How to get rid of moles

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Moles are bad for palms, especially in a drought year or when trying to plant new palms. Does anyone know how to get rid of them? I've tried the cinch traps but they only work with gophers. Moles don't even bother to go into them. I've tried the talpirid bait worms, but they don't eat them.

So what's the best way to remove moles?

[Ben in Norcal]

Have you ever seen Caddyshack?

Honestly, I have tried the sonic things, and the traps, and neither worked. Unfortunately the thing I found to work the best is to cut back on watering.

[tjwalters]

Moles are carnivores and shouldn't be bothering your palms. Voles are another matter.

[Alicehunter2000]

We had a whole big discussion on moles a while back. It was pretty much everyone's opinion that they really were not that detrimental other than their tunneling caused some issues with a few people. But as Tom said, they are not eating any roots...just bugs (including beneficial earthworms).

[MattyB]

Don't they make a special trap for moles that drives a spike down into the tunnel when they trigger it?

What about the macabee style traps set in their main runs?

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

  On 5/4/2014 at 2:15 AM, tjwalters said:

Moles are carnivores and shouldn't be bothering your palms. Voles are another matter.

Moles make tunnels that pretty much make it impossible to water when on a hillside. Plus they burrow into new plantings looking for worms and destroy rootballs in the process. I had one mole tunnel under the rootball of a sabal riverside and in the process the bottom of the rootball dried out and the palm never managed to take off.

[Palmdude]

I have lots of tunneling all over my property but honestly I don't know what's doing it moles or gophers, what do we have here in Florida? I've been calling them gophers

[Palmdude]

Have you guys heard of using juicy fruit gum? Google it and form your own opinion on the efficacy

[tjwalters]

  On 5/4/2014 at 4:06 AM, Axel in Santa Cruz said:

  On 5/4/2014 at 2:15 AM, tjwalters said:

Moles are carnivores and shouldn't be bothering your palms. Voles are another matter.

Moles make tunnels that pretty much make it impossible to water when on a hillside. Plus they burrow into new plantings looking for worms and destroy rootballs in the process. I had one mole tunnel under the rootball of a sabal riverside and in the process the bottom of the rootball dried out and the palm never managed to take off.

I've never seen anything larger than grass dry out from mole tunneling, but I suppose new small palm plantings could be affected. For new plantings, you might try making wire baskets out of quarter inch hardware cloth. Might help protect from voles and gophers, too. Not sure how you would actually get rid of the moles without resorting to some type of "nuclear" option - and that would only be temporary. The population densities here seem to be cyclical, and most years they aren't much of a problem. One year, though, it seemed as if the entire lawn had been lifted a couple inches, and when I would walk across the lawn after heavy rains I would sink and water would shoot up in multiple spots several feet away!

You might want to try:

• Covered mouse traps baited with meat (bacon?) and placed near exit holes (if you can find them)
• Toxic smoke bombs (made for getting rid of moles) that are placed into the tunnel after being lit
• Pumping exhaust from your lawn mower into the tunnel (??)

Don't know how effective any of these would actually be, but if you do come up with something that works, you could make a small fortune selling it.

[WestCoastGal]

Gee Axel you sure have had your issues this past year. Feel bad about your mole problems. Figured with your drainage issues mole tunnels would be a big concern. Didn't think about them exposing the roots to air though. I have read that voles will sometime use the pathways of moles, so even though moles eat only grubs and such unlike gophers and voles that feed on vegetation, they're still unwanted in one's yard. The earthworms they eat are beneficial to ones soil and you hate to lose them. And with your water rationing there you certaining don't need anything to drain away water.

Don't know if this site will help but we've used their vole bait successfully. Fortunately no moles here to deal with. I know you have cats, dogs and a little guy to think about, and this might be one of the safest products to use for rodent control. http://www.volecontrol.com/moles.html

[DALION]

  On 5/4/2014 at 7:39 PM, WestCoastGal said:

Gee Axel you sure have had your issues this past year. Feel bad about your mole problems. Figured with your drainage issues mole tunnels would be a big concern. Didn't think about them exposing the roots to air though. I have read that voles will sometime use the pathways of moles, so even though moles eat only grubs and such unlike gophers and voles that feed on vegetation, they're still unwanted in one's yard. The earthworms they eat are beneficial to ones soil and you hate to lose them. And with your water rationing there you certaining don't need anything to drain away water.

Don't know if this site will help but we've used their vole bait successfully. Fortunately no moles here to deal with. I know you have cats, dogs and a little guy to think about, and this might be one of the safest products to use for rodent control. http://www.volecontrol.com/moles.html

This is exactly what I have going on I my yard. I have a mole or family of moles digging around all my plants and voles using the tunnels to eat the roots. So the moles are eating all the helpful worms and the voles chowing on the roots. Not a good feeling to see my cycads losing all their roots.

[DoomsDave]

  On 5/4/2014 at 2:37 AM, MattyB said:

Don't they make a special trap for moles that drives a spike down into the tunnel when they trigger it?

What about the macabee style traps set in their main runs?

Moles burrow just beneath the surface, and eat worms, grubs, etc. They're relatives of the shrew, and they have to eat about their weight in food every day or they'll starve, or so I've read. They're prodigious diggers, more so than gophers, and that's saying something.

