Moles Driving me crazzzzzy

[scotty088]

Hi all,
Moles tearing up my new landscaping!!!!!!I have had some luck with electronic mole chasers,However they have made it past my perimeter.This is especially making the wife crazy I'm sure with all the talented folks out there in tractor land you must have some great ideas.I'm open to all suggestions.We live30 miles North West of Portland,Oregon.Thanks as usual for all your feedback....Scotty

 

[Highbeam]

Why haven't you just killed them? If I lived in an area where it was legal then I would go to my local hardware store and buy three of the scissor traps that are commonly sold for this pupose for 8$ apiece. Set those traps one night and the next day you'll have killed them.

It is probably only one or two moles. They really move around and are fiercly territorial. Once the tunnels are dug, even killing the mole leaves the tunnels. A new mole will move in after weeks or months and you will have to kill it. Plan on killing several per year.

The only other trick I've used is to liberally poison the ground to kill all workms and grubs which the moles eat. They move on to greener pastures but now you have no worms, spiders, ants, or grubs.

 

[Pilot]

The scissor traps are the ones to use, but it helps to modify them and you need to know how/where to set them.

Hop up the traps by grinding down the lip on the trigger plate so it's maybe 1/32" - 1/6" high. You don't want the mole to have to push it very far to trip it. Then always use the safety wire until you have finished setting the trap!

Don't set the traps where the mounds are. They burrow along and go off to the side to push the dirt up into the mounds. You want to set the trap in the main run. Get a very long screwdriver or other device to use as a probe and probe around the mound until you find the main run. Then dig and set the trap there. Put a rock under the trap and leave only an inch or so space between the trigger plate and the rock so they are forced to push up against the trigger.

Put a bucket over the trap to keep the light out.

As Highbeam said, one mole makes a lot of tunnels. And once you kill one, others may occupy the tunnels in the future, so expect to continue to have moles over the years.

 

[Shimon]

There is a similar thread regarding moles in the Lawn & Garden Forum: Link.

 

[MossRoad]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. KILL THEM! That is the only way. I tried repellants, mole chasers, chewing gum, hair, disgusting concoctions, etc... but the only thing that really, really worked was to humanely trap them and kill them.

The first year I killed 29 moles. Each year after that for 4 years I stopped counting after 50 moles. After 5 years of trapping the next year I only got about a dozen. I have only trapped a few in the past two years and see few signs of them now. That is on ONE ACRE. .

After much experimentation and my desire to kill them as quickly and humanely as possible, I now use the Victor Out O Sight mole traps exclusively (the scissors type traps others have mentioned). They are about $10.00 and really work. One thing you can do to make the trap more sensitive in light or sandy soil is to place a canning jar lid under the trigger, or even pop rivet one on to the trigger. It gives the trigger more surface area.

Go to this site and READ.... Moleman

He is the best source of mole info on the net.

Here is a link to a post I made over on Country By Net back in 2003 that shows how to set the traps. It has lots of pictures. Enjoy the reading and good luck controlling those little creatures.

 

[PBinWA]

+1 what Moss and HighBeam said.

I've gotten pretty good at trapping them. No need to file down the traps either. My traps are rusty and sit outside all year and they still kill.

It's all about trap placement. If you don't get your trap set in a good straight run then your chances of a kill diminish greatly. I have six traps and will saturate an area when they are bad. Set the traps before late afternoon and you can typically check them the next morning. If you haven't killed anything in two days then you probably need to move the trap.

My other "trick" is to use a shovel and take a big round plug out of the ground where I set the trap. I then cut the turf in half and lay it over the top of the trap. The weight on top of the trap helps to trip the trap when the mole tries to push it's way past the trigger. If you do it right you can then stick the turf back over the trap hole when you are done and there won't be as big of a scar on the lawn.

 

[valley]

Every now and then I find a mole in a mouse trap in the garage.

 

[Highbeam]

Thanks Moss, I read your post and the photos show the trap I'd use if it were legal in my state. I would apply it differently though. Never thought of setting it on the surface. I always open up the tunnel and obstruct it with only the trap.

I get mounds of soil and not tunnels. The mounds can be well over a foot across and tall. I carefully pull the mound to the side exposing the geyser where this soil came from. I shove my hand into the geyser and almost always find two exits from this geyser meaning that the moles have a tunnel running right under the soil mound and push this soil through the roof. If I only find one tunnel leaving the geyser then I backfill the hole and move to another mound, this is deemed a dead end tunnel.

After clearing out the two sides of the tunnel I open up the geyser to form a square hole in the ground with my hands. The bottom of this hole is the tunnel bottom and the hole is wide enough to accomodate the trap in the set position. I place a medium sized rock on the tunnel floor and then place the set trap over this rock. The rock forces the mole up into the trigger.

Only the top of the trap sticks up above grade and I place a bucket over the trap with a rock to keep light and other souls out. I set three unmodified traps at a time.

I would do all of these things if it was legal to use these traps. In my state it is not legal to use them but it is legal to buy them.

I saw two new mounds this morning and if it was legal I would be setting traps tonight.

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks Moss, I read your post and the photos show the trap I'd use if it were legal in my state. I would apply it differently though. Never thought of setting it on the surface. I always open up the tunnel and obstruct it with only the trap.

I get mounds of soil and not tunnels. The mounds can be well over a foot across and tall. I carefully pull the mound to the side exposing the geyser where this soil came from. I shove my hand into the geyser and almost always find two exits from this geyser meaning that the moles have a tunnel running right under the soil mound and push this soil through the roof. If I only find one tunnel leaving the geyser then I backfill the hole and move to another mound, this is deemed a dead end tunnel.

After clearing out the two sides of the tunnel I open up the geyser to form a square hole in the ground with my hands. The bottom of this hole is the tunnel bottom and the hole is wide enough to accomodate the trap in the set position. I place a medium sized rock on the tunnel floor and then place the set trap over this rock. The rock forces the mole up into the trigger.

Only the top of the trap sticks up above grade and I place a bucket over the trap with a rock to keep light and other souls out. I set three unmodified traps at a time.

I would do all of these things if it was legal to use these traps. In my state it is not legal to use them but it is legal to buy them.

I saw two new mounds this morning and if it was legal I would be setting traps tonight.

We get the mounds, too. Just not that often. Most of the time the tunnels are near the surface. The nice thing about the Out O Sight mole trap is you can set it at any level where you find a main tunnel. Many times I have done as you and dug down to the highway tunnel. I expose the tunnel on both ends as wide as the trap is. Then I set a piece of turf across the tunnel and set the trap trigger on the turf. The scissors straddle the tunnel on each side. The mole comes from either direction, finds the turf blocking the tunnel and instinctively noses under the turf to push it out of the way. Snap!

 

[Dargo]

I miss the two shelties I had for the last 15 years. Both of them died after a long life here and, clearly, they kept the moles out of my lawn. I have roughly 10 acres of lawn and I have moles everywhere this year. I've used poison in their runs, trapped them and even bought my daughter a cat. Hopefully I'll soon start getting control of them. The kitten/cat (about 5 months old) scored his first mole yesterday. I've never seen one so big! Hopefully he will continue to score! I feel I've been losing the battle so far this year.