Moles.

[Col4570]

Does anyone suffer from Moles.that is the Rodent in the Garden type.a group have invaded my garden and resisted my efforts to dissuade them.I am reluctant to kill these little velvet creatures since I can,t eat them.Any ideas?
The piles of soil in the foreground appear each morning,in fact I can stand with my morning coffee and watch the piles get bigger.http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s452/livebattery/001-38.jpg (http://s1052.photobucket.com/user/livebattery/media/001-38.jpg.html)

[DLCTEX]

To me that is like being reluctant to kill rats. Use a flex hose to run the exhaust from your lawnmower/vehicle into their burrows, may take a little digging to open it, to eliminate them. There are smoke bombs that will do the same effect. The exaust will not only eliminate the current occupant, but future boarders will avoid the run.

[jakec]

when you see them piling up dirt grab a shovel and dig them up. i dont like killing them either theyre just cool looking. at my house i let them go but at my grandmas they gotta die.

[bnelson06]

You can feel better about dispatching your mole. I've got a great mole population here that will keep them on the planet for quite some time.

[Blacksmith]

Try one of these tools:

http://www.rodenator.com/

http://www.varmitgetter.com/

http://www.rodentblaster.com/

[dagger dog]

Get 450# roller and roll the hills and tunnels down. They are after the grubs (larvae) in the dirt of your lawn. Spectracide in powder form will kill off their food source and they will leave, or you can let them alone and they will move on eventually.

[chuckbuster]

google "Milky Spore". It might look expensive until you realize once established in your lawn no further treatment needed for several years.

[Col4570]

To me that is like being reluctant to kill rats. Use a flex hose to run the exhaust from your lawnmower/vehicle into their burrows, may take a little digging to open it, to eliminate them. There are smoke bombs that will do the same effect. The exaust will not only eliminate the current occupant, but future boarders will avoid the run.
Yes when I got Rats from the Farmland at the back of my House I shot them with a little 9mm Bolt Action Shotgun by putting some food down and waiting about ten paces away behind the Shed.I haven't seen any since.A 12 Gauge would upset the neighbours and alert the local constabulary

[novalty]

Also another recommendation for milky spore, and as mentioned it is very expensive, but does help remove your underground inhabitants. If you do go this root be sure to wear a decent dust mask.

[Col4570]

Thanks Guys,I was,nt sure you had those little buggershttp://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s452/livebattery/003.jpg (http://s1052.photobucket.com/user/livebattery/media/003.jpg.html)rs over there.
Do you think these might be slightly overkill.

[cbrick]

I used Spectracide to kill grubs & they left. Odd though, seems the neighbor is having quite a problem with them now. :mrgreen:

Rick

[starnbar]

I have had problems with em too but since I got the Bella hound dog she can sniff em out in a new york minute I just need to fill in the holes she leaves.

[Pb2au]

Tannerite.
Problem solved.

[Zymurgy50]

Calcium Carbide chips, the stuff that was used in miners headlamps. dump a half cup into the hole, follow with a pint of water. Just dont flip a lit cigarette butt into the grass for a while (ask me if you really want to know why).

[Silfield]

A fresh dog turd placed in the newly dug mole run got rid of the ones I had but I got some strange looks from the neighbours when they saw me following the dog around the garden for hours with a shovel!;)
We now have a new dog that is part terrier and she just loves mole hills, so much so that all the moles have now taken up residence next door.

[dsbock]

The only reason you have mole is that you have grubs. If you get rid of the grubs the moles will move on. Lots of non-toxic ways to get rid of grubs. Killing the moles will only allow the grub population to increase.

David

[.5mv^2]

We have a few of our dogs that go after them, Part of our yard looks like the moon, craters dug everywhere.

