"There's only one way to get rid of a mole. Blow it's bloody head off!" Jasper Carrott (Unrecorded Carrott 1979)
We have a large garden (approx 2 acres plus a 3 acre paddock) and for the most part we leave the wildlife alone and even encourage it by letting most of the grass grow long. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
However in a small portion of the garden we cut the grass for a lawn and almost inevitably it seems we have moles.
Various remedies have been suggested and tried falling into various categories:
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Vibrations and noise |
Toy windmills, half buried milk bottles, singing Christmas cards, purpose built vibrators and even transistor radios (some people even suggest which station to use) are all supposed to scare little moley away. None that I've tried have shown any sign of success. Half buried solutions are unsightly and a pain to mow around, and all the electronic solutions need expensive batteries. |
| Spiky things | Poking holly down the hole to prick his little nose does seem to work. Unfortunately it seems to set up an exclusion zone all of three inches in diameter. |
| Smelly things | Moth balls, peppermints, pepper and even urine have been suggested as odorous mole repellents. I've had no significant luck with those that I've tried. |
| Cats | Well I think ours was too lazy to go digging for moles and besides he found it easier to go for the rabbits. |
| Mole smokes |
Poison gas, the gardeners friend. Stick a few smokes down the hole and kill moley in his runs. These work well and clear the network for a few weeks until a new mole takes up residence in the tunnels. Repeat applications start to work out expensive and I was always a little concerned as to how quick the end actually was, in a large network of tunnels the gas could end up quite dilute. Problem solved. Bloody bureaucrats have forced the last manufacturer out of business. Guess in places where I can't use traps I'll have to make my own. See other hobbies :-) |
| Traps | Quick, cheap and reusable. These and smokes are the only things I've found to be effective and unlike smokes I know these are quick. See below for how to use them. |
Some people have suggested "humane traps" but I fail to see how these are humane. Having trapped your live mole assuming he hasn't starved, drowned or simply stressed himself to death since you last checked the trap, what do you do with him ? You can't keep him as a pet. You can't release them on public or common land and I don't know of a private land owner who'd want to increase his stock of moles.
If you don't want to kill them you'd better resign yourselves to having a lawn that looks like the Somme.
I use scissor traps but I guess most sprung traps are similar in operation. Big spring held by a small trigger. If you're unsure how to set them the ask in the store where you brought them. I brought mine in SCATS.
Moles are apparently very sensitive to smell. Some people recommend you bury new traps in the ground for a few weeks. I bury them in mole hills. However you should handle the traps as little as possible so they don't pick up a human odor. I always use my oldest muddiest garden gloves when setting traps.
If you have trouble with this step you don't have moles.
Look for a "fresh" hill, there's little point setting traps in areas where there's no activity. If you can't spot fresh ones, scatter the earth and wait for new ones to appear. Another good sign on a dry day is fresh damp soil recently pushed up.
Use a pointed stick to probe for and locate the run. The run rarely seems to run directly under the hill but is slightly off to one side. Feel for a sudden give when the probe passes through the space in the tunnel.
Once you've found the tunnel probe around the spot to work out the direction it is running in.
Carefully dig down to the run and confirm it's orientation.
Set the trap and place it in the tunnel so that the mole must run through it. Don't worry if the trigger seems stiff, moley is used to pushing a lot of earth around and is quite strong.
Pack a little long grass around and over the trap to protect it whilst allowing it to move. Then place the sods and earth you dug out back over the grass to seal out any light. Leave the handles of the trap exposed so that you can see when it has sprung.
Mark the trap location with a big white stick or similar. It's amazing how tricky they can be to find after a few days if you don't.
Set several traps in an area of activity, spaced 8-10 foot apart. Moley may miss one but he can't avoid them all.
Walk around and check for sprung traps. Don't be upset by false alarms, reset the trap and try to work out what went wrong.
When you catch your first mole. Display proudly before disposing of on the compost heap.
This is where those white poles are most important. A lost mole trap still in the ground will make a right royal mess of your lawn mower.
Count the traps out, and count them back in.