how to get rid of moles?
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2manyrocks
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Would it work to run a hose from a motor exhaust into the tunnel?
captaincrab55
Silver Member
Try dry instant mash potatoes... If they get wet, they won't work...
MossRoad
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All right... for any of you that don't know the story I have told many times herre on TBN, I will tell it again. 
Moles were diggin up my yard and going under my above ground pool, damaging the liner. The liner tore out, I lost 12,500 gallons of water in about 5 minutes and suffered a lot of property damage. So I declated war on moles. I bought several kinds of traps, mole chasers, etc... here is what I found.
The moles came up to and dug around the battery operated mole scarer to the point that it tipped over in the lawn. Ineffective.
The kind of mole trap that shoots spikes down into the ground is hard to set and you do not know if you got a mole or not because unless it kills the mole, the mole can dig out from under the spikes and crawl away. No body, no crime.
The two most effective mole traps I found are the Nash choker loop trap and the Victor Out O' Sight mole trap. Both work equally well in trapping the moles with few misses. However, the Nash choker loop trap tends to make the animal suffer and does not do a good job of killing the mole quickly. The Victor Out O' Sight mole trap is the kind that looks like two scissors. It kills moles fast.
So, that first year, starting about half way through summer, I killed 29 moles. The next 3-4 years, I stopped counting at 50 each year. Since then, I average about a dozen, although last year I didn't see enough activity to even to set out any traps. So, over 200 moles in 4-5 years on one acre of land.
Go to a hardware store, buy yourself two or three (I have 6) Victor Out O' Sight Mole Traps for about $12.00 each. Go around your yard and look for the tunnels, not the mounds. The mounds are just a vertical hole in the surface where the mole pushes exess soil from its tunnels. It is just about impossible to trap a mole in a mound because the mole is pushing dirt up, which triggers the trap, causing the trap to trap dirt, not moles. The tunnels are where you need to trap.
There are two types of tunnels... feeding tunnels and highway tunnels. Feeding tunnels are those areas of your lawn that get all torn up, looking like wrinled up carpet. Those areas are also about impossible to trap. The highway tunnels are where you should concentrate. They lead to and from feeding and nesting areas. Find the long tunnels and use the heel of your shoe to indent across the tunnel. Do this every 10 feet or so. Whent the mole comes throug it will push the heel indentation back up to open the tunnel. So the next day, you can go around and see what heel marks have been pushed up. THAT IS WHERE YOU SHOULD SET YOUR TRAP! :thumbsup:
Acitve mole highway tunnels!
Use your heel to press the tunnel closed again as before. Then take a garden trowel and cut two slices ACROSS the tunnel at the same width as the two sets of scissors on the Out O' Sight trap. Use the levers that come with the trap, set it, set the safety and put the scissors into the slices so that they span the tunnel on each side of your heel mark. The trigger of the trap should rest against the sod at the bottom of your heel mark. When the mole comes through the tunnel from either direction it will bump into your heel impression and attempt to push it up to open the tunnel. That will push the sod agains the trigger and trip the trap. One of the sets of scissors will grab the mole, usually right in its middle section, and kill it.
That's all there is to it. When you see that a trap has been tripped you can just pull it out of the ground and the mole will come up with it. Dispose of the mole and reset the trap in the same spot. Contrary to popular belief that moles are solitary creatures, I have taken two and even three moles from the same hole in one 24 hour period. And if one dominant mole is removed, others will quickly take over the existing tunnels rather than digging its own fresh tunnels.
As far as deterring moles, you can eliminate their food source, which is meat. Primarily worm meat. Worms are the moles main food source, followed by insects and insect larvae, like grubs. To elimenate the food source you pretty much have to turn your soil into sterile growing medium by applying chemicals that kill all insect larvae and worms. That is not a healthy lawn. Chewing gum, human hair, mole pellets, etc... are not effective. At the most, it will cause the moles to dig fresh tunnels. No one has posted any evidence that moles actually eat the poisons. My guess is the poisons contaminate the soil, the worms and bugs go away and then the moles might follow them.