[mikeym1a]

Reading about your subterranean dwellers reminded me of a camping trip long ago. Our Civil Air Patrol cadet leader took us to his uncle's farm. We did the usual camping stuff, and land navigation, plus did some chores around the farm. They had groundhogs. Uncle was blind, Aunt was arthritic. Their way of trying to get rid of the whistlepigs was for him to hold the gun, she would look down the sights, and tell him when to pull the trigger. They had about a 30% success rate, but were being overun with the pigs. Col. Jake used us as spotters. He threw a gas bomb in one hole, and when we saw the smoke coming out anywhere, we were to plug it with dirt. Our way was more efficient, but, That was quite a team effort those old folks had going there. Col. Jake was a neat guy. Learned a lot from him.

[freebullet]

Lol dang that's a heck of a pile for a mole.

Get a black lab, mine digs them up and plays fetch by himself with them. I trade him a treat for the mole. I just run over the little tunnels with the tire of my yard tractor.

[Larry Gibson]

I used Spectracide to kill grubs & they left. Odd though, seems the neighbor is having quite a problem with them now. :mrgreen:

Rick

Rick nailed it. You don't have a mole problem, you have a grub problem. Kill the grubs and the moles will leave. That is if you have moles and not gophers. From the size of the dirt pile I would suspect gophers. Which do you have?

Larry Gibson

[oneokie]

Looks like pocket gopher activity to me.

[rockrat]

Grandad alway waited till he saw activity at the mound, then would take a shovel and hit down hard where the dirt was moving, then dig up the stunned/dead mole/gopher. When he got too old to do that, he used the gopher traps.

[Col4570]

apparently they are after earthworms of which there is an abundance in my garden.If you look at my Photo you can see that the mounds are in a straight line.When I clear all this away you can bet your boots that a similar line will be there tomorrow.They are tough little buggers and can even get through Clay.We do,nt have gophers here.The Carbide trick could cause me broken windows.I recall as a kid (many moons ago)Putting 1/2" of water in screw topped lemonade Bottles followed by a cube of carbide,we had to be quick to throw it before the explosion which usually ignited when it hit the air.

[Charley]

Moles feed primarily on earthworms, NOT beetle larvae (grubs). Talpirid is a decent mole bait, usually kills in a single feeding. There are also mole traps available that can be placed in the tunnels. If you are looking at beneficial creatures, Id much rather have earthworms than moles!

[ph4570]

As stated above -- Looks more like the work of gophers to me.

[popper]

At least they don't have armadillos there.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I also think you have gophers and mot moles. You can see a mole tunnel because they push the ground up as they dig. Gophers do not do this. All you see of the gopher tunnel is the mound of dirt where they surface. The best advice you have been given is auto exhaust. All the things I put in gopher tunnels, they simply pushed out. I even tried very expensive chlorine tablets and they pushed them out also. Like all rodents, gophers multiply rapidly so get on top of it, like right now. You can buy an adapter for your exhaust pipe at a garden supply. Get it today.

[osteodoc08]

I dont know if I hate moles more, or the holes my dogs dig trying to get to them (and when they do, leaving them on my back porch)

[Tenebris vi]

Dangit! I clicked on the link thinking I might find a reason to stop seeing my dermatologist!

:veryconfu

[Hardcast416taylor]

It was explained to me once that if we are having a wet year the grubs will be nearer the surface and the mole problem will occur. With a drier year the grubs will be deeper underground and the mole problem will be lessened. In the old days we could buy "poison peanuts" peanuts with a red powder poison on them that we dropped down the mole hill holes. A good dog will take care of moles usually. My neighbor, that has a septic cleaning business, has a way to get rid of ground hogs with his septic truck. He fills the large tank with water and patrols his farm looking for dens. He inserts a 3 1/2" hose into the den and turns on the truck pump discharge motor. He usually blows any chucks out of their den by water pressure and he`s there waiting with his 12 gauge. My sister tried this method by using her garden hose down a mole hole on her lawn. She claimed they din`t have any mole problems the rest of that Summer.Robert

[William Yanda]

"My neighbor, that has a septic cleaning business, has a way to get rid of ground hogs with his septic truck. He fills the large tank with water and patrols his farm looking for dens."
Reminds me of an account I heard from a client many moons ago. Seems his neighbors sons and their cousin were doing something similar with liquid manure from the dairy farm, ambushed the vacating critters with a shovel. Boy were they surprised when one of those two toned kitties with fluid drive exited. They didn't even dare drive the tractor home.
Makes me laugh to think about it.

