Anyone gotten rid of moles?

[ktgrok]

I think I posted about how I have totally redone my lawn. Installed a new irrigation system myself, by hand, tilled the yard, seeded bermuda, etc. I've become a lawn care nut. I wear a hat that says "live, love, mow". I love that yard like it is one of my children, and I LOVE that my kids can now play in it (before was all sand spurs and fire ants). 

I fought off the neighbors weeds that tried to take over before the bermuda was fully germinated. I pulled weeds by hand for 2-3 hours a DAY until the grass was mature enough to use an herbicide. I fought the armyworms and after communicating with professional entomologists I won. I fought off fungus and am dealing with it again now (thank you 90% humidity for days on end and daily rain). I mow it with a manual reel mower every other day. I spoon feed tiny amounts of liquid fertilizer I mix up myself using professional products. I feed it molasses and kelp and B vitamins. LOVE that grass. 

And I now have a mole. When he was just hanging out by the mulch beds I figured we could coexist. I hadn't put any pesticides there and figured he was eating grubs. But now he is tunneling all over my yard, making holes the kids trip in, and ruining my grass. I did see two mole cricket mounds that he might be feeding on, and may have grubs again, or billbugs, so I just treated for those, including the mulch beds this time. I also sprayed the mulch areas and alongside them with some dilute peppermint oil as a repellant, hoping to drive him away into the neighbor's yard (they wouldn' care...they have 90% weeds for a lawn and don't use their yard for recreation like we do). But I doubt that will work. 

Seems the only options that work, according to experts, are the traps or maybe the poison worms you can buy. Live traps are a no-no because just setting them loose somewhere means they will probably die? Something about no tunnels to go into, fights with other moles, etc. And they almost never work anyway. Actual traps are pretty successful, but man...then I have to deal with a dead mole. And my youngest son wouldn't eat even eat  chicken eggs because he was worried about them never getting to hatch and have a chance at life, and when I explained they are not fertilized he still cried, because they never had a chance at life. He once smacked a mosquito and then cried. If I use a trap I'd have to be sneaky, obviously. And then have a dead mole in my trash, ugh. Not ruling it out but yuck. 

Other option is the poisoned worm bait. Supposedly even if a cat or dog found the dead, poisoned mole it wouldn't be enough poison to hurt them. (not the same poison it used to be). And most die in the tunnels, and just decay. I do worry I'd have a stinky dead mole under my yard, but I guess you bury dead animals anyway so no different? Sometimes they do come up though, so that would be gross. And then I have to worry my kid is going to see a dying mole stagger up out of the ground?

Thoughts?

I also considered putting cat and dog hair out in the yard and in the tunnels, since dogs and cats will kill moles....maybe that would scare it away into the neighbor's yard, lol. 

[Kassia]

We have a cat that takes care of the moles.  They destroyed our yard before we got the cat. 

Now we have problems with skunks tearing up the yard.  

[ttt]

We were fighting 13 stripe ground squirrels.  Used kitty litter down the holes had the most success.

 

[StephanieZ]

We have moles all the heck over the place on our home (2 acres) and commercial property (5 acres). We've been "dealing with them" for over a decade, lol.

If you've got a small-ish yard (which you MUST, lol, given the way you're caring for it!), then they're actually really easy to get rid of. There's kid & pet safe castor oil based mole repellant that you just spread out with a spreader and it repels them. My husband does it, and just follows the bag instructions. Doesn't kill them or injure them, but sends them to your neighbors!! We use it on the close-in parts of both the yard at work and our house yard. We just "push them" out into the woods and fields, lol. 

It's easy. It's safe. Go get it! 

[Pawz4me]

DH has most recently been using this to "herd" moles away from the house. In the past he's also used nematodes to get rid of the grubs that attract the moles. It's a fairly constant battle. Some years are worse than others.

[ktgrok]

I'm happy to hear the repellents might actually work! 

Tonight I put down some cat and dog hair, lol. 

[ktgrok]

well, he's still there, despite bait and repellant. Just ordered a trap. At this point, I have zero qualms about doing it. He's destroying my grass and it is like walking on a bouncy house floor to walk across my yard! Someone is going to break an ankle! 

The entire reason I put all these hours of work (hundreds of hours) in the hot florida sun was so my kids could enjoy the yard and play there. They can't do that when they are tripping on hills and falling in tunnels! 

I tried to be nice. I tried letting him just live in the mulch beds. I tried starving him out by killing the grubs/mole crickets. I tried repellant. Dude should have taken the hint. 

