Need Help with Moles

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Need Help with Moles

Posted: 9/15/2004 1:05:11 PM EDT

The last couple weeks the moles have gone nuts and are starting to tear up my front yard.

Came home today and tripped over a damn mole hill.

What works??

Please give me some serious, proven methods.

Thanks in advance.

Lab

Posted: 9/15/2004 1:06:18 PM EDT

[#1]

.223 or super colibris

Posted: 9/15/2004 1:06:33 PM EDT

[#2]

gopher gasser
Poison gas bomb you bury in a fresh tunnel. not good for kids/dogs etc. Worked in my garden

Posted: 9/15/2004 1:11:27 PM EDT

[#3]

+1 for chem warfare.

Either buy the bomb, or just connect a hose from an exhaust pipe down the tube...

The only method available to me was garden hose + shovel, and it was kinda messy.

Posted: 9/15/2004 1:11:28 PM EDT

[#4]

From what I hear, Juicy Fruit Gum. No lie.
You open up the sticks, break it into pieces about an inch square, spread them around the holes.

They eat it and can't digest it, and it kills em.

Posted: 9/15/2004 1:12:55 PM EDT

[#5]

Go to a local hardware store.
Buy a mole trap, the type with a plate and about 4 long spikes on each side of the plate.
Find a long straight run.
Use something about the size of your heel and smush the run flat.
Apply the trap per directions.
Check the next day.
Use as many traps as you like, the more the merrier.
Don't smash too wide of a spot or the trap will trip before the mole is under it. Just flatten the spot right under the trigger.

My neighbor killed at least 5 last year this way and I've killed three this year. Don't bother with the other types of traps. They may work in softer soil (sandy, loamy), but chances are in Ohio you have soil that works well with the drop-spike trap(what I call it).

Posted: 9/15/2004 1:13:39 PM EDT

[#6]

I have tried all kinds of things. Traps, poison, windmills. Nothing works. I gave up awhile back.

eta

IT’S A ( mole )TRAP!!!

Posted: 9/15/2004 1:13:47 PM EDT

[#7]

www.rodenator.com/

Posted: 9/15/2004 1:13:57 PM EDT

[#8]

Man, I've never had any problems with moles. I had a dermatologist look at one once. He decided to remove it and check. Nothing. Now I don't even have a scar.

There's one on my back I have to go get checked it next.

Posted: 9/15/2004 1:15:34 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
Go to a local hardware store.
Buy a mole trap, the type with a plate and about 4 long spikes on each side of the plate.
Find a long straight run.
Use something about the size of your heel and smush the run flat.
Apply the trap per directions.
Check the next day.
Use as many traps as you like, the more the merrier.
Don't smash too wide of a spot or the trap will trip before the mole is under it. Just flatten the spot right under the trigger.

My neighbor killed at least 5 last year this way and I've killed three this year. Don't bother with the other types of traps. They may work in softer soil (sandy, loamy), but chances are in Ohio you have soil that works well with the drop-spike trap(what I call it).

i have one and I have killed one mole with it, out of about 500 times of setting the trap. Most of the time they trip it, but the spikes don't get them.

Posted: 9/15/2004 3:07:49 PM EDT

[#10]

The spike traps have 6 spikes - and they do work. I've caught moles within hours of setting them & usually within a few days at the most. Find a fresh run & poke a hole in it with a couple fingers. Set the trap with the trip plate on the hole. Enough light, air or whatever gets in & this must piss them off. When they start pushing dirt out of the hole, WAM. I always dig them up to be sure of the body count. More than one the impaled critters were still squirming after a fresh trip. I live in PA next to woods & have caught lots of moles this way. If you don't catch one in two days, reset the trap at another run. This usually means the run is abandoned. Good luck -

Posted: 9/15/2004 3:14:06 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
From what I hear, Juicy Fruit Gum. No lie.
You open up the sticks, break it into pieces about an inch square, spread them around the holes.

They eat it and can't digest it, and it kills em.

He's right, Juicy Fruit works.

Posted: 9/15/2004 3:20:41 PM EDT

[#12]

I second the Juicy Fruit method! The exhaust fumes is fairly effective as well, especially if you have an older vehicle that blows a good ammount of either rich black or blue oil smoke. Of course...there is always the "wait on the porch with a 12ga" method...

