When we got home from our winter break our back yard looked like it had been bombed. There were so many piles of dirt and rocks from a mole it was a ton of work just to haul all the dirt and rocks and then rake the area so what was left of the grass was able to regrow. Our neighbors cat, Miles, has not been doing his duty and we've had a chat with his "parents" about him freeloading on goodies when he is here and not doing payback with mole catching. Mind you I think he has been rather busy keeping the tree rat (squirrel) population in check which is appreciated, but still........ Last evening I saw a pile of dirt building rapidly so I grabbed my dandelion remover which has a sharp end on it and waited. And waited. And waited, and the little dirt digger did not reappear. Meanwhile my wife sat on the deck and chuckled at my fruitless efforts. I did poke holes in all the tunnels I could find, having read on the internet that they hate having open holes and air moving through and will often move on (to my neighbors yard hopefully). From the look early this morning that did not work:banghead3: I have not tried a trap, I suppose that is the next thing to do, but I'm very much against trapping but ....... Anyone got any suggestions????? PS I was out there till it got dark and again early this morning and did not manage to catch the little digger.
1. I've tried traps....caught a couple but so did my dog. I also got a couple while mowing and harpooned em. There can be as many as 40 in one colony. 2. Tried poison pellets. don't know if they worked or not. Maybe got a couple. 3. I bought some smoke bombs this year. Light it, insert in hole, and cover hole. Poison smoke fills the tunnel. Only tried one so far...it must have been pointing in the wrong direction. 4. The old guy across the street used to put a couple tablespoonsful of lye in the tunnel. Said it worked for him. 5. They sell supersonic doodads that are supposed to drive them into the neighbors yard, but that's where all mine originate from cause they don't do nuthin. 6. Mole repellent is concentrated castor oil. You spray it around the perimeter of your yard. It either keeps them in or out. Planting castor bean plants are supposed to repel them as well, but the beans are highly poisonous. 7. They breed like rats. I fight em every year
I have 2 cats that I was totally against having but they have me a mole or two just about everyday or two, along with squirrels and mice of course. And if I see my mom chasing them with the broom I know they are after the birds!
If you're against trappiing, then I suppose my shotgun remedy won't help ya. I have a product called Gopher Mix that I use on ground squirrels and packrats. Little green seeds, they love 'em. It kills them and the dehidrate, rather than rot and stink. I can only get it on line any more, and they only ship to certain states........
Well let me tell ya about our mole problem........ And now lack of! When we first got here in La Floriduu, land of flowers, I soon discovered our two plus acre front lawn was home to those mound building gophers or moles. Ugly blind rats with big teeth and claws. They didn't seem to wander near the house or the couple acres out back. Just the nice flat green front lawn where others could see the small dirt hills. They seem to be seasonal travelers and when building their gopher tunnels need to shove the soil outside. --We also had another gopher thing, Gopher turtles. These are real turtles maybe a foot long and on the endangered list. So I made sure we left that hole alone. We sort of liked watching those gopher turtles crawling around the lawn. At least they only had one hole and it was in the ground next to the board fence , not mounded up like some common rat would do. ---An old car guy friend loaned me a couple of small nasty lookin metal mole traps. He was an old Florida Cracker that seemed to know about moles and things. Now the biggest problem there was setting the traps without catching me! Well I never caugh a mole but sometimes the neighbor's cat would. Nice kitty! Went to the old timey feed store and they sold me some Mole pellets. Kinda looked like rabbet food....or rabbet droppings....or both. Instructions said move the dirt, find the hole, shove some pellets down with the end of a rake, put something over the hole and cover with dirt. ---Well these were highly ejeacated moles. They just shoved the pellets back out with a new load of dirt! Like Barry I spent hours with a pointy thing waiting to poke a mole in the blind eye. Not only are they ugly, they're fast! Back to the little feed store. Got some things that looked like large 4" firecrackers with a long fuse. Not long enough for me but they worked. Same directions as the Mole pellets. Then cover the hole and run. Those things stunk. I forgot what is in them but in time they worked. ---The few moles that dug again, I'd use the pellets, constantly poking them back in the holes. I'm thinking eventually a mole ate the pellet and another mole ate the mole until they were all gone. At least ten years passed before I had the mole problem again. Second time I was older and wiser so used only the Mole pellets. I'd keep shoving the pellets back in the hole with a hoe, cover it, and wait. We live on about a 1/2 mile dirt road. On the other side of the road is an 80 acre Pine forest. I've never seen mole hills in the Pines. And not many in other yards except the one near the beginning of the road. I tend to believe moles don't like Pine roots but do love grass roots or the grubs and things on the grass roots. There are also those little tunneling moles that only make a slightly raised tunnel as they wander around the yard. The tunnels are easy to run over with the riding mower or step on to flatten back down. --The other neighbor near the beginning of our road also has a nice green lawn and had moles. Being city slickers they hired an exterminator who poked rods deep into the ground and sprayed something that also smelled like those firecracker bombs I'd used. Only recently have the new owners there had moles again. The bad thing is those pesky moles wander. Only time will tell if and when they return to our place. ----Sadly Wally World bought all the property and the little feed store. I haven't needed any mole pellets but think maybe the hardware stores have them. Just ask for Mole Pellets and keep poking them as far into the hole as you can. Outdoor cats do seem to love to go mole hunting. A condo is sounding more inviting all the time!
