Mole's

[otterman91105]

Hey guys just wondering if anyone has some ideas on how to get rid of moles. I have already put the grub killer done and they are still comeing in my yard. Would just like to see what others have tried. Thanks everybody.

[Steve Foss]

No moles this far north, but in other places I've gardened and landscaped and mowed, it was just the old spring-loaded kill traps pushed down from the top of the lawn across an existing mole run for us.

[hotrod1]

Tomcat or Talpirid Worms work great for me.

[otterman91105]

Thanks guys, I'll have to try them out they are digging tunnels all over my yard. I can push the tunnels back down and the next morning they are right back.

Thanks.

[MinnesotaMike]

Can of Beer and a pitch fork.

Push tunnels down and stand there drinking your can of beer, when the dirt moves, get'em with the pitch fork.

Good Luck,

Mike

[buzbunni]

The best option for removing moles is to trap them, but the talparid is a good product as well. I don't use the talparid as I worry about secondary poisoning (I own a nuisance wildlife control company here in the twin cities), but it is the ONLY bait product out there that has proven effective against moles. Aso, ignore the solar powered sonic "noise" makers that are supposed to scare moles out of the yard. I can show you photographs of mole runs going right past them. It should be illegal to put at item like that on a store shelf. What a joke.

I use Victor Out-of-Site traps on 99% of my accounts as they have proven most effective in the majority of soil types and applications that I see on a daily basis. They area scissors type trap, and generally run about $10 per trap. For liability reasons, I do not use spear type traps.

There can be a bit of a learning curve with the Victor's in terms of how to construct a proper and effective set, but once you get it down you'll never use another trap. Try to set on the straight runs (along curbs, sidewalks, edging, even in the middle of the yard). The runs that noodle all of the place are feeding runs, and are generally used just the one time. If you have a forested area adjacent to your property, look for the runs coming out of the woods into your property. You can pick them off as they enter.

Moles are solitary animals and one mole can do quite a bit of damage in a day. Most property owners think they are dealing with 10 or more moles, but in most cases (in an "average" sized yard) the damage is being done by 1-3 animals.

Mole activity will begin to pick up here around the 1st of August as the juveniles are kicked out of the den and begin to disperse into new territories.

Good luck!

[spivak]

This came up earlier in the year and I would again suggest using rat traps with a bacon grease saturated cloth wired to the trigger. Open an active tunnel, place trap in tunnel and cover with a board so tunnel is dark. Heard this on Wisconsin Public Radio's first Wednesday of the month show with Wildlife Ecologist Scott Craven. He said it is the best mole solution he has found. We've trapped the moles bothering or garden this summer. No poisons.

[buzbunni]

I would again suggest using rat traps with a bacon grease saturated cloth wired to the trigger. Open an active tunnel, place trap in tunnel and cover with a board so tunnel is dark. No poisons.

I'm sure that the rat trap set would work adequately without the bacon grease, still, I prefer to use a trap that is species specific, as I think the set-up is easier and capture percentage is greater as well.

Moles do tend to follow edges. I would make sure that the base of the rat trap is flush with the floor of the mole run so that the mole won't turn off the path of the main run.

Moles are insectivores, the majority of their diet being earth worms with other small invertebrates thrown in for good measure. Pretty sure they have zero interest in bacon grease.

Whatever the set, as mentioned, it is important to make sure that their is no light penetrating underground. I typically backfill with peat moss. It helps to shed rainwater, and the moles seem to blast through it quickly thus hitting the trip pan in a more solid fashion.

I agree that poison is not necessary, but talparid is still an effective solution.

[spivak]

"Pretty sure they have zero interest in bacon grease."

That's what I would also have assumed--but they love it. It is the mole's weakness. That's why the rat trap/bacon grease thing works so well: it's inexpensive, no chemicals, mole specific and it really works. Give it a try.

[buzbunni]

That's what I would also have assumed--but they love it

Not to belabor the point...but how do you know that they "love it", or are interested in it at all?

Have you tried trapping the moles in the same fashion without the bacon grease additive?

I'm betting that your capture results would be the same without the bacon grease.

Give it a try, you may be surprised.

[spivak]

I don't mind belaboring it. As I said in an earlier post, I originally heard this on a wildlife call in show when yet another caller complained of mole damage to their yard and the wildlife ecologist said this was the best system for mole elimination he had encountered.

For whatever reason, moles like bacon. Is is the grease, the salt, the odor? I don't know that but it works. My wife had moles in her garden this summer and I found a place where their tunnels had come up under a covered wooden box, open on the bottom, which I'd built to hold extra compost. Laid the trap in there with a bit of cloth soaked in bacon grease wired to the trigger. It was just out by the holes, not dug into a tunnel. The two moles I caught were snapped just behind the head with their noses on the trigger.