HELP! Moles everywhere in yard

[RBManufacturing]

Hi Guys,
Do any of you guys have good solution for moles digging up
the yard. I am the only one on my block watering the lawn,
and it has been very dry. Seems every mole in the county has
invaded my yard. Tried the poison peanuts. Nothing. Tried the
traps. Tripped a few, but no moles. Cannot use grub killer
to kill grubs, thus eliminating their food. I have a Chihuahua,
and he's my little buddy, but very sensitive to any kind of
pesticide, weed killer, etc. Tried smoke bombs in the runs,
and still have them. 20 years ago, I poured gasoline in a run
and lit it. When the mole came out, I shot him with a 12 Ga.
shotgun. Mayor now lives 2 houses down from me, and for
some reason frowns on such activity. Like I can't tell the
difference from a mayor and a mole. Similar mammals, but
I can tell the difference. Anyway, anyone got any tried and
true tricks???
Thanks in advance. Rick /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[thcri]

RB,

The sulpher smoke bombs have always worked the best for me. My neighbor came home the other day with this goofy little windmill because the smoke bombs were not working for him. I will get the information from him tonight. I don't think he has set it up yet but evidently the vibration or the noise of it bothers them and they move on. Since I am a Murphy and a victim of Murphy's law I am sure they will move on over to my place.

murph

 

[RichZ]

Hi, Rick.

For the long term solution, you gotta get rid of the grubs that the moles are feeding on. The best way to do that is to use Milky Spore. It's not a pesticide, so it won't hurt your little buddy. It's the spore of a bacteria that kills the grubs. It won't hurt anything else, and it's extremely effective. You can get it at any garden center.

Now for the moles. they sell these windmills that are hooked to a little dodad, sort of like a pump, that causes vibrations in the ground that supposedly annoy the moles, and make them look elsewhere for their grubs. That should chase them out until the milky spore starts to take effect.

Good luck!!!

 

[PhilNH5]

I have put dog droppings in their tunnels and had some success. The best thing for me has been using the tractor to cut the grass. They have very shallow tunnels and I think they give up in frustration as the tractor collapses the tunnels.

Other than that you need to kill them with those mole traps.

Also a favorite food of moles are earthworms. So milky spore disease while effective in removing my grubs and thus Japanese beetles had little to no effect on the moles.

Someone on TBN once posted this link the mole man
It might have been Mossroad. Anyway it is an informative sight.

Phil

 

[DocHeb]

You didn't say how big an area you're covering. The only thing that has reliably worked for me in my 1/2 acre yard is:

1. On a day that I'm off work, smash down all the paths first thing in the morning.

2. Every half hour, check for tunnels that have been re-dug. The mole will be on one end of the redug tunnel.

3. Stand with a shovel, holding a beer, and stare intently at the ends of the tunnel (the neighbors love this) until the earth starts to move.

4. Spade up the little bugger, watch him be stunned by the sunlight, marvel at how their coat doesn't have any dirt attached, then make him fertilizer for the trees in the back yard.

5. Repeat.

This is fairly labor intensive, but very satisfying. Chewing gum doesn't work, the traps always spring but no mole shish-kabob, moles eat earthworms as well as grubs so I not convinced that grub elimination is 100%. I must admit that I haven't tried the windmill since the idea cracks me up (and I put it in the same category as sonic bug chasers.)

 

[TheKid]

I have to agree with DocHeb. Stomping the tunnels flat and looking for new activity has always worked best for me. I must be getting lazy in my old age since I always bring a chair along so I can sit and drink my beer while I'm watching the tunnels.

 

[MossRoad]

Welcome to the MOLE CLUB!

The only effective way to get rid of them is to trap them. They eat worms, grubs, insects, etc.... so poison peanuts won't work. They don't eat nuts. Gassing them sometimes works, but it's a guessing game. Gasoline is dangerous. I've had them come up and tunnel around a mole chaser sound device and they tunneled under my pool filter, so I don't believe the sound thing works all that well. As mentioned, the stomp, drink beer, sit in lawnchair with shovel method is tried and true if you have the time. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

As others have stated, www.themoleman.com is the best place to start. I found it 2 years ago. I killed 29 moles that year. Last year I got 53. This year I have only had 19. This is on one acre!

What works the best for me is to use my heel to push down a few spots in a run(don't bother with the hills) then check them to see which ones get popped back up. These are the active runs. I use the Victor Out O' Sight mole trap exclusively. I've tried the Nash Choker Loop trap as well as the Victor Plunger O' Death type (can't remember the name, but it has a spiked plunger). They spiked one never tripped. The choker type worked well, but it didn't kill the moles very fast. They could last for hours in there while they choked, and I'm not that in-humane. I just want them dead, fast. The Out O' Sight kills them very fast and it rarely misses. It is very powerful and requires the use of setting bars for leverage to set it(they come with the unit). I get mine at the local hardware store for $10.00 each. I have 4 of them.
Here's a link to a comparrison of mole traps(note the Out O' Sight gets 5 stars for humaneness).

As I mentioned, don't bother with the hills, only trap in the runs. The hills are made by the moles pushing dirt up to get rid of it. This will set the traps off without getting the mole. They make two types of runs. The main runs are like highways to get back and forth to different places. The other runs are shallower and are like cul de sacs. These are where they look for food. They are very hard to trap. You never know which one the mole will use. Find the main runs and trap them for the best success.

And, contrary to popular belief, the main diet of moles is earthworms. They will eat grubs and other stuff, but it is earthworms that make up the biggest part of their diet. Another interesting thing is moles don't hibernate. They just go deeper with the worms. As the worms come up in the warm moist weather, so do the moles. As the ground gets colder the worms go deeper and so do the moles. The Victor Out O' Sight trap can be set in any tunnel that you can find, no matter how deep.

To protect yourself and your pets, put an upside down plastic flower pot over the trap, as the trigger can fly up and give your pup a nasty whack on the nose. I bought some little flags on wire sticks that contractors use for marking things and use these to mark my mole traps. This lets me and the neighbor that weed eats his fence on both sides know where the traps are.

Good luck and read the moleman sight before spending a lot of money on sprays, poisons, etc... it is really a good read.

 

[RBManufacturing]

Hi Guys,
Thanks to all for the ideas. I went to 3 local hardware stores,
and no one carries the Victor Out O Site trap,
so I ordered it on line. I will be trying the beer, shovel method
also. Sounds fun /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Again thanks! Rick

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

David, Good Post and dead on /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif. 53 /year beats me by a bunch (but I have more traps). My yearly average is about 30. The only thing I might add is, don't handle the traps with your hands, wear gloves. Build up and compress the dirt under the trigger.

 

[Mrwurm]

I had quite a bit of trouble two years ago with moles. One day I decided I needed to roll my lawn because the mole runs were hitting my mower blades. After I rolled the lawn, there was a decrease in activity. So, I started rolling it (about a 1 acre area) every two or three days for about two weeks. The moles surrendered and moved on. I guess they give up easily.