[StephanieZ]

FWIW, it takes some days/weeks for repellant to take effect, IME. It's definitely not an overnight process. 

[ktgrok]

16 minutes ago, StephanieZ said:

FWIW, it takes some days/weeks for repellant to take effect, IME. It's definitely not an overnight process. 

By that point how do you know it was the repellant and not just the mole dying of old age, lol. 

I did a section of the yard, heavily, and then it rained hard and watered it in, but he is still digging in those areas. We shall see, he's got time until the trap comes to show me he's willing to move along. 

[Pen]

Do you know for sure it’s a mole?  (Not gopher, vole etc?) 

[ktgrok]

11 minutes ago, Pen said:

Do you know for sure it’s a mole?  (Not gopher, vole etc?) 

Tunnels are too big for a vole, and I don't think we have gophers here. 

[Pen]

1 hour ago, Ktgrok said:

Tunnels are too big for a vole, and I don't think we have gophers here. 

 

In our environment I have been successful at repelling moles from areas where I don’t want them with coffee grounds.  

Just the leftovers from our own coffee was not enough so I bought cheap coffee just to deter moles.  Someone who told me about this got lots and lots of grounds from going around to coffee places and asking for their used grounds.  

Caveat here is that our moles had plenty of room to move off to. There was just a relatively small area of garden and blueberries where I didn’t want them.

  If everyone in a neighborhood is trying to repel moles they may have nowhere to go.  

Edited August 21, 2019 by Pen

[moonflower]

I have avoided clicking on this thread all day because I have a mole but have not had it removed, nor do I plan to, and I didn't really want to read about how unsightly everyone thinks they are.

then I read it just now and thought, oh, haha, it could also be read as mole the animal and katie is huge into yardwork!  I'll go into the thread and make a joke about moles the animal to lighten the mood about the unsightly blemish situation.

oh well, joke's on me 🙂

for the record, I have not removed either type of mole.

[ktgrok]

Oops! Yes, mole the animal, and yes, what he does is unsightly, but also becoming a hazard. 

 

[Katy]

Yes, but I'm rather worthless on the topic.  My FIL has a couple of traps that he puts over the tracks. I had nothing to do with setting them up or monitoring them.  When triggered the mole is killed underground, where it rots and you can't even smell it.  I didn't listen much beyond "it can't hurt the kids" otherwise.

[1GirlTwinBoys]

We have 3 acres in the country and they have destroyed our property and mulch beds.  Even having a big German Shepherd doesn't keep them away.  I just shake my head when I look out at the mess they've made. We tried the bombs and that didn't work. We also tried the metal traps with no luck.

Edited August 21, 2019 by 1GirlTwinBoys

[DawnM]

Several years ago (18 I guess), we were visiting my husband's grandmother.  I couldn't find her and was searching all over.  I finally found her, in the garage, peeing in a mason jar!

I quickly left. I was like, "um, not to worry!"

Then said said, "I have moles.  I have been telling my grandsons to go pee in the holes and they won't do it, so I have to do it myself!~"

😂😂🤣🤣🤣

So, you could try that.

[Pam in CT]

"dealing" with moles for *decades*, here

On August 16, 2019 at 7:47 PM, StephanieZ said:

We have moles all the heck over the place on our home (2 acres) and commercial property (5 acres). We've been "dealing with them" for over a decade, lol.

If you've got a small-ish yard (which you MUST, lol, given the way you're caring for it!), then they're actually really easy to get rid of. There's kid & pet safe castor oil based mole repellant that you just spread out with a spreader and it repels them. My husband does it, and just follows the bag instructions. Doesn't kill them or injure them, but sends them to your neighbors!! We use it on the close-in parts of both the yard at work and our house yard. We just "push them" out into the woods and fields, lol. 

It's easy. It's safe. Go get it! 

This. In our experience, there's no such thing as permanently getting rid of moles.  Even if you're willing to use non-safe dangerous-to-pets products.  Which around my rosebeds, whose roots the moles love, I am.

With relentless diligence you can encourage them *away* from particular, finite areas... and over to other areas, or over to becoming the neighbors' problem.  For a small lawn, I'd try the castor oil (they love rose roots too much for it to be effective there; we have to use the toxic underground smoke bomb things you put into the tunnels. And even that is only good for a couple of months; they come back.)

[ktgrok]

yeah, plan is to long term use castor oil stuff to discourage new ones but it isn't so far enough to stir this one from his haunts. 