There is a special trap, used in golf courses, a nasty spear, pierces feet, too. Looked like a guillotine with spikes instead of a blade.

Here's a link to company that appears to be Mole Sadists . . . . http://molepro.com/

and, here's another. http://www.themoletrap.com/works.htm

[MattyB]

Leo, I've never heard of anyone having moles in their yard here in Southern California. How do you know if you have moles versus a gopher? Have you caught one? I've heard lots of people have gopher problems. It just seems like gophers are more common but that's just from talking with friends it's not like I'm looking for mole meat to bbq every weekend even thought they are delicious because someone gave me one and I ate it on a stick mmmm mmmm so goood.

[WestCoastGal]

The map on the Volecontrol website (above) shows moles, voles and gophers habiting California. How lucky can we be. Anyway, their Calif territory is confirmed on this University of Calif. agriculture website: http://www.ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74115.html

Those traps DoomsDave mentioned are shown on the UoC site (nasty medieval kind of contraptions) as well as the Kaput mole bait from Volecontrol.com (with warfarin, and if accidentally consumed in large amounts Vitamin K is an antedote. Warfarin also has a short life of a few days, see the volecontrol site for more info)

[palmislandRandy]

Still my favorite. Almost makes me wish I had moles. Not suitable for the kids.

http://www.rodenator.com

Mole meat?

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

  On 5/6/2014 at 12:17 AM, MattyB said:

Leo, I've never heard of anyone having moles in their yard here in Southern California. How do you know if you have moles versus a gopher? Have you caught one? I've heard lots of people have gopher problems. It just seems like gophers are more common but that's just from talking with friends it's not like I'm looking for mole meat to bbq every weekend even thought they are delicious because someone gave me one and I ate it on a stick mmmm mmmm so goood.

Moles like yards with plenty of moisture, since they live on earth worms. I can't imagine them being happy anywhere in Southern California unless it's a moist arroyo where there is plenty of shallow ground water.

Here's one for Matty, apparently they're a breakfast food in Laos: http://peteralanlloyd.com/back-part-1/eating-moles-for-breakfast-in-luang-prabang-laos/

[MattyB]

Ewwwww.

[LJG]

Bob De Jongs new yard has tons of Moles. You can watch the earth move below your feet some times as they dig just under the mulch layer.

[Gtlevine]

I have Moles everywhere, they never damaged a palm. Worse thing they do is uproot seedlings or small palms, but generally they eat insects. Once i caught a Mole in a gopher tunnel with a Macabee Gopher trap.

[MattyB]

Hmmm. Interesting.

[DoomsDave]

A mole is a mini carnivore, with sharp teeth for grabbing prey. A gopher is a rodent, with buck teeth for gnawing. Gophers are far and away the worst problem, as Gary implies, and I concur.

(I say a silent prayer for moles instead of gophers.)

Hmm. I'll pass on eating them whole. Might (might) be interesting cleaned and cooked in a stew . . . .

[DoomsDave]

  On 5/6/2014 at 1:04 AM, Axel in Santa Cruz said:

  On 5/6/2014 at 12:17 AM, MattyB said:

Leo, I've never heard of anyone having moles in their yard here in Southern California. How do you know if you have moles versus a gopher? Have you caught one? I've heard lots of people have gopher problems. It just seems like gophers are more common but that's just from talking with friends it's not like I'm looking for mole meat to bbq every weekend even thought they are delicious because someone gave me one and I ate it on a stick mmmm mmmm so goood.

Moles like yards with plenty of moisture, since they live on earth worms. I can't imagine them being happy anywhere in Southern California unless it's a moist arroyo where there is plenty of shallow ground water.

Here's one for Matty, apparently they're a breakfast food in Laos: http://peteralanlloyd.com/back-part-1/eating-moles-for-breakfast-in-luang-prabang-laos/

Hmm.

Those critters look more like voles (or gophers) than moles. Note the wascally wabbit fwont teef (of doom).

[DoomsDave]

This author puts it well, if a bit long-windedly.

http://www.mowermania.com/a/what-do-moles-eat.shtml

And, riding mowers do eat moles, though the moles don't sit there and just let it happen. I remember when my brother and I crossed a golf course, and the (sadist) operating the riding mower noted the moles that got spit out the side chute.

[DALION]

  On 5/6/2014 at 12:17 AM, MattyB said:

Leo, I've never heard of anyone having moles in their yard here in Southern California. How do you know if you have moles versus a gopher? Have you caught one? I've heard lots of people have gopher problems. It just seems like gophers are more common but that's just from talking with friends it's not like I'm looking for mole meat to bbq every weekend even thought they are delicious because someone gave me one and I ate it on a stick mmmm mmmm so goood.

When I catch one I'll post a picture. A neighbor told me how to distinguish the mole tunnels from any other. I have no mounds or exit tunnels. I do have a crisscross pattern of tunnels circling all my palms and cycads. I also have gnawing on my cycads to the point the near death.

[The7thLegend]

You can scratch Blood Meal off the list as a Mole repellant. I applied throughout the flower beds in spring but the pecker heads don't seem to mind it one bit.