Mole activity

What’s everybody seeing for mole activity in their yards so far this spring? I started using the scissor-style traps last summer and will never go back to anything else. Caught about 5 in a period of a few weeks.

I saw what I thought were a couple new tunnels/runs last week and set a couple traps but haven’t had any action yet, and have not seen any more pop up since. I HIGHLY doubt I killed then all last year and figured with the moisture and temps we’ve had that they’d be more active.

Curious what everyone else is seeing. Thanks!

I bet there will not be a whole lot of them around this year with how little snow we had.

I have one on the inside of my right upper bicep. Has a couple hairs growing out of it.

gophers sure seem to be around this spring…

JEREMY wrote:

I have one on the inside of my right upper bicep. Has a couple hairs growing out of it.

Lol. The ones I’m after have about 1000 hairs per sq cm. Just like the one on my left forearm…

No idea what made it but I have multiple holes in my yard that are definitely tunnels and are slightly larger than a quarter in size. Not a gopher I know that.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I bet there will not be a whole lot of them around this year with how little snow we had.

Ok, you got me curious. Does this affect them that much? Now that you mention it, bad winters with lots of melt do seem to bring them out in droves. Hmm

CaptainMusky wrote:

No idea what made it but I have multiple holes in my yard that are definitely tunnels and are slightly larger than a quarter in size. Not a gopher I know that.

Could be shrews or gophers? Or voles? But I’ve only seen them make surface tunnels in snow, personally.

CaptainMusky wrote:

No idea what made it but I have multiple holes in my yard that are definitely tunnels and are slightly larger than a quarter in size. Not a gopher I know that.

Shrew. A mouse or vole would make a larger hole/tunnel.

Those shrews are some impressive creatures. Savage too…

Still am interested in hearing some mole reconnaissance reports!

Mole tunnels can run deep into the ground, well below the frost line so whether one feels he’s gotten them all or not is a mystery. The scissors type traps seem to be the most effective, if one wants to trap them.

Castor oil is something that moles will shun big time, but castor oil is toxic to several animals including dogs. Castor oil will emulsify somewhat for spraying but might be better if poured into holes dug into mole tunnels at random intervals to keep it sub-surface. Lowes has a product concentrate using castor oil for mixing and they also have a pelletized product for dumping in the tunnels.

Using a grub killing insecticide granule on the lawn may help. I do our lawn twice during the growing season and this seems to help some, but with neighbors and park land adjacent to us where no controls are used the molse seem to show up around the time the topical stuff I use is due to wear out so traps become a reality too.

I’ve also had the occasion to see the tunnels being actively extended and have stomped on the little schits…. dig up the stomp site and grab the dink and let the cars in the street take care of it.

There’s all sorts of measure one can use and to some extent they all work, but those are some crafty and tough little critters. Good luck on your quest.

Haven’t seen any indication of moles yet.

But, have loads of those beautiful wild violet.

Any thoughts on the best way to get rid. Without digging up every one of the plants?

This post jinxed me.

I hadn’t seen a mole in the yard anywhere in the 2 years since we built, and sure enough this morning I saw a nice run.

We generally deal with pocket gophers. I think my 4 year old daughter has caught 8 or 9 so far this Spring with the death cinch traps.

Leo Dogg wrote:

Haven’t seen any indication of moles yet.

But, have loads of those beautiful wild violet.

Any thoughts on the best way to get rid. Without digging up every one of the plants?

I had to roundup a whole area but it eventually comes back. You’ll never win, they spread underground:

Wild Violets grow best in shady, moist, and fertile soil. They spread via underground root systems and seeds. Seed pods grow in small capsules at the base of the plant that look like they might bloom into flowers. Wild Violets form large colonies, connecting via their underground roots: rhizomes.

I see we’ve got creeping Charlie now growing like crazy everywhere that was disturbed by moles last year. Never really dealt with that before. Dang.

Good advice, Tom, but I’ll probably just stick with the traps. It’s actually kind of fun running the “trap line.”

Well, I just took a stroll around the yard and there’s a couple tiny runs, but what really got me was seeing a couple big old carpenter ant hills. Like a square foot or so in size. We’ve always had a few carpenter ants around but can’t say I’ve ever seen their hills/colonies out in the open in the lawn… I’m not sure how much they spread or if they can spread and cause much damage to the lawn.

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Caught my first mole of the year yesterday in one of my scissor traps.

LabDaddy1 wrote:

Well, I just took a stroll around the yard and there’s a couple tiny runs, but what really got me was seeing a couple big old carpenter ant hills. Like a square foot or so in size. We’ve always had a few carpenter ants around but can’t say I’ve ever seen their hills/colonies out in the open in the lawn… I’m not sure how much they spread or if they can spread and cause much damage to the lawn.

I had a hill like that and sprinkled some Triazide granules on it. Gone in four hours.

AND, I went back to Home Depot and grabbed a jug of the castor oil spray and applied it last evening on three different sections of garden where those suckers have been working. I stuck one the other day with a spud fork. Needless to say it was angry when he saw daylight. I was close enough to the back fence that I could toss it into the creek. I have no idea if they can swim, but it was pretty much perforated so even if they can swim its doubtful it swam far. We’ll see how well this castor oil works now.

Triazide, huh? I’ll look into that. Thanks.

Report back on how the castor oil treatment goes!

The three areas I did with castor oil all had active tunneling. None now since spraying.

Glad we have no moles around here. Gophers either. One of the few benefits of living in a suburban neighborhood.

suzuki wrote:

Glad we have no moles around here. Gophers either. One of the few benefits of living in a suburban neighborhood.

I guess that’s a downside to living next to a cemetery LOLol

Got four or five this year.

I’ve noticed a pattern; when it stays hot and dry they come to the surface and tear sh*t up. When it’s decent air temps and plenty of rainfall they stay deep and tunnel/eat underground. Just my observations

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Excuse my chopsticks

Last week I was walking across the back yard with a shovel in my hand, and a mole took off right in front of me. It was a bad day for the mole.

SR

Moles have been fairly thick this year. I have gotten over a dozen so far and there are a couple more that need attention.

They are terrible at my house and I cant ever catch one.