Anyone have a solution to eradicating moles ??

[fruitcakesa]

We have typical bony, stony, silty Vermont soil and the moles still manage to tunnel.
I took a different tack and began pouring urine down every hole I could locate regularly.
Since I use a bucket to pee in at night [too lazy to walk to the bathroom so I always have a supply.
Over time the little buggers have left the area.

 

[Eagle1]

TMI

 

[MossRoad]

Quote from Moss Rd:

"I'd have to dispatch the mole by hand. I'd put it's head on a brick and whack it in the head very, very hard with a metal trowel..."

Can we get a PETA executive to Moss Rd's house...LOL I would let you whack every mole at my house, all day [and night] long.

I too read where the older OUT OF SIGHT traps worked and the news ones do not. How can a manufacturer make such a critical and myopic business decision to render their traps as useless? Let me guess, the more powerful springs hurt someone and sued, then they let the atty's dictate the design. Pitiful.

Leaving tomorrow late morning and returning Friday aftn. I am going to set 3-4 diff type of traps and will post back w any positive results. I do not need these moles building bigger and broader colonies. My cattle partner and I have caught well over 1500 gophers w Cinch traps over the last 4-5 yrs.

Thanks for all !!!

Those Out O Sight traps have setting bars that you have to use to pry the things open, then flip a safety, then use the bars again to set the pin in the pan, then slowly release it, while you flip the safety off, and hope you don't set it off and have the pin fly back and whack your hand. I can't imagine what it would feel like if the jaws snapped on you hand or fingers.

I'm gonna guess they got sued or had an out of court settlement. I'm hoping that it's not just a case of them wanting to use cheaper materials. Anyhow, I might buy a new one to compare to my 6 old ones.

As for dispatching animals, I just don't like to see an animal suffer needlessly, so I'll put it out of its misery ASAP if necessary. I've stomped on burnt snakes that slither out of campfires, run over half-crushed animals in the road to finish the job, and when I clean fish, I cut their heads off first VS some guys that filet them alive.

I wouldn't kill the moles when they cracked my driveway in about a hundred places, made our sidewalks un-level, and pushed our patio blocks up a few dozen times. I just lived with the cracked asphalt, scraped the mounds down, reset the patio blocks, etc. But when they undermined my swimming pool and sent 12,500 gallons of water through my garage in about 5 minutes, that was all I could take. I don't like doing it, but enough is enough.

 

[MossRoad]

TMI

Yeah, one should never share their soil type unless asked!

 

[Oaktree]

I took a different tack and began pouring urine down every hole I could locate regularly.
Since I use a bucket to pee in at night [too lazy to walk to the bathroom so I always have a supply.
Over time the little buggers have left the area.

I've tried that with some success. It also sorta works to discourage deer from eating my wife's flower gardens. I don't bother with the pail...I'll just apply it straight from the source. It also makes the surrounding grass a blueish green.

A good mouser will do the job, it’s hard to find a good one. Don’t let your wife or kids spoil it with food though. We had one as a kid that never ate a morsel of food it didn’t catch until the coyote caught it

I've never had a cat that would catch moles. Same cat will catch mice, chipmunks, small rats, etc. all day but won't touch a mole. Dunno why, maybe they don't taste good.
I refuse to starve an animal in an attempt to make it a better predator.

 

[MossRoad]

I've tried that with some success. It also sorta works to discourage deer from eating my wife's flower gardens. I don't bother with the pail...I'll just apply it straight from the source. It also makes the surrounding grass a blueish green.

I've never had a cat that would catch moles. Same cat will catch mice, chipmunks, small rats, etc. all day but won't touch a mole. Dunno why, maybe they don't taste good.
I refuse to starve an animal in an attempt to make it a better predator.

I've never seen a cat catch a mole. We had a killer! cat when I was a kid. Mice, rats, voles, chipmunks, squirrels, flying squirrels, birds of all sizes, even a crow, rabbits, a small opossum, fish! But never a mole.

Not saying it's not possible, just never seen it myself.

 

[MossRoad]

I've tried that with some success. It also sorta works to discourage deer from eating my wife's flower gardens. I don't bother with the pail...I'll just apply it straight from the source. It also makes the surrounding grass a blueish green.

I've never had a cat that would catch moles. Same cat will catch mice, chipmunks, small rats, etc. all day but won't touch a mole. Dunno why, maybe they don't taste good.
I refuse to starve an animal in an attempt to make it a better predator.

I think I read something last night about the smell of moles when I was reading what their natural predators are.

 

[tstex]

oak tree said:

I took a different tack and began pouring urine down every hole I could locate regularly.
Since I use a bucket to pee in at night [too lazy to walk to the bathroom so I always have a supply.
Over time the little buggers have left the area.

I've tried that with some success. It also sorta works to discourage deer from eating my wife's flower gardens. I don't bother with the pail...I'll just apply it straight from the source. It also makes the surrounding grass a blueish green.

A good mouser will do the job, it’s hard to find a good one. Don’t let your wife or kids spoil it with food though. We had one as a kid that never ate a morsel of food it didn’t catch until the coyote caught it

I've never had a cat that would catch moles. Same cat will catch mice, chipmunks, small rats, etc. all day but won't touch a mole. Dunno why, maybe they don't taste good.

Maybe bc of your direct application of "liquids the moles might not like", you cat doesn't like it either and leaves tunnels alone. LOL
If you cannot laugh, then life's just isn't as fun....

 

[Eagle1]

We have a ton of cats maybe one out 40 will catch moles, but if they have the knack they catch a lot of them.

 

[tstex]

We have a ton of cats maybe one out 40 will catch moles, but if they have the knack they catch a lot of them.

cats are not an option...i am a weekend farmer and have no place to ethically keep/feed them while I am gone. I also have 4-5 bird houses [eastern bluebird, tufted titmouse, SC chickadee, etc] and rogue cats will eat them all...no can do...my eastern bluebirds have 3-5 clutches per year and by early-mid summer, the bluebirds and offspring hammer the grasshoppers and other nuisance insects...