Moles

[sandy10]

I have 19 mole hills in my front garden...it is now getting so frustrating. I rang someone yesterday told it would be £75 per mole caught. This is atrocious money, and even if he did not catch any moles in his traps I would be charged, asked how much & he said depends, depends on what??, he couldn't answer. Anyone got any ideas ( no wise cracks please) on how to get rid. I have done the usual filling the holes with water etc etc.

[Buenchico]

Here's what the RHS has to say on the matter:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=203

However, if it was me I'd be delighted that my garden was home to such wonderful wildlife and leave them to it.

[buildersmate]

That price is outrageous. Around here it is £25 per mole, with no charge unless mole is caught. You probably have two moles in there.
For DIY, I recommend a modern mole-trap. Mine look like a double-ended mouse-trap, which garrots the mole as it pootles along the burrow, from whichever way it comes. About £4 per trap. Pay careful attention to how you install them.

[B00]

Awwww :-(

[paddywak]

Perhaps youcan pick up an idea or two from this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fePU5CIHpas

[grasscarp]

Did you realise you probably have enough there to make a mountain? (sorry)

[EDDIE51]

I have heard that a solution is to get some of those child's windmills on a stick and push the sticks into the ground in the area effected.The idea is that the vibration /sound from them scares off the mole. Mind you it may just go next door. Cheap to try though.

[Jennykenny]

Mothballs?

[EDDIE51]

Details of mole catching / deterrents here.
http://www.guildofbritishmolecatchers.co.uk/myths.html
Even this mentions windmills so it may work.

[woofgang]

My experience of moles is that they come along and go again once the food supply diminishes. If you get the moles removed while there is still a food supply then other moles will move in....actually thats the same as foxes, or indeed any other wildlife. Food and shelter attracts, lack of food and shelter makes them go. The issue with moles is that, unlike foxes, you can't control the food and shelter. They do leave the soil in wonderful condition though. I agree with Buenchico, live and let live.

[RATTER15]

I spent 13 years as a professional mole trapper (and trained by MAFF) and I will suggest the only way to get shot of them is to trap them, lots of new fan dangled devices on the market... they dont work!! And no they wont come back, thats an old wives tale.

[dustypuss]

Get a cat .

[wired]

Thanks Paddywak, enjoyed that. I used to go to the 3 Moles pub near Midhurst, they had a whisky passport, whilst trying to attain that you'd forget about the garden

[woofgang]

well RATTER no the same ones won't but if you are in an area with a mole population and there is still plenty of mole food available then other moles will move in.

[buildersmate]

Apart from Ratter's good advice, I discount everything else above.
These b*****ers live solely on earth worms any suggestion that you can remove the food supply is laughable. Torch the soil perhaps?? Agent Orange anyone??
I have tried devices that make low frequency noises (and plastic windmills is one of those) but they do not work reliably. Moles are very sensitive to sound, so in theory they are discouraged by noise, but it does not work reliability.

[Graham-W]

It may make a bigger mess of your lawn than the moles.....but it sure looks like fun!!

[EDDIE51]

I used to work for a cricket club and moles were a real problem. Trip on a mole tunnel /hill on a bowlers run in and you had a broken leg. Plus the danger if a ball hit ea mole hill.Even worse it was a conservation area and killing them was not allowed. We had to go out and fill in all the holes and flatten the hills before every match.

[Graham-W]

Ooops. Missed the link.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjdky7hBp-E

[corylus]

I once read an article about moles that informed me that they spend this time of year digging tunnels in search of a mate and that the extensive digging will stop in the middle of March.

How does a blind, subterranean creature know when it's the middle of March?

[grasscarp]

They hear the Ides of March Band

[Baldric]

This one Graham ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjdky7hBp-E