Reply With QuoteI normally just hit them on the heat with a big mallet.
Sorry. Not sorry.
My lovely lawn is being destroyed by these little monsters.
I’ve tried to deter them, but now I think it’s the time for traps or poison
Has anyone else dealt with these little brutes?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I normally just hit them on the heat with a big mallet.
Sorry. Not sorry.
We tried traps, poison and smoking them out, none worked, ended up get a man round with a shotgun, that worked!
I get the same on my lawn, especially after wet conditions.
Getting someone in is great IF you find a reliable reasonable mole catcher. In my neck of the woods those that fit that criteria are in great demand.
There are those on the internet who want £200 for one visit and place £25 worth of traps and leave you to it.
There is a bit of a knack to placing traps but I bought 20 barrel tunnel traps and set them myself after watching some U tube vids on how to do it and usually get my man!
Was given a tip by one chap-don't mulch the lawn. He suggested that the richer the grass the richer the soil so more worms to attract the moles.
Who knows!
Used to use smoke bombs but i expect they banned them the same as they banned everything else that works as it should to be replace with expensive rubbish that doesnt work properly.
They will ruin your lawn, it's not so much the nice rich pile of dirt on the surface but the tunnels underneath, they can dig for miles in a single day/night.
Only way is to set traps, or get a reliable mole catcher in.
If you're going to do it yourself then the traps are cheap enough from various internet sites, the US version are the best as you can get them right up inside the tunnel.
You need to find out the direction of the tunnel, ( just prod around the pile of dirt and find out where it goes in easiest ), then, with a spade cut into the tunnel, if you've got it right you'll be able to feel/see the two holes of the tunnel where you've dug into it, then simply set the trap and push it slightly into one of the holes, don't forget to wear gloves all the time, saves putting any of your scent anywhere near the trap.
Then cover the hole and trap up with dirt and place the piece of turf back over the top, you don't want any light getting in, make sure you mark where your traps are if you're putting several down.
Give it a few days maybe a week then see what you've got, if nowt repeat.
if you dont mind a bit of lawn damage petrol looks good :)
Have you looked up the Jasper Carrot method?
Traps are more environmentally friendly. Poisoned moles can be picked up by pets and wildlife.
Sent from my SM-A202F using TZ-UK mobile app
Every spring we seem to go through this... As mentioned the exterminators are no longer allowed to use the products that actually work i.e. poison is an outright ban. Smoking is not allowed with within x meters of ANY building including barns/sheds/etc... or any public way: I'm not sure but it might be 30meters - not 100% sure. So the only recourse is trapping which seems to be very hit and miss. I think we pay about a hundred quid and that's for three visits and something like a dozen traps. One year the exterminator will get 2 or 3 but other years non all. My advice is buy a couple of traps and watch some you tube videos though I was tempted by those gadgets that blast air/propane down the burrow and then ignite it.... a sort of fuel-air bomb. Works very well on the videos but might make a mess of your lawn when the burrows explode ;-)Originally Posted by xellos99
Excellent :-)
Hahaha I laughed so loud at that YouTube video. Funny as.
Sent from my SM-N960F using TZ-UK mobile app
We suffered from them in both our front and back lawns and tried all sorts, including traps - which they skilfully tunnelled detours around!
In the end we found something that really worked - Chilli Powder, lots of it.
The mound you see is the end of the current tunnel where they will return to push up more earth. What you need to do is press on the ground around the most recent mound and feel for the tunnel which is usually only a few, (6-8), inches under the lawn. When you've found it, trace it back as far as you can and gently push a spade in lengthwise along the to of the tunnel and then open it gently and only enough that you can see inside the tunnel. Now, mix a lot of chilli powder with water and pour this into the slot you've made and wait until it's absorbed into the soil below and to the sides, then sprinkle two teaspoons-full of chilli powder inside the tunnel and close the top gently. Moles have very sensitive noses so you need to create as little disturbance as possible - but it's this very strength that is also their weakness! When they push the next lot of soil along the tunnel they'll get chilli all over their feet and nose and this latter will stop them using that tunnel again in a hurry - it irritates them so much. You won't have to treat too many tunnels before they give up and dig elsewhere. Worked for us. Good luck.
