost. Well I will try the traps this year see what happens. I understand they love Carrots maybe a trap with a Carrot will drive them crazy.

 

[charlz]

I see I am not far from you just little east. I have tried the gophenator or what ever it is called. I had a fellow come in last year went around my place but either they came back or it didn't work.

I looked at having a guy come in as well, $100/hr with a 4 hr estimate. I built my own with about $50 and some stuff I had laying around. I figured about an 80% kill ratio the first time around. The rest took a while to clean out. I would have been in the poor house if I had to have that guy keep coming back at $100/hr.

 

[spruce Deere]

There is a set up that utilizes propane a long hose and an igniter. Dont remember the name of the thing. They work good. Plug hose and igniter in hole, string out the rest of hose, turn on propane for a bit, click the ignite button. Have not used it myself, but hear its very effective. I mostly use the hand operated elston gopher getter jr. Puts poison directly underground in there nests and chambers. There is a 3pt model that works like a sub-soiler and delivers the goods underground. Pocket gophers will clean up your fresh planted tree seedlings overnight I found out But I was able to clean them up with the hand operated elston

 

[charlz]

There is a set up that utilizes propane a long hose and an igniter. Dont remember the name of the thing. They work good. Plug hose and igniter in hole, string out the rest of hose, turn on propane for a bit, click the ignite button. Have not used it myself, but hear its very effective.

Yep, that is the Rodenator and others. Uses oxygen and propane, more oxygen than propane in fact.

 

[spruce Deere]

Rodenator Thank you charlz! Yea, not something you would want to use in a lawn!!!

 

[OklaKan]

This worked very well for me. The little critters would fill our water meter hole in about 3 hrs. I decidedd to try something and it worked in about a week. I just put moth balls in the hole around the water meter and where ever I saw them digging in the yard. Just move a little of the mound dirt and put a few balls in there and cover them back up. I was really surprised how quick and good this worked.

Good Luck

 

[RonMar]

Yep, you need O2 along with the combustible gas. Any fire started in the hole filled with just propane, if it lights at all, quickly consumes all the oxygen around the area where a combustible mix is ignited, and the flame goes out. This leaves all the rest of the gas unburnt. You need O2 mixed in with ALL the gas to get it all to burn at once. This heat and overpressure gets the results seen in all the vendors videos.

 

[Minotbob]

One thing that I use is to get some Calcium Carbide and throw a few chunks down a hole and add water. Wait a few minutes and throw a match in. be sure to throw the match in and don't stand next to the hole. You'll loose your eyebrows. Calcium Carbide and water make acetylene gas. Same stuff the old miners used in Carbide lamps.

 

[ray66v]

Voles come into my yard for the winter, from the have fields around me. they do a lot of damage. I have had good success using:

"Sweeneys Original Poison Peanuts kill moles and gophers. Simply sprinkle Sweeneys onto the mound or in the tunnel. Contains pelleted Zinc Phosphate."

Any time the snow melts during the winter, I sprinkle some in the areas they are prone to visit.

 

[ampsucker]

ok, have to chime in here.

i see three options:

1. poison or otherwise kill them. poison has obvious cons since you can hit non target species. killing them with the "trap" has never worked for me. my most effective way to target the moles only is a method i adapted from my grandpa. he used to hook the exhaust from his old jeep to the tunnels. i found a large four cylinder engine has too much power and will pop the surface tunnels. so, i adapted a much smaller hose to my weedwacker exhaust port. you can feed it in the burrow, let the weed eater sit there and run on idle for about 15 minutes and then move on to the next network of tunnels. gasses them with no collateral damage.

2. deter them which is hit or miss. i don't like killing the grubs in the lawn to get the moles to move on because this also kills many beneficial insects in the lawn such as worms and ants which are important for aeration and lawn health. castor bean powder and juice is sold as mole repellant but is not very effective in my experience. the sonic sticks and such seem like marketing fluff to me.

3. live with them. they are serving a useful ecological function by eating grubs and aerating your lawn. they do very little damage to the lawn unless you have a dog that digs for them. i find a tunnel disappears quickly once they are dont using it and it doesn't really bother me to have them do their work under ground in small numbers.

as far as voles, a couple of good cats will quickly get them to move on or become dinner. all young trees should be protected with hardware cloth for the first couple of years.

amp

 

[horsebroke]

I don't mean to "hijack" this thread, but what about Prairie Dogs? We have horses, and if a horse steps in a prairied dog hole, it's a good chance he can break a leg. NOT GOOD.

So, can one use the same methods previously discussed for Moles/Voles on Prairie Dogs?

I don't want to use any kind of poison. Too much collateral damage possible to critters who might eat the dead.

thx

 

[charlz]

I don't mean to "hijack" this thread, but what about Prairie Dogs? We have horses, and if a horse steps in a prairied dog hole, it's a good chance he can break a leg. NOT GOOD.

So, can one use the same methods previously discussed for Moles/Voles on Prairie Dogs?

I don't want to use any kind of poison. Too much collateral damage possible to critters who might eat the dead.

thx

I don't think PERC (pressurized exhaust rodent control) or a propane system (Rodenator etc) would. They leave their burrows open and the gasses would just escape. PERC might if it tends to settle to the low areas. I think your best bet is a .22

 

[charlz]

I forgot to add you might have luck with a PDV..... Prairie Dog Vacuum I saw this almost 15 years ago as a 'humane' removal. The guy bought a used vacuum truck from the local city. He would just stuff the pipe down a hole and turn it on. They had a video camera in the back of the truck and sure enough they would come flying in. Environmental groups were mixed as some got broken legs etc. He would just drive the truck somewhere else and drop them off. Seems to me a couple smoke bombs and a big hole would be the way to go.

 

[ampsucker]

The Sturm-Ruger company makes a wonderful prairie dog eradication tool.

It's called the Ruger 10/22. Equipped with a decent scope and the high velocity, soft point rimfire cartridge of your choice, you can eradicate your primary target with very little if any collateral damage and at a very low cost per unit.

Not as effective on your typical mole or vole due to the size and underground/nocturnal nature of the target.

amp

 

[spruce Deere]

I second ampsuckers sugggestion!!!

 

[pitt_md]

I haven't tried the Juicy Fruit thing, but it sounds simple and easy. Not much luck with the traps. Better luck with the 'gasser' smoke bombs.

I've also flooded the tunnels with a lot of water.

I know of an old timer that keeps a poorly tuned lawnmower engine for the sole purpose of blowing exhaust gas into the tunnels.

The ultimate tool has to be the Rodex 4000 or the Rodenator which I haven't tried. (pretty spendy) I wish they were plans for making one of those...

YouTube - Rodex 4000 Kelly
YouTube - Boom-Boom (bye-bye moles) #4

I have read where the Rodex went out of business (lawsuits). the Rodenator works but you have to keep after them. I have one but last year I was building a new house and didn't have time to use it. Now my yard looks like a war zone...

 

[pitt_md]

I don't think PERC (pressurized exhaust rodent control) or a propane system (Rodenator etc) would. They leave their burrows open and the gasses would just escape. PERC might if it tends to settle to the low areas. I think your best bet is a .22

charlz, the Rodenator works because the gases will go way down in the ground where the dens are. you find the tunnel and expose it and pump the gas mixture in and light it up. You don't need to pulg the tunnels.