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Post by Main Admin on Aug 29, 2006 14:57:08 GMT
I think my garden has had a visit from a mole, though this may just be a one off as I've never seen any signs of them here before. is there anything to prevent them comming back, don't really want to kill them though.
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Post by toonia on Aug 29, 2006 16:13:57 GMT
Moles keep cropping up this year in more ways than one!
I saw on "Countryfile" that they started proliferating after the foot and mouth epidemic when farmers couldn't get into their fields to deal with them. They've also banned some poison they were using, which may be a good thing.
Our farmer says the locals here don't bother to do anything, just go over their fields with a flattening attachment thingy on their tractors to squash the hills. This doesn't help the gardener!
Some things work for some people and not for others. We have resorted to killing them which I hate but all other methods failed, we had so many and the ground was getting difficult to walk on as tunnels caved in.
Things you can try - mothballs in the tunnels, sonic things (my vocab is failing me in two languages here) humane traps -a plastic tube which the mole can get in but not out of (in theory), a very hungry cat....
Just one mole can cause a lot of damage and once the tunnels are there other rodents can move in too.
Sorry to be so pessimistic but you may have to harden your heart !
<braveheart>smiley
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Post by Spruance on Aug 29, 2006 16:40:09 GMT
I think my garden has had a visit from a mole, though this may just be a one off as I've never seen any signs of them here before. is there anything to prevent them comming back, don't really want to kill them though. I don't know if it works, and maybe not a good idea with small children in the garden, but I've heard that if you half bury a glass bottle in the mole hill, this sets up a vibration that drives the moles away. I suppose it would also work if you used some sort of pipework. It just needs to have the wind blowing on it to create a noise. |
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Post by toonia on Aug 29, 2006 17:13:13 GMT
Presumably neck-up for the bottle? We'd never be able to collect enough bottles for all our molehills.
<lying through teeeth>smiley
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Post by obelixx on Aug 29, 2006 18:15:31 GMT
The only sure fire remedy is a professional mole trapper, poison or an explosive device called a détaupeur. Google that word and you will find it. They don't take any notice of moth balls, musical wotsits, bottles, sonic wotsits etc.
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Post by Main Admin on Aug 29, 2006 18:23:20 GMT
The little bugger had been back through the same hole, a nice rock now covers that though that won't stop it, if it comes to standing outside all night with the shovel above the head......lol
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Post by isabella on Aug 29, 2006 21:03:44 GMT
Before the houses were built in the field at the bottom of our garden we used to have trouble with moles. They never made tunnels in the lawn but made a big mess of the veg. patch! They also made very shallow tunnels in the driveway. I don't care if you believe me or not but I used to catch them by watching them move and then digging the spade in t he ground and flicking them out! I had a bucket at the ready and used to take them for a nice long walk! The ones in the veg. patch weren't so lucky -OH insisted on using a mole trap - a horrible thing! We had many arguments about its use! A few years ago 2 of our sons played a brilliant April Fools joke on OH! He had spent the week mowing,raking,scarifying and spiking the lawn and looked out of the window one morning to find molehills! Lots of swearing followed! On closer inspection the' molehills' turned out to be neat little mounds of compost on cicles of polythene!! Little b*****s! I still have moles in my garden!      |
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Post by toonia on Aug 29, 2006 21:11:55 GMT
Note how your moles are having a good larf Isabella! They know they're smarter than we are!
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Post by isabella on Aug 29, 2006 21:15:23 GMT
Forgot to mention- have you ever see a mole close-up? They are beautiful little creatures -their fur is just like velvet!
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Post by Main Admin on Aug 29, 2006 21:24:31 GMT
Would they be likely to be active near a railway line, as there is one just the other side of our garden fence, I would have thought the vibrations of the trees would have kept them away.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2006 12:40:05 GMT
Some supposed mole deterants which I have looked up in a book of hints and tips! 1 Line the bottom of a mole run with gorse because moles hate having their noses pricked. ( Who does?!) 2 Plant caper spurge near a mole run because they hate the smell. 3 Moles don't get along with cats. (They've tried,they really have.) 4 Put "sweet" chewing gum into their runs because it clogs up their digestive system. (But they'll have fresh breath.) 5 Moles hate foul smelling liquid so pour cleaning fluid or old flower water around the entrance to their hole. And finally...something that has me crying with laughter ... 6 Alarm moles into leaving. Set an alarm clock and push it down the mole hole. Once it goes off,the moles should leave home. Any help or shall I burn the book ?!!  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2006 13:04:42 GMT
this wee guy was spotted on our way back from kelso a few weeks ago not a very good pic.......too fast for me   |
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Post by Main Admin on Sept 4, 2006 20:27:55 GMT
I have inserted a sonic pulse repelent thingy into the ground and it would appear the little bas+#@d isn't that bothered about it, I have tried the cleaning agents, see if that works appaerently they don't like the smell.
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Post by beanie on Oct 5, 2006 9:13:07 GMT
there are moles in my neighbours garden, but my soil has much more clay for some reason and the moles never come over here  |
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Post by netherfield on Oct 8, 2006 17:23:30 GMT
Unfortunately the only real answer is to trap the little b*ggers,Strychnine can't be used anymore(not legally anyway)and is almost impossible to get hold of now.
If you do have to resort to traps don't put them on a straight run try to find a bend in the run,mix some aniseed in vaseline and smear on the trap,they like the smell and it also mask your smell.
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Post by oldmoleskins on Oct 8, 2006 21:00:02 GMT
carrying on from netherfield...
and don't buy those "scissor' type traps - they're too tricky to set properly - get the type that have a pair of spring-loaded hoops that trap from underneath, much better...
OM.
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Post by obelixx on Oct 9, 2006 6:48:21 GMT
www.moleblaster.com/consumers/demo.html works best for me. Our moles just kick out the humane traps I bought and if I do catch one live that the felines have unearthed, they bite when I carry them to the woods across the stream to set them free where they won't damage my plants.
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