[cintinative]

We live in the midwest, so clay/silty soils not sand, which might make a difference.  We use the mole guillotine traps  (spring loaded traps) and when desperate my husband uses this gas stuff in the runs. It basically kills them in the runs. It's called gopher gas. The poisons, etc. have not worked for us.  Also, there is the lie in wait and stomp on the mole as he goes close to the surface method. Somewhat imprecise but satisfying. LOL.

My dog likes digging for moles. The problem is, he is horribly imprecise. So there are more holes than when you started. 

 

Edited August 21, 2019 by cintinative

[ktgrok]

Update: have placed the trap for the last few days, off and on, and not caught him. But....have not seen any new tunnels since yesterday afternoon - maybe he died, maybe he left, maybe he is in the witness protection mole program, i don't know. Crossing my fingers this is over and I can just put down the repellant and keep new ones out. And grow back all the grass he uprooted with his stupid tunnels. 

[RootAnn]

@moonflower I've nowclicked on this thread *twice* thinking it was for moles-on-skin.

Not too bright <- me.

@Ktgrok Hope *all* the things you have been doing sent him packing. Don't get rid of the trap, though. You'll likely need it in a few months again.

We mostly have voles around here... 

[ktgrok]

He's still there. He has avoided the trap, avoided the poison "worms", been unphased by three applications of mole repellent, found food despite me killing off the grubs (we have cicadas so that plus earthworms probably), doesn't care that I squash his tunnels, etc etc. 

In desperation I have those sonic/vibration things coming today although most people say they don't work. I'm almost to the point of adopting a terrier just to handle mole duty. Kidding. Mostly.

I'm SO annoyed. It's an area not much bigger than 2K square feet, so one mole can pretty much destroy it, and he's doing his best to do so. I was mowing today and nearly twisted my ankle half a dozen times. 

 

[Katy]

1 hour ago, Ktgrok said:

He's still there. He has avoided the trap, avoided the poison "worms", been unphased by three applications of mole repellent, found food despite me killing off the grubs (we have cicadas so that plus earthworms probably), doesn't care that I squash his tunnels, etc etc. 

In desperation I have those sonic/vibration things coming today although most people say they don't work. I'm almost to the point of adopting a terrier just to handle mole duty. Kidding. Mostly.

I'm SO annoyed. It's an area not much bigger than 2K square feet, so one mole can pretty much destroy it, and he's doing his best to do so. I was mowing today and nearly twisted my ankle half a dozen times. 

 

 

Is there are terrier you could borrow?  If we lived closer I'd loan you mine.

[ktgrok]

1 minute ago, Katy said:

 

Is there are terrier you could borrow?  If we lived closer I'd loan you mine.

I don't think I know anyone with a terrier. I keep thinking about the one we had when I was in high school. Small but mighty she was about 20-25 pounds but killed everything that made it into our yard - snakes, lizards, squirrels, and even a full grown opossum that was at least as big as her. We had to start locking her in the house after that, as our area had rabid raccoons and we were afraid she'd take one on!

[Tree Frog]

On 8/21/2019 at 1:35 PM, cintinative said:

We live in the midwest, so clay/silty soils not sand, which might make a difference.  We use the mole guillotine traps  (spring loaded traps) and when desperate my husband uses this gas stuff in the runs. It basically kills them in the runs. It's called gopher gas. The poisons, etc. have not worked for us.  Also, there is the lie in wait and stomp on the mole as he goes close to the surface method. Somewhat imprecise but satisfying. LOL.

My dog likes digging for moles. The problem is, he is horribly imprecise. So there are more holes than when you started. 

 

Whack a mole! :)

[cintinative]

7 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

In desperation I have those sonic/vibration things coming today although most people say they don't work. I'm almost to the point of adopting a terrier just to handle mole duty. Kidding. Mostly.

 

Our experience was that the sonic thing worked for awhile but only with small moles. The larger ones didn't seem phased.  Really the combo of gopher gas and mole traps is the only thing that has worked. (Other than coming on him as a lucky chance close to the surface and killing it with a stomp).  My dog did manage to get one this year.  

[Pam in CT]

9 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

He's still there. He has avoided the trap, avoided the poison "worms", been unphased by three applications of mole repellent, found food despite me killing off the grubs (we have cicadas so that plus earthworms probably), doesn't care that I squash his tunnels, etc etc. 

In desperation I have those sonic/vibration things coming today although most people say they don't work. I'm almost to the point of adopting a terrier just to handle mole duty. Kidding. Mostly.

