Need to kill a mole

Scott Johnson · **Posted:** Wed Jan 05, 2005 6:28 pm

I'm getting soft spots in my yard, which I attribute to burrowing creatures. It apears to be making longer tunnels now, and I'd like to end this sooner than later.

I know gasoline might work, but prefer some more environmentally friendly tactics.

Scott

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

Watch Caddyshack. Do as Murray does. It's in the hole.

Chris Landi · **Joined:** Mon Mar 08, 2004 6:31 pm **Posts:** 579

Good luck.

Try going after their food source...most likely grubs. I treated my whole yard by dropping Milky Spore powder on a grid..not sure if it was 3x3' or 4x4'. The cannister will have directions. Anyway, after trying many things the milky spore did the trick but it took two years. You can try diazinon or something stronger but use caution if kids play in your yard.

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:20 pm

Scott,

Funny you should ask . . . two days after I became a successful mole hunter.

First: Read this http://www.entm.purdue.edu/Entomology/e ... ADM-10.pdf

Second: Go to Ace Hardware and buy a Victor mole trap for about $17. It looks like the one in the link article.

Third: Follow the instructions in the article above.

Fourth: Repeat efforts until you kill the mole(s).

From my experience one 5 inch long mole can dig LOTS of surface tunnels. If you have woods nearby there is a good chance the mole's nest is in the woods and it goes to nearby grass areas to feed. I set the trap at a tunnel leading from woods to a big area of lawn.

FYI: Davey Lawn care will do a grub killing pesticide as part of the Mar/Feb fertilizer, etc. treatment for a relatively low price. I suspect that other lawn services will do the same. I believe Milky Spore is expensive. However, moles eat earthworms and other stuff besides grubs. Some of the grubs are, however, Japanese Beatles which we don't want anyway.

Happy hunting.

Arthur McDonald · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 1:54 am **Posts:** 2052

Oh, I thought you had found an informant in our organization...

I don't know why you want to hurt that little critter. After all, he works dirt cheap!

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Thu Jan 06, 2005 6:58 pm

Is it a mole or a vole? Voles you can kill, moles you can't, protected by state law, but in the eyes of lawn owner, they're all voles. I tried the kill trap and couldn't get the damn thing to stay loaded and in the ground. I tried a more goofy approch.

I did the "crush a mole tunnel dance" one afternoon. After I cooled down, I sat on my deck with my trusty trench shovel and took up my Elmer Fud position and waited on that wascally weesel. I had an idea of where he/she was and just waited.

Sure enough, I saw the dirt start to dance as they came back up to tunnel. Step by step, inch by inch I crept closer to the rising dirt and whamo!!

No more vole....

Kevin Hassell · **Joined:** Wed Sep 08, 2004 8:50 pm **Posts:** 174

if you are a sadist... sounds like its time to till the yard

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Thu Jan 06, 2005 9:24 pm

RodneyWright wrote:

Is it a mole or a vole? Voles you can kill, moles you can't, protected by state law, but in the eyes of lawn owner, they're all voles.

Correction to my claim of "mole" hunting success. What I really did was eliminate a "record size" vole. :roll:

Sorry for the bad info . . . :wink:

RobLupella · **Posted:** Thu Jan 06, 2005 9:37 pm

RodneyWright wrote:

Is it a mole or a vole? Voles you can kill, moles you can't, protected by state law, but in the eyes of lawn owner, they're all voles. I tried the kill trap and couldn't get the damn thing to stay loaded and in the ground. I tried a more goofy approch.

Mole, Vole, whatever....VARMIT!!!!!!!! :wink:

If you get rid of the grubs, you should get rid of the MVoles. My wife won't let me kill anything, I have a hard time swatting flies, wasps and moths. If she saw that guillotine in the yard, the only one who would be dead would be me. I'm lucky I don't have to feed the damn things so they don't starve. :lol:

Marvin McBride · **Posted:** Fri Jan 07, 2005 12:52 pm

Moles are carnivores - they eat grubs. Voles are vegetarians - they eat tender young roots.

Decreasing the number of grubs (with chemical insecticides or more environmentally friendly nematodes) can help encourage moles to munch somewhere else. Didn't know they were protected - is that state or federal law/regulation?

The only way to get rid of voles is to try to kill every last one of the individuals in the colony, which is often frustratingly similar to Bill Murray's experience, or to get rid of all the roots - i.e. pave your yard and roll out Astroturf.

Marvin McBride · **Posted:** Fri Jan 07, 2005 12:56 pm

OK, more than you ever wanted to know:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/mecklenburg/dep ... moles.html

Marvin McBride · **Posted:** Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:06 pm

And more (with some redundancy) - but it does explain how/why moles are protected: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/gaston/Pests/vo ... #describe2

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

Marvin McBride wrote:

OK, more than you ever wanted to know:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/mecklenburg/dep ... moles.html

MOLE CONTROL THAT DOESN'T WORK

* The following methods have NOT been found to be effective either:

gummy bears (candy put in the holes)

sonar or noise or high- pitched frequency devices

Now I had heard about using those sonic pulse devices but it appears that those aren't a solution.

Gummy bears? Ok someone either got a little too high one night or we spent lots of tax payer money on a study of this... :roll:

RobLupella · **Posted:** Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:28 pm

Marvin McBride wrote:

... or to get rid of all the roots - i.e. pave your yard and roll out Astroturf.

Heck with the Astroturf. Pave the yard, put in lift and parking for more cars. The leaking fluids should kill any Varmits that venture across the cement :wink:

If the yard is big enough, an 1/8th mile test track :woo:

Marvin McBride · **Posted:** Fri Jan 07, 2005 4:30 pm

re: leaking fluids

I didn't realize Scott had switched over to British cars.javascript:emoticon(':lol:')
Laughing

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