[.5mv^2]

When we last had them, my wife thought they were cute, even feeding them. After a month she was seeing the bulbs disappearing from her flower bed. The cute stopped and she went to war with them. She started with her moms old 410, a 22 and 17hmr. It was freaking funny to see her hunt them.

The funniest was the time that she shot one with a 17, she said she blew it up and came back to get me to see it. We were back there in a minute and it was gone. Went from DRT to MIA. The best story that we could think of was that one of the other gophers had drug it back down the hole for a meal or feast.

We did treat the area with grub poison and the problem stopped but so did the joy of seeing my wife offing those critters. Our dogs still find some however.

[Jailer]

Thats a mole pile for sure. My yard is overrun with them. This past summer I actually had a few dead spot that were indicitive of a severe grub problem so I'm going to have to go the chemical route this spring to get rid of them.

Grubs aren't the only thing they eat. If you have lots of worms they will still stick around even after the grubs are gone. I've had fairly good success with the spike traps as long as you put them on an active run.

[dagger dog]

I have had problems with em too but since I got the Bella hound dog she can sniff em out in a new york minute I just need to fill in the holes she leaves.

Our neighbor's dog Sadie, a basset hound, used to take care of our mole problem she would sniff them out dig them up, toss them into the air and kill them with one bite on the way down. Sure hated to see her pass.

My property is on a hill side, when we get heavy spring rain, it runs down the open mole tunnels and washes out into a gully. They are destructive .

[CastingFool]

Used to have a cat that would hunt them, killed them and then ate them. I took a few away from her, and killed them. Got so if she had a mole and saw me coming, she would grab the mole and run away.

[Just Duke]

Barbie just said to use Wrigley's Chewing Gum in their hole then cover it back up.

[Just Duke]

I prefer these.
http://www.zorotools.com/g/00130793/k-G4697156?utm_source=google_shopping&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google_Shopping_Feed&kw={keyword}&gclid=CO6-m6SNpb0CFVKDfgodk0AAAQ

[MaryB]

Bottle of beer, pellet gun, pop them as they come to the surface... good way to relax out on the deck

[TXGunNut]

Mothballs. Just poke a hole into the tunnel and drop one in. Follow the tunnel a few feet and repeat. Continue until you run out of mothballs or tunnels. That mound doesn't look like the moles we have around here but I doubt gophers like mothballs either. If all your moths are female see above.

[Col4570]

Mothballs. Just poke a hole into the tunnel and drop one in. Follow the tunnel a few feet and repeat. Continue until you run out of mothballs or tunnels. That mound doesn't look like the moles we have around here but I doubt gophers like mothballs either. If all your moths are female see above.
I did,nt know Moths had them.It sounds like a good idea.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Barbie just said to use Wrigley's Chewing Gum in their hole then cover it back up.



Which flavor?????Robert :>)

[Charley]

I'm an entomologist, spent over 30 years in the pest management business. Some of you boys are spending waaaay to much time and money to deal with a simple problem. You can do what you want, but I'd rather spend the time and money on casting, shooting, and handloading. BTW, easiest way to deal with grubs is to apply beneficial nematodes to the yards, when the grubs (larvae) are young, small, and up near the surface. Best timing is when you see june beetle activity...when you see them , they are actively breeding, and the females are laying eggs. After about a month or so, when the larva move deeper into the soil, your kill rate will go from 98% to about 5%, no matter what pesticide you apply, and no matter what BS the manufacturer or seller tells you.