Mole Problem

[Slug Killer]

Hi, anyone got any tips for getting rid of a mole? Its all around our patio area and then goes over the rockery pushing mounds up between the stones. It's impossible to put traps down where it is and I've never had much luck with them anyway. As much as I like the little creatures it's starting to make a right mess and needs shooting. Is there any kind of poison I can use?

David

[Maggi Young]

Get a couple of those musical birthday cards and stick them, open,  down the mole runs.... it's said to drive the moles away..........

[Brian Ellis]

David, if you can find the run by poking the soil with a bamboo cane you can put a trap in the run.  The secret with traps is to get rid of human scent, stick it in the soil for a day and when you handle it wear two pairs of gardening gloves, cover the upstanding part with a plant pot to exclude daylight and then you should get it...if it is one of the clever ones you may have to put two traps in the run, it will go round the first and get caught in the second.

[Martinr]

Get a couple of those musical birthday cards and stick them, open,  down the mole runs.... it's said to drive the moles away..........

No, what actually happens is it drives the gardener away so he doesn't notice what the moles have been up to anymore

[Maggi Young]

Six of one, half a dozen of the other, Martin!

[derekb]

I am not sure you can get it now but when i was first married(many years ago) I had moles in the garden the next door neighbor was a school teacher I asked her if she could get some Calcium Carbonate I think that was what it was called it was used years ago in light you put some in with water and lit the gas, it worked after I had put it in the runs they never came back unfortunately the ended up in the teachers garden . If you know what I mean and can get it the gas in the runs will stop them,

Derek

[Ragged Robin]

Toy windmills - they don't like the vibration and it's eco friendly 

[PDJ]

A Friend of mine has always swore by poking Moth Balls into the tunnels or anything that will disrupt their sense of smell enough to stop them being able to feed.

[Lesley Cox]

Many countries are currently (saying that they are) getting rid of their weapons grade plutonium stocks. Surely a little bit might be diverted in your direction David?

[Slug Killer]

Lesley

It would cost me too much in tea and biscuits for the MI6 officers lurking in the undergrowth and waiting to pounce. I don't think the excuse, I was trying to get rid of a mole would stand up in court

David

[Lesley Cox]

Well the solutions were becoming more and more bizarre David, it just seemed that nuclear warfare was the next logical step. It's just a little mole for God's sake. How hard can it be? (she asks, never having had one in the garden or even seen one, except courtesy Graham Greene).

[Brian Ellis]

It's just a little mole for God's sake. How hard can it be? (she asks, never having had one in the garden or even seen one, except courtesy Graham Greene).

You have no idea how fortunate you are Lesley, we tried all the above methods and more before resorting to traps, another idea was to put holly or other spiny leaves in the run - they prick their noses and moles have no coagulator in their blood so bleed to death (didn't like that thought), any noise/vibration method will only move them to be someone else's problem.  Traps are the thing

[Slug Killer]

Hi Brian

Problem is it's very difficult to put the traps down where this one is. The mole is not in the middle of the garden (lawn) but following the edges of the patio which is shaped as well as around the rockery.

I saw it the other day when out in the garden, movement of soil appeared in the corner of my eye but by the time I'd got the spade it had gone.

It's been here over six months now and is making a bloody mess. Will have another go at putting the traps down, I've got both types.

David

[Lesley Cox]

I truly do sympathize.

[Brian Ellis]

Good luck David, they are cunning little devils.  But persevere and you will get it in the end - they are normally solitary animals so believe it or not it's probably just one, the problem is that once that is gone, in future years you may get another taking over and extending it's run