Moles?

[Marty Gulseth]

At least, I think they are moles (eastern WA if it makes a difference) making a mess of part of our yard last summer and now that the snow is melting, it looks like they may have been busy even through the winter (I was a little surprised at that.) So - recommendations or experience please - professional pest control, or DIY? And if the latter - what method has seemed to work best for you?

Thanks all!

Marty

[Stan Calow]

What are you seeing? Raised mounded tunnels, or just tracks on the surface? For moles I've used poisoned peanuts placed in the tunnels, although others prefer the spear-type traps.

[Marty Gulseth]

I have raised mounds of dirt. So far I've not been able to move the dirt to spot a tunnel.

[roger wiegand]

A healthy ecosystem in most parts of the country will have several hundred to over one thousand mice, moles, voles, and shrews per acre. Trying to get rid of them would be a fool's errand, not to mention a very foolish disruption of Mother Nature's systems.

[Jason Roehl]

Milky spore.

Treat your lawn with it--it will infect the grubs, killing them off, and the moles will leave because there is no food for them. You may have to re-treat after 5-10 years.

Another benefit is that with no grubs, you won't have Japanese beetles, either.

[Myk Rian]

A healthy ecosystem in most parts of the country will have several hundred to over one thousand mice, moles, voles, and shrews per acre. Trying to get rid of them would be a fool's errand, not to mention a very foolish disruption of Mother Nature's systems.

And where did you learn that?

[roger wiegand]

And where did you learn that?

Most states do wildlife surveys and report results on a state website. Looking at a variety of them it seems that voles are most common, running 10-100 per acre, but, as in this article http://icwdm.org/handbook/rodents/voles.asp infestations can run up to 4000/acre. Shrews are more territorial and tend to be in single digits per acre.

When I mow my meadow in MA in the fall I see at least one small critter scurrying away every 10-20 feet; I'm sure there are many more I don't see.

[Jim Koepke]

Hope they are moles and not gophers.

Moles eat slugs and worms. Gophers eat roots.

Moles do not bother me as much as they bother my wife. We have burrowing weasels that eat moles, rats and other small animals. I wouldn't suggest that as a solution.

I discovered the state of Washington doesn't like people to set traps for mammals. You can put out bait for them. Some are against this as a poisoned animal may get caught by an owl, cat, dog or other predator causing them to suffer ill effects up to and including death.

jtk

[Shawn Pixley]

My dog is a gopher killer, killing them at the park by our house. No gophers (racoons or possums) come in our yard because of him. I know this doesn't help you much as my dog is in California; otherwise I'd bring him over. But I favor a dog, cat or small rifle (could be an air rifle) to rid the little pests. I don't favor poisons as what ever eats the dead critter will get the poison concentrating in their body.

if you don't have a dog, try a pellet gun. The gopher will peer out of their open hole (one hole is left open where as most of the mounds will be closed). Early morning or twilight are the best times. If you are quiet and discrete, you should have little problem picking it off. Alternatively, you can try to flood them out but that is hit or miss.

[George Bokros]

If there are no raised mounds then they are Voles. Similar animal but they are on the surface. We had lots of Vole trails in our year a couple winters ago. The neighbors cat has done a good job of eliminating them.

[Joe Pelonio]

I have the same problem. Last year I chased them away by placing a Costco dryer sheet in each hole, and they were gone all spring, summer and fall. Lately with our snow and cold the ground has been too hard, and there are far more mounds than ever before, so it's just a temporary fix, I guess. I only have one trap but will use it in a few weeks. We expect more snow this weekend.

[Rich Riddle]

Someone had mentioned in the past that spraying for grubs will get rid of he moles because the food source for the moles will have vanished.

[Myk Rian]

Someone had mentioned in the past that spraying for grubs will get rid of he moles because the food source for the moles will have vanished.

Got moles? You got grubs.

[Ken Combs]

Got moles? You got grubs.

That's funny, as the only thing I remember from a management seminar years ago was a presentation that started with a story about killing moles over and over before zeroing in on the root cause: moles eat grubs.

The message was: you can play whack-a-mole forever, or you can find the cause and fix it.

[Mel Fulks]

Some of the products that have castor oil in them get good reviews. Critters don't eat it ,just avoid it. The stuff is expensive. I think you could make your own pretty cheaply with castor oil ,available by the gallon ,and cat litter.