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
Always good to see natural selection at work.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
We had a load of mole hills appear just after moving into house at the end of last year. I found a mole catcher on https://www.mole-catcher.co.uk/ who set a load of traps and returned a week later to see what he'd caught. I'm pretty sure I paid £100 and he caught 5 or 6 moles.
It's going to be an ongoing battle as we have a fairly substantial garden but our neighbour also sets traps.
Brilliant
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Cheers I’’ ‘ ll give it a go
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk(
Last edited by wildheart; 11th August 2020 at 11:36.
I have an ongoing problem with moles as my property is very rural and borders a field. Moles cause immense damage which is extremely frustrating. I use traps, specifically THIS type (though you can get them far cheaper than this). Set several traps and wear latex gloves when setting them. An area of one of my lawns has been decimated this year though I have now caught them all - 6 in total. I believe one of the causes is watering the lawn adjacent to the field making this soil damper than that in the field attracting worms and moles.
Last edited by Skier; 11th August 2020 at 13:33.
Reminds me of a Jasper Carrot sketch!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I manage our garden as lightly as possible. Think grassy wildflower meadow which I mow only about 3-4 times a year.
Also, I don't like killing things, especially for the sake of a bit if green grass. So my strategy (so far only partially successful) is to try to move them on to the open fields at the rear of the garden or someone else's garden.
Otherwise, I just deal with the molehills. Will certainly try the Chilli powder trick above though.
I've got this mole trap thing that stabs them to death with spikes. Totally inhuman. Can't even remember where I got it. You can have it for the postage if you want.
That's a joke, right?
ktmog6uk
marchingontogether!
That’s the boy! Was too busy to search it out. Brings me back to my childhood after my father introduced me to it.
The problem with moles is you’ve got an ongoing battle. Get rid of one and there’ll be another along overground shortly to take its place. They’ll like the ground and like the food supply for them (worms). I wouldn’t bother with the vibrating spikes, of little long term value.
Almost anything you try can seem unethical but if you’re using traps you have to be very careful with them not to get any unusual scent on them.
If you get a piece of bamboo cane you can probe around the molehill and work out which way the run is going and how deep it is. Helps in digging out a square of turf to set a trap.
Once you have sorted the moles try some weed and feed, it will turn that clover back into grass over a few months..
Weirdest method of striking a match I’ve ever seen. Also loving the safety flip flops.
In all seriousness OP, my dad has had several properties with mole issues, only way he managed to solve it was to get up early and shoot them with his shotgun. You’ve got to get up early though and wait until the molehill starts to move as mr mole shifts earth around. He'd previously tried all the ‘normal’ methods of poison and traps with zero success.
My Dad had an ongoing battle with moles and tried everything: manual traps, Jeyes fluid, petrol, smoke etc etc then one day during a holiday in France he came across what can only be described as 'mole bombs'. Imagine a large banger and electric movement-sensitive trigger and goodbye moles.
They look like this:
No, it's a spring loaded trap with spikes presumably from the 'time before mum's-net ruled the world'. That was a jokey bit btw.
You can borrow moin for a foiver!
I honestly thought that you were joking to underline the casual callousness of some of the contributions to this thread. The fact that you have a trap that sounds like a cruel torture device and is 'inhumane' by your own admission is one thing but then to offer it out to be used by another member really does take a special kind of nasty. You must be completely without empathy for living things.
You don't need to be a member of 'mum's-net' to find that sort of unecessary cruelty abhorent. I'd like to think that I'm not the only member on TZ to have a problem with cruelty towards wildlife.
Absolutely
Ffs, man up you wuss. Are you a vegetarian? Personally I have a problem with the way the 'meat industry' treat living things before carving them up but that's another subject. Strange you pick on my comment particularly when you could have multi-quoted some of the other horrid nathty blow 'em up, poison 'em comments.
Wow. You yourself described the traps as 'inhumane' so, prey tell, what should I man up about? I have principles and I stand by them. And yes, I too have an issue with the way the 'meat industry' treats animals. I am a vegetarian. So is my super hot girlfriend, before you accuse me of being homosexual (based on your comments thus far I imagine you are one of those childish unsophisticated dinosaur types).
