Moles! How to end their vicious ways!

Hello,

I am very new to this site. I'm Jeremy in Baton Rouge and invite you to read my introductory post.

I have a terrible mole problem. I've followed a live and let live approach for years, but now that I am getting into gardening, and have seen the destruction they have caused, want them gone in the worst way. Shot of hiring Bill Murray, how is this best done? Please know I am not squeamish and would accept driving them away or just killing them off. Whatever is the most effective. I am betting a combination of the two is the most effective and would very much appreciate y'alls help.
There are hundreds of products out there and there wouldn't be if one or two worked well, would there? Please advise me on the things that having worked for you!


Thanks,
Jeremy

 

I have been battling VOLES here, which are very destructive as well. I worry about putting out poison because of the birds and my pets, but I have had some success with snap traps beside their holes covered by a dark container. You have to empty and re-set the traps frequently, but it seems to keep them under control. I also have a small pond near my porch that I often find drowned voles in. Maybe sinking a deep container full of water into the ground will catch some? If it is MOLES you have, I don't know how well those ideas will work, but I have also heard that putting a cheap spinning garden ornament beside the holes will drive them away - the vibration of the spinning is annoying and they will just move on. Good luck!

 

Moles are meat eaters(worms, grubs). Voles are plant eaters (bulbs, roots etc.) The moles make the tunnels and the voles use them. Last year I had some success with

5 or 6 castor bean seeds ground up ( I have a old blender that I use)
1 TBS cayenne pepper
1/4 cup castor oil
2 TBS. Dawn dish soap
6 TBS. water
ADD
2 TBS. mixture in one gallon water
Use watering can and apply to moist soil on tunnels and surface.

It's and on going thing, every couple of days, but seemed to help a lot. Also I plant castor bean plants around my gardens. I also have two cats and a pistol

 

Donna S - I love the pistol idea! But you still have to catch them.
After having moles tunnel under our winterized pool last winter, my husband went on a mole hunt. He started out by tamping down all the mole tunnels by walking/ stomping across them. Then, after a couple hours, he looked for fresh digging. NOTE: you have to step lightly/softly to where you see fresh tunnels being dug.
When he would find the direction the mole was digging, he would shove a shovel into the ground, trapping the mole in a small area. Then, with a dandelion digger, he would use the “crazed killer” method, repeatedly stabbing the ground down to stab the mole.
He was relentless! And managed to kill 5 or 6 moles by doing this in one morning.
Now, anytime we see a mole tunnel, he does the “rinse & repeat” method.
P. S. We’ve tried all the commercial products ... nothing seemed to work. But the “crazed killer” method works wonders!!

 

We use mole traps. Found that all the methods suggested on the Interweb thingy are utterly useless. Neighbours cat is a good moler too! 14 so far this year.

 

Mousetraps with peanut butter on them have worked the best for me. Right at the entrance to the tunnel. Cover it with a bucket and check it daily of not several times a day.

 

Hi all,

I have voles, not moles & never have seen the entrance to their holes. ?? We have a pool, and after every rain we find one or two drowned in the pool. I have been considering placing sticky traps near the plants that they seem to like. Only thing is, I worry that might be a slow death. Maybe a trap is better?

 

You could have shrews, too. shrews smell something awful. they aren't rodents as they don't need their teeth to be worn down like rodents do... they are mammals but they are as destructive as voles and moles. Moles are the largest and shrews are fairly little. grey, pointy faced, and scent gland in its scrotum area. they are solitary animals but I killed about 6 of them in the same area this Spring in my high tunnel. I haven't had the problem this year that I have had in the past with the tunneling destruction of the root zone eventually killing the plants. they also are carnivores and insectivores. not eating your plants or fruits. just doing a fine job of ruining them.

 

A nice little hyperactive terrier works wonders !

 

I am the pest controller for our section of the gardening complex. I always use metal traps because I find them humane and certain.

 

hip hip hooray! another one gone.

 

...

 

I agree there mart I had two jack russells and they was hunters ...no messing about

 

Jeremy welcome to GS and nice to have you with us...I do feel sorry for you and members who suffer with them, as I can only go by what our canals look like ...they make garden and lands look a mess with how they spread

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The mole is our garden just pushes soil through the traps, setting them off without getting caught.