I'm SO annoyed. It's an area not much bigger than 2K square feet, so one mole can pretty much destroy it, and he's doing his best to do so. I was mowing today and nearly twisted my ankle half a dozen times. 

 

 

 

[stibalfamily]

We have had mole problems for some time, we tried a sonic beeping stakes and dried blood, neither worked. DH set traps on some of the runs and it was pretty gruesome. They are supposed to be quick kill but the trap disemboweled the poor thing. It was still alive and suffering when we found it one morning. Dh took a large rock and put it out of its misery. We have more, but no more holes in our grass. When we get holes in the grass we may set them again.

[Liz CA]

Our aunt used dried potato flakes (evidently available in a box in the grocery store, I have never paid attention and don't know) but she said she poured some dry flakes into the hole. The critter eats the flakes and drinks water and then gets a bad tummy ache.....she had a beautiful lawn.

[Angie in VA]

Thank you, Pam in CT. I was about to post "Anyone else picturing Caddy Shack right now?" 😂

We have used those solar powered noise makers and had success with them. Only thing is, they last about a season. We added a few new ones this summer and Dh saw a ton of tracks out in the woods. Apparently, they hate noise. 

I will look for the castor oil based repellant, but I welcome all links!

In the interest of full disclosure: I have a mole on my face and haven't ever entertained the idea of removing it. I'm ugly w/ or w/o out, so I leave it. 

[ktgrok]

6 hours ago, Liz CA said:

Our aunt used dried potato flakes (evidently available in a box in the grocery store, I have never paid attention and don't know) but she said she poured some dry flakes into the hole. The critter eats the flakes and drinks water and then gets a bad tummy ache.....she had a beautiful lawn.

maybe would work for gophers or voles, but moles are carnivorous - they won't eat potato flakes (or chewing gum or gummy bears or other ideas I've seen)

[ktgrok]

7 hours ago, stibalfamily said:

We have had mole problems for some time, we tried a sonic beeping stakes and dried blood, neither worked. DH set traps on some of the runs and it was pretty gruesome. They are supposed to be quick kill but the trap disemboweled the poor thing. It was still alive and suffering when we found it one morning. Dh took a large rock and put it out of its misery. We have more, but no more holes in our grass. When we get holes in the grass we may set them again.

yikes! Do you know what kind of trap it was? We have the scissor kind...it has two places where it snaps down on them with extreme force - like it would absolutely break your hand if it was in there. I know there are also spear type ones and some other kind. 

[ktgrok]

So the trap wasn't set properly last night I think, not deep enough so he didn't press on the level and went right through it and happily dug up more yard. 

I now have buried the spike things that make the noise/vibration (that wasn't as easy to do as I thought it would be in this heat!), reset the trap on one of the tunnels, and also put down two of the gas/stink bombs in the tunnels in the mulch area where I think he has his headquarters. I have zero belief the gas will kill him - they can wall off the tunnels to keep the gas away - but am hoping it smells badly enough down there that between that and the sonic spikes he decides my yard is not hospitable. 

The neighbors have longer grass/weeds and don't play or hang out in their yard, they only go in the yard to mow it now and then so they wouldn't even NOTICE a mole. Go there moleface, go there!

[Matryoshka]

Just now, Seasider too said:

LOL I also keep scrolling past the thread title thinking you just need a good dermatologist.😂

LOL, I'm glad I'm not the only one! 🤣

[stibalfamily]

16 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

yikes! Do you know what kind of trap it was? We have the scissor kind...it has two places where it snaps down on them with extreme force - like it would absolutely break your hand if it was in there. I know there are also spear type ones and some other kind. 

It was the victor out o sight mole trap

[ktgrok]

And the mole is no longer an issue.

Rest assured he went quickly, while doing what he loves most - wrecking up my lawn. 

[Angie in VA]

On 8/20/2019 at 9:11 PM, Katy said:

Yes, but I'm rather worthless on the topic.  My FIL has a couple of traps that he puts over the tracks. I had nothing to do with setting them up or monitoring them.  When triggered the mole is killed underground, where it rots and you can't even smell it.  I didn't listen much beyond "it can't hurt the kids" otherwise.

 

On 8/28/2019 at 12:53 PM, Ktgrok said:

And the mole is no longer an issue.

Rest assured he went quickly, while doing what he loves most - wrecking up my lawn. 

 

Any info you ladies could provide on traps that work is needed and would be appreciated. Our solar thingies work so-so but we need to take it up a notch. 

[ktgrok]

This is the one I used. https://www.amazon.com/Wire-Tek-1001-EasySet-Eliminator/dp/B000SDKGC6