Anyhow, trap the heck out of them until you can work them back to the perimeter of your property, then trap the perimeters religiously at the first sign of activity.
Also, moles do not hibernate. They follow the worms deep in winter. The Victor Out O' Sight traps can be set at any depth should you find an active tunnel a foot down or more. If you have sandy soil, the sand may fall out from under the trigger before the mole can spring it. You can put a plug of sod in the way of the tunnel to provide a firmer trigger, or, you can pop rivet a ball canning jar lid to the trigger to make a large trigger area. That works well, too.
Good luck.
The best source for mole information that I have found it www.themoleman.com. He is a professional mole trapper and has great advice.
Moles were diggin up my yard and going under my above ground pool, damaging the liner. The liner tore out, I lost 12,500 gallons of water in about 5 minutes and suffered a lot of property damage. So I declated war on moles. I bought several kinds of traps, mole chasers, etc... here is what I found.
The moles came up to and dug around the battery operated mole scarer to the point that it tipped over in the lawn. Ineffective.
The kind of mole trap that shoots spikes down into the ground is hard to set and you do not know if you got a mole or not because unless it kills the mole, the mole can dig out from under the spikes and crawl away. No body, no crime.
The two most effective mole traps I found are the Nash choker loop trap and the Victor Out O' Sight mole trap. Both work equally well in trapping the moles with few misses. However, the Nash choker loop trap tends to make the animal suffer and does not do a good job of killing the mole quickly. The Victor Out O' Sight mole trap is the kind that looks like two scissors. It kills moles fast.
So, that first year, starting about half way through summer, I killed 29 moles. The next 3-4 years, I stopped counting at 50 each year. Since then, I average about a dozen, although last year I didn't see enough activity to even to set out any traps. So, over 200 moles in 4-5 years on one acre of land.
Go to a hardware store, buy yourself two or three (I have 6) Victor Out O' Sight Mole Traps for about $12.00 each. Go around your yard and look for the tunnels, not the mounds. The mounds are just a vertical hole in the surface where the mole pushes exess soil from its tunnels. It is just about impossible to trap a mole in a mound because the mole is pushing dirt up, which triggers the trap, causing the trap to trap dirt, not moles. The tunnels are where you need to trap.
There are two types of tunnels... feeding tunnels and highway tunnels. Feeding tunnels are those areas of your lawn that get all torn up, looking like wrinled up carpet. Those areas are also about impossible to trap. The highway tunnels are where you should concentrate. They lead to and from feeding and nesting areas. Find the long tunnels and use the heel of your shoe to indent across the tunnel. Do this every 10 feet or so. Whent the mole comes throug it will push the heel indentation back up to open the tunnel. So the next day, you can go around and see what heel marks have been pushed up. THAT IS WHERE YOU SHOULD SET YOUR TRAP! :thumbsup:
Acitve mole highway tunnels!
Use your heel to press the tunnel closed again as before. Then take a garden trowel and cut two slices ACROSS the tunnel at the same width as the two sets of scissors on the Out O' Sight trap. Use the levers that come with the trap, set it, set the safety and put the scissors into the slices so that they span the tunnel on each side of your heel mark. The trigger of the trap should rest against the sod at the bottom of your heel mark. When the mole comes through the tunnel from either direction it will bump into your heel impression and attempt to push it up to open the tunnel. That will push the sod agains the trigger and trip the trap. One of the sets of scissors will grab the mole, usually right in its middle section, and kill it.
That's all there is to it. When you see that a trap has been tripped you can just pull it out of the ground and the mole will come up with it. Dispose of the mole and reset the trap in the same spot. Contrary to popular belief that moles are solitary creatures, I have taken two and even three moles from the same hole in one 24 hour period. And if one dominant mole is removed, others will quickly take over the existing tunnels rather than digging its own fresh tunnels.