Pellets didn't work for me. I have the little tunneling buggers that make the whole yard spongy, and allow the roots of whatever you want to grow dry out and die. I've spread granules all over several times, thinking that if I killed the grubs, the moles would get hungry and go bother someone else. Didn't work. Turns out the little bastiges only eat grubs when they get tired of their favorite food, earthworms. I tried running a hose from the exhaust of my car into the tunnel, but they just stopped using that tunnel and dug another one! If anyone tells you that chewing gum or ex lax or mothballs will get rid of them, just laugh and spit in his eye, he doesn't know what he's talking about. I feel a little like Bill Murray in Caddyshack....I'm almost ready to try explosives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lYm0c7gYyU I USED to have a pretty nice low maintenance lawn. I don't sweat a few weeds, I just mow over 'em. In some areas, the ground is now so soft because of the tunnels, I have to struggle to push the mower! Grrrr.
Run a hose from the tailpipe of your station wagon and into the mole hole and let it idle for about 20 minutes. Works for ground hogs too.
Denny I must say I am picturing Wiley Coyote trying to catch Roadrunner and a bunch of ACME crates in your yard!
I sort of did that to get rid of squirrels in the 10X12 pumphouse/mower shed. But used the riding mower instead. Just started it, pulled the choke out, shut the door till fumes came out, opened the door, and the little squirrelies ran out and never went back in. They had been nesting in the shed and kept chewing holes to get in and out. But for those moles or as some call them ground squirrels, those Mole pellets do work. They look just like rabbet food pellets. Not some little seeds. One neighbor used to shoot the moles. 1tiremandennis----- Getting rid of those darn moles does turn into a cartoon sort of thing at times. It takes a lot of time to get rid of them. I've poisoned a bunch and a few weeks later found more mounds in the yard. Those look like little teepees of soil. It's that time of year around again. I've seen them along the main highway.
I hope the Tree Huggers don't read this thread. I'm sure there is some law against cruelty to dumb endangered moles. After all it's illegal to hurt Kentucky Fried Chickens.
Ahh, I forgot about that one. Auto parts used to sell silicone repair hoses for when your emission tubes went bad. They will fit over the exhaust pipe of your lawn mower and you can hook a garden hose to the other end. The secret is to push the hose into the tunnel, fire up your mower, and slowly feed R12 into the carburetor. As it goes thru the engine and burns, it comes out as phosgene gas aka mustard gas. Ya gotta run it long enough to fill the tunnels. I had pocket gophers when I first moved here. They had a system of interconnecting tunnels, some so deep I couldn't reach the bottom with a broom handle. I took a gallon of gas and poured a liberal amount in each open hole. Let it set and hour or so to vaporize, then I lit it off. There was a big WHOOM and flames shot out of most of the holes. Solved the problem for about 10 years, but I've got one back again now. Chewing gum only works for chipmunks and it has to be Juicy Fruit. It clogs their digestive system and they starve to death. It worked, but I found that rat traps baited with peanut butter worked a lot quicker. I kept a pellet pistol in my shop because they were always sneaking around inside of it.
Quote: Originally Posted by Safari57 Last evening I saw a pile of dirt building rapidly so I grabbed my dandelion remover which has a sharp end on it and waited. And waited. And waited, and the little dirt digger did not reappear. Meanwhile my wife sat on the deck and chuckled at my fruitless efforts. I have not tried a trap, I suppose that is the next thing to do, but I'm very much against trapping but ....... , More satisfaction with the poker? I can see Saf now, Just like a Inuit hunter armed with spear waiting for hours motionless over a seals breathing hole.....
I'm very much against trapping People really are funny! Many don't want to trap or torture poor little wild critters yet they think nothing of poison, gas, or exhaust fumes. I don't mind most wild animals but I just don't like unwanted holes and hills in the front lawn. Why can't they go across the dirt road and play in the 80 acre pine forest or our back woods? My latest project is getting rid of a few large Fire Ant mounds that sprouted up near the house. Now those are some mean little things. Like everything else that works to get rid of bugs and other crawly things, the GOOD Fire Ant killer can't be sold anymore. It killed fire Ants! Wife read that 25% salt with water works and several other non poisonous things but I'm sticking to real fire Ant poisons. Most of the other things, and many Fire Ant killers, only make them mad and they move. So far no Moles.
