How do I get rid of moles?
David Toebbe
Hi all,
I've got a mole problem. Our backyard is laced with their tunnels. They tunnel
under the patio and raise the paver blocks so it actually becomes dangerous to
try to walk across. We've tried several home remedies: putting chewing gum in
the holes, flooding the holes with a castor oil/water mixture and even putting
Ex-Lax chewables down the holes! Well they may be going to bed with stomach
aches - and getting up an AWFUL lot in the middle of the night! - but their
digging sure hasn't been impaired.
Anybody have any suggestions for getting these guys to relocate?
Thanks,
Dave
som...@somewhere.com
Dave,
A follow-up to my previous message: look on The Sharper Image's web
page http://www.sharperimage.com. The name of the product is Sonic
Molechaser and they cost $39.95 each.
Skip
som...@somewhere.com wrote:
>
> Several years ago I had the same problem. I bought a set of "mole
> spikes" from The Sharper Image. These spikes are battery operated and
> vibrate every minute or so. Two of them covered our backyard (the
> number of spikes you need depends on the size of the yard). They
> worked!! The previous owner told us of his battle with the moles
> (similar to your attempts), but the spikes did the trick.
>
> Skip Nyegard
> Chardon, OH
som...@somewhere.com
John Ongtooguk
David Toebbe (dav...@one.net) wrote:
: I've got a mole problem. Our backyard is laced with their tunnels...
: ...Anybody have any suggestions for getting these guys to relocate?
Some have luck with traps, especially the shotgun shell type
where they're allowed and won't be messed with unintentionally.
I found that a mixture vegetable oil and hot peppers run thru
a blender will keep them away for awhile but they come back.
What's worked best for me is a 4x4 tamper that I made for
cold pack asphalt, using it to collapse their tunnels and
literally beating them to death. After collapsing their tunnels
you'll see where they're still active, and in some cases may
have to spend some time hemming them into a small area
where you'll eventually catch them. Collapsing the tunnels
also seems to prevent new ones moving in quickly, and
prevents other problems like water being routed to the
foundation, around trees, etc. You may end up patching the
yard in some spots but it's easy with some sod.
John Ongtooguk (jo...@vcd.hp.com)
Richard Glidewell
A neighbor of mine has very good luck catching moles in a conventional
rat trap - the large version of the "snapper" mouse trap. He places it
near one of their entrance holes and baits it with a sunflower seed
rubbed with peanut butter. This spring he caught 5 moles and 4 chipmunks
in a week.
My worry about this system is that you will do damag to a neighborhood
cat.
Dick Glidewell
David Buxton
My experience with moles is quite a bit of dirt coming up ahead of them as
they approach their exit. So, the rat trap too close would tend to get
swamped with dirt. Also, moles eat grubs and worms and gophers eat roots.
So, expect a gopher to take an interrest in sunflower seeds and peanut
butter, but not a mole. Are you sure your neighbor is trapping moles and
not gophers.
As for cats. No cat I know of cares a hoot about sunflower seeds or
peanut butter. If a mole is trapped, the trap has sprung and so no danger
to the cat if it goes after the mole.
Please clarify -- is your neighbor using a rat trap for moles or for
gophers? I suspect gophers.
Dan McGuire
In article <5pgf9b$6cb$1...@bvadm.bv.tek.com>, David Buxton
<David....@tek.com> wrote:
We had about a four month fight with a mole, It seemed to be oblivious to
everything except car exauhst. It was a moment of frustration when I took
a hose stuck one end down a mole hole and the other end onto my cars tail
pipe, started the car and let it idle for about ten minutes. I have not
seen a mole mound for over a year.
Steven L. Johnson
On 3 Jul 1997 05:55:38 GMT, jo...@vcd.hp.com (John Ongtooguk) wrote:
>David Toebbe (dav...@one.net) wrote:
>
>: I've got a mole problem. Our backyard is laced with their tunnels...
>: ...Anybody have any suggestions for getting these guys to relocate?
My problem was taken care of when we got a dog -- of course he made a
mess of the yard by digging :)
David Buxton
Ah yes, a very good story about russian moles and double agents 8-)
Did you hear the story about the husband who was sent off the the gulag?