As far as deterring moles, you can eliminate their food source, which is meat. Primarily worm meat. Worms are the moles main food source, followed by insects and insect larvae, like grubs. To elimenate the food source you pretty much have to turn your soil into sterile growing medium by applying chemicals that kill all insect larvae and worms. That is not a healthy lawn. Chewing gum, human hair, mole pellets, etc... are not effective. At the most, it will cause the moles to dig fresh tunnels. No one has posted any evidence that moles actually eat the poisons. My guess is the poisons contaminate the soil, the worms and bugs go away and then the moles might follow them.
Anyhow, trap the heck out of them until you can work them back to the perimeter of your property, then trap the perimeters religiously at the first sign of activity.
Also, moles do not hibernate. They follow the worms deep in winter. The Victor Out O' Sight traps can be set at any depth should you find an active tunnel a foot down or more. If you have sandy soil, the sand may fall out from under the trigger before the mole can spring it. You can put a plug of sod in the way of the tunnel to provide a firmer trigger, or, you can pop rivet a ball canning jar lid to the trigger to make a large trigger area. That works well, too.
Good luck.
The best source for mole information that I have found it www.themoleman.com. He is a professional mole trapper and has great advice.
2manyrocks
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Is there a way to print what you just said cuz I'm printing it to use it. :thumbsup:
Pilot
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MossRoad: Thanks for the excellent writeup! We have a local expert trapper around here who gave a talk saying much of what you said. I'm not sure we can find the highway tunnels in our soil as you describe--I haven't noticed any spots that would depress. I'll give it a try though. I have a screwdriver about 16" long I have used to locate tunnels, but my Out o' Sight trap (yes, only one) still didn't work.
2manyrocks: Car exhaust is now so clean it would take a huge amount to kill them. It's been a very long time since I have read about someone committing suicide with car exhaust, but several decades back it wasn't uncommon. I have also heard if you use exhaust from a dirty burning engine, such as a mower, the moles will just block the tunnel. That's why I want to try CO2--odorless and tasteless, but poisonous.
2manyrocks: Car exhaust is now so clean it would take a huge amount to kill them. It's been a very long time since I have read about someone committing suicide with car exhaust, but several decades back it wasn't uncommon. I have also heard if you use exhaust from a dirty burning engine, such as a mower, the moles will just block the tunnel. That's why I want to try CO2--odorless and tasteless, but poisonous.
Highbeam
Super Member
Pretty sure that the CO2 is not poisonous but that it displaces the oxygen to suffocate the critters. I tried pumping the system with exhaust from my diesel truck. I sat on the tailgate with a shotgun waiting for the moles to come running out but they never did. Wasted time but the neighbors learned that I was just a bit crazy.
In the NW our mole systems are a little different. The mounds are located just above the actual tunnels so you will knock over a mound, shove your hand in, and find an inlet and an outlet of the tunnel.
I set all my traps beneath the mounds and have great luck. You just have to find a mound that isn't at the dead end of a tunnel.
In the NW our mole systems are a little different. The mounds are located just above the actual tunnels so you will knock over a mound, shove your hand in, and find an inlet and an outlet of the tunnel.
I set all my traps beneath the mounds and have great luck. You just have to find a mound that isn't at the dead end of a tunnel.
Tim D
Bronze Member
I do it the exact same way as MOSSROAD using the same style of traps. I also bought some of the same style traps except you use your foot to set them and gave them to my parents who had a hard time setting the Victor's. These traps work very well to. I have also noted at my place, which is surrounded by woods that the moles always start next to the trees and work their way into the yard. At my parents, they start from underneath bushes and work ther way outward. I have been told that this is where they have their nests and wintering beds in the rootballs of trees and shrubs. Very good info from MOSSROAD and it works.
Tim D
Bronze Member
I forgot to add that when I catch a mole, I take their limp bodies and stick them in the main runway close to the woods or shrubs and cover them hoping that the smell will ward off other moles. I do know that no moles have used these runs for some time. Maybe the smell or just dumb luck.
2manyrocks
Super Member
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I can't explain it, but for some reason, I think I'd join you. There would be some satisfaction in blasting these moles.