Mole Issues


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Old 08-27-18, 06:11 PM
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Mole Issues

I have a mole/vole infestation issue that I’m not sure how to resolve. I first noticed the issue when the snow melted last spring. My once nice lawn is now full of tunnels and brown spots. I’ve trapped a few in simple mouse traps but I don’t seem to have discouraged the remaining population. I spread Grubex, put poison in the tunnels, and even tried a lawn spray with minimal results.

Does anyone have any advice on exterminating these pests?

Thanks!
 
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Old 08-27-18, 06:34 PM
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Getting rid of grubs is always recommended but the only tried and true method I've ever seen is trapping them. Sounds like you are going to have to take out a lot of them.
 
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Old 08-27-18, 06:36 PM
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First, where are you?

Moles are not easy to get rid of in my experience. We bought a home on 5 acres in 2017 & moles were really bad out here. We had a harder than normal winter (in the teens for longer). This spring they didnt seem to be back. Through the summer, we have seen 10 or so mounds around but nothing like the hundred or so that we had last year. I dont know if the cold frozen ground killed them but according to info on the internet, thats not likely but something got them since last summer & fall.

Since they were so bad here, we tried many things discussed on the internet & by talking to people including our pest control guy (bug man) & nothing seemed to faze them. My neighbors said they had been battling them for years.
I had my AC guy out a couple of weeks ago after my circuit board got fried & he said he used chewing gum. He'd just drop it in the tunnel. I haven't tried that.
Traps, spears, poisons, even our Fiest dog.... nothing seemed to work. Sally (the Fiest) would catch one occasionally. The cold freezing ground for almost 2 weeks here is the only thing I can reasonably believe that stopped them this year. I am in north Louisiana.
 
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Old 08-27-18, 06:44 PM
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Buy a blue heeler. Other than trapping, they are often the best mole deterrent I've ever seen. Hoop traps are often better than the vertical spearing type.

I think that chewing gum is an old wives tale. Not calling anyone an old wife though, lol
 
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Old 08-28-18, 03:13 AM
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Our cats have always been good at catching voles, the only downside is they like to deposit them at our front door step.
 
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Old 08-28-18, 04:41 AM
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I hate those *******s.

For some reason I have had no luck trapping over the last couple of years, same traps but they are elusive.

I came across this in local craigslist, I have a small engine and was thinking of making one , it looks like a SS dog dish!

https://detroit.craigslist.org/wyn/g...682712417.html
 
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Old 08-28-18, 04:57 AM
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I agree Marq1. When I read the Craigslist ad, I though, hummmm, I could just run a hose from my lawn mower exhaust... better yet, from my truck exhaust.

If I remember right, Jerry Clower had a story about running a hose from an A Model Ford exhaust into rat den & running them out the other end with several people with sticks awaiting their demise.

I will also add that, we bought some of those mole deterrent things that you stick in the ground like a stake & the head above the ground is a solar panel that charges a battery & "buzz's" about every 30 seconds. This could have helped keep them always as well as the cold frozen ground as well. I just dont know. Some say they work, some say they dont.
 
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Old 08-28-18, 03:30 PM
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I first noticed the issue when the snow melted last spring
Based on my experiences, you hit the nail on the head in your second first sentence. I've had little success this time of year, and I believe that it is because the tunnel system has been established so it's hard to find them, plus you now have an entire family of them to go after. We've always had them, but for the last 10 years or so I start watching for tunnels and setting traps as soon as the snows starts melting enough to expose the ground, and it has been very effective. Get a couple early and no more for the year.
 
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Old 08-28-18, 04:14 PM
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Get rid of the grubs and the moles will leave. It takes time and keep up the grub treatment even when they are gone. Moles are SOBs... In the meantime dynamite could be fun! If that's a little extreme fer ya a BB gun or 22 could produce hours of entertainment, providin' they poke their heads up...
 
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Old 08-28-18, 04:54 PM
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Moles and voles are different in their behaviors, diets, and control methods vary because of that.

The tunnels that you saw after snow melt would have been voles, as they make tunnels under the snow but on top of the turf so that it looks like a randomly shaped racetrack. As the season changes, these tracks are grown over and disappear, unless you have a serious vole problem.

Moles, which are active now here in the northeast make subterranean tunnels that give a domed and soft appearance.

One big difference between the two is that voles are vegetarians (note the two v's) and moles are carnivores, meaning meat eaters such as grubs, beetles but especially earthworms. I don't know if grub ex and larvacides and such will kill earthworms, which are a main staple of moles diet.

Are shrubbery or woody plants dying or do they have bark chewed off at ground level? If so, then the voles may be a serious issue in your area.

It will be helpful to know if you have moles, voles or both.

Talpirid poison earth worms work for moles.

https://www.domyown.com/talpirid-mol...iAAEgKvMfD_BwE
 
 

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