^^^^^^^^^^^
Spat my beer out. Leave the moles alone, they may improve your "lawn"
As humans and the top of the tree outside of water we see many creatures of this planet as pests, but all they are trying to do is live and get by like the rest of us, I’m no tree hugger and enjoy my meat, actually I would happily kill and butcher to eat if I had too.
Being at the top of the food chain I see it as my responsibility to live and let live in my hands or at least have no suffering involved, death by pain and cruelty should not be on any living creatures life clock..
If you really have too, make it quick and painless.
Give it a rest mate. Super hot girlfriend? Pics or it ain't true. Pits and pelts if you like. You're the dino if you think anyone is going to go down the route of gender hate abuse.
Look, let's get this clear. I have a mole trap, i've had it for 20+ years and never used it. As far as I can tell it works by the mole tunneling up and pressing against a trigger which releases some spikes and kills it. Tbh it may even be a collectors item and maybe I should send it to Madame Tussauds museum of horrific animal traps. As I said it's free to anyone who wants to pay the postage. End of.
Not keen on harming wildlife but are these spiked traps any worse than a mousetrap?
I would have thought so, at least mousetraps are virtually instant, I wouldn’t trust that multiple stabbing as described is a quick death, sounds horrible.
Cheers..
Jase
Humane muse traps are available, I've used the rocking type and they are very effective - especially with chocolate as the bait. The important thing to remember though is that you MUST release the mouse at least half a mile from your home or they WILL find their way back.
With Moles it's less easy to catch them alive, though it is possible - I've managed it twice. If you're VERY patient and the latest tunnel is close enough to the surface you may be able to see the ground 'move' as the Mole pushes his next load of debris along the tunnel. If you can then, as he returns from the mound he's just added to you push a spade across the tunnel in front of him and another immediately behind him. At this point you need to be very quick or he'll tunnel away to the side! Quickly open the lawn directly above where you've trapped him and lift him out by the scruff off the neck with a pair of gardening gloves and pop him in a bucket or similar. Now take him some distance from your house - the further the better but not too far as to stress him or he'll have a heart attack and die, (one of the ones I caught did just that!), release him and watch in amazement just how quick he digs to get back underground.
I talk of the mole as 'him' but female Moles are also available.
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
You can also get mole deterrents which are hollow aluminium tubes with some sort of battery powered noise maker inbuilt. Powered by 2 D cells and knocked into the the edge of the lawn, on the side where the moles are encroaching from. It annoys the hell out of the moles and eventually they bugger off.
They've been keeping my lawn mole free for about 16 years now, and we have mole infested fields adjacent.
Used one of them once - heard it 'trip' (in the dining room) at night. Thought I'd go down in the morning to sort it out but by that time it had gnawed it's way through the end of the trap and escaped.
Taped a penny over the hole and caught it the next night.
You have an 'inhumane' trap device that is in all probability illegal to own and use yet you are happy to pass it on for someone else to use. That's nothing short of disgusting. You really should 'man-up' and destroy the thing rather than allowing it to be used to inflict entirely unecessary pain and suffering on wild animals.
As for asking to see pics of my super hot girlfriend, that's just creepy.
Now stop being a wuss and do the right thing by destroying that torture trap device!
This thread is making a mountain out of a....
Tell you what Mr Last-Word, send me your address and I'll post it to you and you can stick it where the sun doesn't shine (down a mole hole if you like)
I'll even cover the postage. Or you can show it to your imaginary super-hot-girlfriend. Talk is cheap. If you post some nice creepy pics btw I'll send you a link to my super-super hot Mrsss web site. And that's not cheap talk.
Is anyone going to start a super hot vegetarian girlfriends thread? Get your vegan rats out?
I asked the mole man whether there was a way of deterring moles but unfortunately not. I’d much rather not kill them just to maintain a nice lawn but there’s literally millions of the things in the UK. My guy apparently uses gopher traps which are quick and painless.
Here's one of the ones I caught and released. Reminds me of that Boy Scout Song.... There's A Mole In My Bucket Dear Liza, Dear Liza.... I'll get my coat!
And here's some of the devastation he caused....
Still, not as bad as our local football pitch....
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
God knows how a mole problem turned into I have the hottest girlfriend/wife..
Sounds like some of you could challenge this guy for punching above your station award!!
Posting Permissions