Posted: 9/15/2004 3:20:53 PM EDT

[#13]

You've probably got Grubs. Moles are there because there are alot of nice juicy larva eating your grasses roots, which will die in a few weeks.

Get some Grub-Ex, and don't skimp. It's over 20 bucks a bag, but trust me, your lawn will die if you have a Grub infestation.

Get a shovel and flip over a couple feet of lawn a few inches deep, you'll see them if you have them.

Posted: 9/15/2004 3:22:47 PM EDT

[#14]

Tannerite!

Posted: 9/15/2004 3:25:48 PM EDT

[#15]

Nuke em from orbit, it's the only way to be sure..

Posted: 9/15/2004 3:34:26 PM EDT

[#16]

www.themoleman.com is a professional mole trapper in Cincy.

However, he's got a lot of tips on his site. The trap described above is probably the Victor Spear, which works. He also likes the Victor Out-a-sight. I've had success with both, but more with the Out-a-sight.

He describes how to set them, which is consisten with the poster above. A tip is to find a tunnel the mole actively uses. To do this, mash down a little bit of a tunnel. I like to mark the spot by placing three twigs across the spot , perpendicular to the direction of the tunnel. If that spot gets raised up again the next day, you've got an active tunnel. Set your trap there.

He believes that poisons, repellents, gum, noisemakers, castor oil, are mostly old wives tales. An agressive dog can get your moles, but will still tear the heck out of your yard. Most other traps are junk too.

Posted: 9/15/2004 3:35:23 PM EDT

[#17]

They make sonic repellants, battery powered spikes that you hammer down into the mole tunnels (part still sticks above ground). The ones my folks used were black & green. Worked like a charm.

Posted: 9/15/2004 3:36:02 PM EDT

[#18]

I have had good results with Juicy Fruit. Mole Scoot (I think it's called) works great if you have the time to apply it. I tried it about 5 years ago and it kept my lawn mole free for about 3 years. I'm back to the gum now because it's easier.

Posted: 9/15/2004 3:36:12 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
Tannerite!

Damn! Beat me

Posted: 9/15/2004 5:27:15 PM EDT

[#20]

100% sounds crazy but it will work!
go get some jaw backer(levi garrett, beech nut etc.)
next get a shovle open up the main "mole run" and put in a good size pinch
then..................
when he sticks his head out to spit smack him with the shovle!!!!!

Posted: 9/15/2004 5:27:33 PM EDT

[#21]

I had neighbors who swore by those little spinning flowers that you stick in the ground. Aparently, the vibrations would scare the moles into my yard. Mothballs, roman candles, water, and Carbon Monoxide in the tunnels had them on the ropes, until I had to move. Those little bastards probably think they won the war.

As posted, if you kill the grubs, the moles will leave.

Posted: 9/15/2004 6:36:40 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
www.rodenator.com/

+1

Or get some Bangsite aka calcium carbide. Us a shop vac or leaf vac to open the mound without caving it in. Put a tablespoon of Bagsite in the burrow and a cup of water, lay a piece of cannon fuse in the burrow and put a sandbag on top. Wait 5-10 minutes or so, light the fuse, and you'll get the mole, all his friends and cave in the burrow.

Posted: 9/15/2004 6:57:44 PM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:
You've probably got Grubs. Moles are there because there are alot of nice juicy larva eating your grasses roots, which will die in a few weeks.

Get some Grub-Ex, and don't skimp. It's over 20 bucks a bag, but trust me, your lawn will die if you have a Grub infestation.

Get a shovel and flip over a couple feet of lawn a few inches deep, you'll see them if you have them.

DING, DING, DING........We have a winner !!!!!!
Eliminate the buffet, and you eliminate the problem.

Posted: 9/15/2004 7:03:18 PM EDT

[#24]

Moles eat grubs, but lots more earthworms.

A tricky thing about moles is that sometimes they go deep, or to a different part of the lawn. They seem to do that when it gets dry. You think you got rid of them with a Saint Fred medal or something, but they're still there. Or you really did get rid of them, and then another one moves in from down the street, especially when the newborns disperse in late spring.