Things were getting desperate for his wife. She wrote a letter to him
pointing out that she had not way to plow the field and if the potatoes
could not be planted she and their son would starve next winter. He wrote
back that she should dig up the guns burried in the field and sell them
and use the money to hire somebody to plow the field. She soon wrote back
that soldiers had been sent to the house and that they had dug up the
entire field with shovels and had been unable to find the guns -- what
shall I do, she implored? His letter back simply said -- plant potatoes.
Ken Farrar
In article <33badf54...@news.one.net>, dav...@one.net says...
>
>Hi all,
>
>I've got a mole problem. Our backyard is laced with their tunnels. They
tunnel
>under the patio and raise the paver blocks so it actually becomes dangerous to
>try to walk across. We've tried several home remedies: putting chewing gum in
>the holes, flooding the holes with a castor oil/water mixture and even putting
>Ex-Lax chewables down the holes! Well they may be going to bed with stomach
>aches - and getting up an AWFUL lot in the middle of the night! - but their
>digging sure hasn't been impaired.
>
>
>Dave
Moles eat grubs and eathworms. So, to get rid of the moles, you need to get
rid of their food. Therefore, put down an application (or two) of insecticide
such as Diazon as the insecticide label specifies. Keep up regular
applications and you will find your mole population will diminish. (It may
take a year or two as it did for me -- but don't give up on the treatments!)
Mike
On Thu, 03 Jul 1997 07:59:18 -0500, RebeccaD <rebe...@usit.net>
wrote:
>David Toebbe wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I've got a mole problem. Our backyard is laced with their tunnels. They tunnel
>> under the patio and raise the paver blocks so it actually becomes dangerous to
>> try to walk across. We've tried several home remedies: putting chewing gum in
>> the holes, flooding the holes with a castor oil/water mixture and even putting
>> Ex-Lax chewables down the holes! Well they may be going to bed with stomach
>> aches - and getting up an AWFUL lot in the middle of the night! - but their
>> digging sure hasn't been impaired.
>>
>> Anybody have any suggestions for getting these guys to relocate?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Dave
>
My sisters cat keeps bringing them home. other than that call for
help.
Mike
Mark W Modrall
in russia recently they established a toll-free phone number for moles
to call in... they were promised amnesty and the chance to become
double-agents...
:)
-mark
Michael Olin
dav...@one.net (David Toebbe) writes:
>I've got a mole problem. Our backyard is laced with their tunnels. They tunne>under the patio and raise the paver blocks so it actually becomes dangerous to
>try to walk across. We've tried several home remedies: putting chewing gum in
>the holes, flooding the holes with a castor oil/water mixture and even putting
>Ex-Lax chewables down the holes! Well they may be going to bed with stomach
>aches - and getting up an AWFUL lot in the middle of the night! - but their
>digging sure hasn't been impaired.
Go to your local nursery and ask for 'milkweed spores.' You spread the
spores on your lawn and it 'grows' underground like a fungus (because it
is...) and next year you'll find you have no grubs in your lawn. No grubs,
no moles.
Works for me.
--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= mo...@smurfy.tcimet.net =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|||
Keep up the fight ||| I love my country
or lose the right... / | \ but I fear my government
Rick Matthews
Michael Olin (mo...@smurfy.tcimet.net) wrote:
: dav...@one.net (David Toebbe) writes:
:
: >I've got a mole problem. Our backyard is laced with their tunnels. They tunne>under the patio and raise the paver blocks so it actually becomes dangerous to
: >try to walk across. We've tried several home remedies: putting chewing gum in
: >the holes, flooding the holes with a castor oil/water mixture and even putting
: >Ex-Lax chewables down the holes! Well they may be going to bed with stomach
: >aches - and getting up an AWFUL lot in the middle of the night! - but their
: >digging sure hasn't been impaired.
:
: Go to your local nursery and ask for 'milkweed spores.' You spread the
: spores on your lawn and it 'grows' underground like a fungus (because it
: is...) and next year you'll find you have no grubs in your lawn. No grubs,
: no moles.
That's "milky spore".
--
Rick Matthews matt...@wfu.edu
Department of Physics http://www.wfu.edu/%7Ematthews
Wake Forest University 910-759-5340 (Voice)
Winston-Salem, NC 27109-7507 910-759-6142 (FAX)
USA