If you want to be a small game hunter, you can go online and find great tips. There are many sites to tell you how to catch a mole. You can take these little animals dead or alive and rid your lawn of these pests. Or so they say. (There's always professional help. You'll find ads for that online, too.)
Moles, it appears, are not too smart or agile. You can dig through a tunnel, put a deep bucket under it, restore the run to a usable condition, and wait. The animal will run along its tunnel and fall into the bucket. The experts say this actually works. You can also wait at dawn or dusk for movement in a tunnel, plunge a shovel deep into the ground, and heave both dirt and mole into the air. Grab the critter (you need thick, strong gloves) and put it into a sack or bucket.
Of course, then you have a live mole. In many areas, it's illegal to remove a wild animal from its habitat. You need to check the local ordinances or call animal control for advice.
Catch and release folks should read up on what moles like before letting them go. They like lawns, so letting them go in deep woods is not humane. You don't want to release them on a neighbor's property, either. If you have a part of your garden which is not on display, you could release your captive there and hope it stays away from your lawn.
If you aren't worried about saving the critters, there are ways to kill them once and for all. People use chemical poisons that are dropped in the tunnels. Some of these, grain based ones especially, don't work well, since moles eat mainly insects or vegetation. Insecticides that kill grubs, the mole's main food, can help keep these pests away.
There are also traps that seem a little drastic but are probably no worse than the snap mousetraps homeowners use for indoor pests. They need to be set carefully, and you need to make sure pets or children won't encounter them. You set the traps in the tunnels; although the moles may be smart enough to avoid them, this method seems to be one that actually works.
Flooding the tunnels with water can flush moles out into the open where you can capture them. Mothballs in the tunnels is an old remedy that doesn't get good reviews. Juicy Fruit chewing gum is supposed to attract moles and kill them when enough is ingested; again, this is not highly rated. Poison gas released inside the tunnels is another treatment. People have even tried explosives, which seems like over-kill. If you're that desperate, it might be time to seek professional help. You'll find ads for professional exterminators online.
Moles eat mainly grubs and are therefore of some benefit to gardeners. Some tunnels may only be used to travel through, so they may not be a permanent problem. Rolling your lawn might pack the ground hard enough to discourage moles from living there. Spraying insecticides that kill grubs removes one favorite food that attracts the animals.
Moles, it appears, are not too smart or agile. You can dig through a tunnel, put a deep bucket under it, restore the run to a usable condition, and wait. The animal will run along its tunnel and fall into the bucket. The experts say this actually works. You can also wait at dawn or dusk for movement in a tunnel, plunge a shovel deep into the ground, and heave both dirt and mole into the air. Grab the critter (you need thick, strong gloves) and put it into a sack or bucket.
Of course, then you have a live mole. In many areas, it's illegal to remove a wild animal from its habitat. You need to check the local ordinances or call animal control for advice.
Catch and release folks should read up on what moles like before letting them go. They like lawns, so letting them go in deep woods is not humane. You don't want to release them on a neighbor's property, either. If you have a part of your garden which is not on display, you could release your captive there and hope it stays away from your lawn.
If you aren't worried about saving the critters, there are ways to kill them once and for all. People use chemical poisons that are dropped in the tunnels. Some of these, grain based ones especially, don't work well, since moles eat mainly insects or vegetation. Insecticides that kill grubs, the mole's main food, can help keep these pests away.
There are also traps that seem a little drastic but are probably no worse than the snap mousetraps homeowners use for indoor pests. They need to be set carefully, and you need to make sure pets or children won't encounter them. You set the traps in the tunnels; although the moles may be smart enough to avoid them, this method seems to be one that actually works.
Flooding the tunnels with water can flush moles out into the open where you can capture them. Mothballs in the tunnels is an old remedy that doesn't get good reviews. Juicy Fruit chewing gum is supposed to attract moles and kill them when enough is ingested; again, this is not highly rated. Poison gas released inside the tunnels is another treatment. People have even tried explosives, which seems like over-kill. If you're that desperate, it might be time to seek professional help. You'll find ads for professional exterminators online.
Moles eat mainly grubs and are therefore of some benefit to gardeners. Some tunnels may only be used to travel through, so they may not be a permanent problem. Rolling your lawn might pack the ground hard enough to discourage moles from living there. Spraying insecticides that kill grubs removes one favorite food that attracts the animals.
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You can get advice on how to catch a mole and more info about the best mole traps at http://www.traplineproducts.com/trapinstructions.html right now.
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