Moles Understand them First.
Understand the lifestyle and behaviour of pests before you treat them, understand the enemy and be safe. It only takes a few minutes.
As per all my tips and advice pages this one is aimed towards the DIY market and will also benefit any pest controllers that are new to mole catching. There are many different methods of catching all types of pests but in my time as a pest controller I have seen or tried most of them and as such the subjects covered on this page is from my personal experiences and findings coupled with my refined methodology.
Moles can be very destructive, as such they need to be controlled, this is an easy pest to eradicate by trapping, which is by far the best option due to a dead mole will cause no more problems.
There are several different types of traps on the market but when we were in pest control, we used tunnel type traps which can catch two moles at a time.
Other traps are easy to use but are normally either difficult to set, unless you are used to them, or they stick out of the ground which puts them in full view of anyone not liking animals being killed. The tunnel type or Duffus traps are used below the surface and out of site. And must be set correctly to work well.
The biggest problem is the cost of good quality traps, if you buy cheap copies of any trap, they will rust quickly and the spring will lose its tension, thus not giving a quick kill.
Also, it must be noted that to catch a live mole and release it a few miles away is illegal, due to the welfare of the animal. I am not going to cover the legislation on this page about such legalities, you need to look it up on google. Those in the pest control profession will already know this legislation.
Let us get down to the nitty gritty part. You will need traps, a dibber, a garden trowel or similar and something to cut a neat hole in the turf if required.
A trap is obviously the bit that catches the mole, the dibber can be anything from a thin strong stick to a small diameter copper pipe or steel rod about 10mm dia, (or even a long screwdriver) the aim of the dibber is to find the tunnels or runs underground. Once found you will need the other tools to dig out a hole as explained later.
Sometimes you will go to a job where there are plastic children’s windmills stuck in the ground or sonic deterrents, these do NOT work. You will be told that the mole won’t go near to vibration, this is true to a degree if there is no vibration the mole will easily go the area, but the vibration will make them avoid it until they have become used to the noise. Look at the side of roads, there are always molehills there.
The idea is to stand back from the mounds of soil made by the mole and inspect them from afar. At this point the customer will always tell you which are the new mounds, and which are the old mounds. I always have a grin to myself at this point because they do not understand mole behaviour.
To simplify a new mound will have clean fresh loose soil on it, a mound that is a few days old or more will have seeds growing out of it or the soil will be flatted by the weather and wind. These are to be avoided and better still flattened before you start the job to save confusion.
The next point is to see the location and patterns of the mounds to tree lines, boundary fences and hedgerows, gardens old footpaths, dips in the grass or terrain which will be damper than surrounding areas etc. But not a flat manicured lawn area.
Let me explain how I used to tell my customers. If you drove to London you would use a motorway, the mole has a motorway as well, this run is normally the deepest but not always, this run will get the mole from one end of its territory to the other the quickest. The moles motorway will normally run below or against a fence line, hedgerow, wall or any area which will allow water to drip off it.
The next road you would use will be an A road, moles have A roads that come away from its main run, this is where you will find a not so deep run, the mole has come up to the level where the worms are more likely to be.
Once you arrive near to your destination you will use a B road, the moles B road is very shallow and can often be seen from above ground level.
When you arrive at your destination you may use a cul-de-sac, the mole too has cul-de-sacs which is where you will find the mound of soil above surface.
The mole uses the deep runs obviously to collect worms but also to get from one end to the other of its territory and then to use the side roads, this very much depends on the weather, if the weather is dry the worms will go deeper and the mole will follow them, if the ground is wet the worms are near the top and so will the mole. Now hopefully you understand the moles tunnel system.
The mole will dig and push the surplus soil into a cul-de-sac to push the soil out of the tunnel then it will carry on digging or foraging.
If you use your dibber near to a mound you will often find several runs coming away from the mound and going into different directions. And you will almost certainly feel a short run from the mound to a tunnel.
The easiest and fastest way to catch mole is to set traps near the edge of the area i.e. fence line, you will find a good run due to the drips from the fence etc creating a good worm population area, and where there are worms there will be a tunnel. The other good point is the mole will travel fastest along this tunnel than any other. Once you have set the traps along the perimeter, look to see where the runs go from there to the nearest mounds, always start from this area and work your way out.
If you use a tunnel type trap you will need to cut the hole fractionally larger than the trap and along the tunnel length, NOT across the tunnel, the base of the dig should be flattened due to the mole knowing every lump and bump in the tunnel. The trap will need to be laid into the hole and gently covered over, eliminating and daylight or air from getting into the tunnel. Due to the mole not requiring a very high oxygen level to survive it is always a good idea to have everything prepped before you dig, as you will need to dig out and set the trap as fast as possible. If not, the mole will detect the difference in the area and will avoid it.
If you use a scissor type trap you need to dig out the hole as above, set the rap into the hole and backfill with loose soil, the idea being that the mole comes across the obstruction and digs it out only to end up in the trap.
Experience will guide you towards a trap for different terrains that you will come across.
Generally, I would leave my traps down for a couple of days before returning to retrieve them and empty the catch.