Nicepix
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Everything posted by Nicepix
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Talking of grey squirrels I am reading the classic novel Ivanhoe at the minute. There is one scene where the Saxon chief living in the 1190's is described as wearing a robe edged with fur from the grey squirrel. Now, many sources put the introduction of the grey squirrel in the Victorian era, around 1876. That is forty years after Sir Walter Scott died and over fifty years after the novel was written. So, how does a Scottish author come to describe an animal that should have been unknown to him?
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Too right Phil. Many dogs don't need formal training. They just learn, and if want to please as most good dogs do, they do their best to help out. Even if that means retrieving and following you with the moles you thought you had discarded
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Are you not the 'old man', of the 'squad', anyway,.....ha ha ha (nowt wrong wi that !, mind) ?,......or would it be , Moxy ?,...lol Bet Phils, no 'spring chicken', either ? he he,......(god, id still be the 'tea boy', amongst you lot !) ha ha ha Better the Tea Boy than the Rent Boy. This is how I see you.............
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After reading this I've just stopped drinking alcohol. Only because the bottle is empty mind.
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Surprises me. The way you come across I thought that your first invoice would have been in groats on papyrus.
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Plenty of opportunities out here for rural pest control providing that you are able to move with the times, embrace new ideas and not just rely on what worked in the 1940's
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You'll have to go on a course arranged by the BMG in order to be able to calculate the right price.
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I don't regard being paid for not catching a mole as being paid properly for doing a proper job.
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That's my thinking too. You've got to look at it from the customer's point of view as well protect as your own interests. I've only had one job where there was no mole to be caught and fortunately I had five other jobs in the same area so it didn't matter. The customer had got 'molehills' as such. But they were caused by a type of vole, not a mole. I didn't put any traps in so there was no return visit. He has since recommended me to two other clients. Usually the call or email from a new customer describes gardens resembling The Somme and there is no mistake. With returning customers, if
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You make it sound like it is only the fly by night boys offering this service. No mole - No fee reassures the customer and converts interest into enquiries and into work carried out that might not have got. If you are proficient in your work then you ain't going to start a job where there is no likelihood of a capture. p.s. I'm glad that you are happy for me to continue working this way. That makes me very happy.
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You can't fool, me. That image is Photoshopped. The mole, bottom right in the top image is the same one as the one three from the left. I'd recognise him anywhere.
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Why three visits? Because more often than not a neighbouring mole will come in and have a look around the newly vacated tunnels. Not an issue with an obviously isolated mole, but I have only had about two single captures in four years. No mole - no fee? Reassurance for the customer = more business. It ain't going to happen if you do the job right. But it converts more enquiries into jobs. IMO. The reason I don't charge for any extra visits required is to reassure the customer that they will be mole free for a set fee. Again, reassurance = more enquiries converted into jobs IMO. I certa
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I have asked Flatpack the same question. They insisted that the traps I had bought were identical to the ones I'd had off them a year or so previously despite them being around 8mm wider and made out of different grade steel. I suspect that it is down to manufacturing costs or the process which makes it easier to make traps wider and of a shallower curve. The old Duffus original I have is around 60mm wide, The first and better quality Flatpacks were 65mm across whilst the newer ones are around 73mm wide. I put mine in the vice and squash them in to 65mm. They need quite a bit of work after
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Pop them in on their side Bill if you think the trap isn't filling the tunnel.
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If anyone is wanting to try the type of thing Moxy is suggesting there are similar types of triggers sold in France. They are used in a scissor type trap and will need a bit of filing to sit right. Perhaps the guy supplying Putanges might be able to get hold of some? They aren't expensive. I have played around with them myself and not found any improvement, but a little tweaking here and there might be all that is needed. They are slightly wider than conventional triggers, but you can file them down a bit if necessary as I have done with the one in the photo. I tried different profiles on
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That's a fair point. If it is a case of a couple of molehills recently discovered I advise them to squash them down and call me back if they pop back up. Sometimes it isn't an infestation, just a traveller passing through. Got an offer I simply could refuse a couple of days ago. A farmer who I'd worked for 2 years ago suggested that I might like to take a trailer up to his place and while I was setting some mole traps on his land he would fill the trailer up with alpaca poo. Same when I checked the traps. No money changes hands. So basically he is proposing that I do €200 worth of work in
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Phil, You'll no doubt find that over time the prongs and triggers will need a little work with a wire brush or emery cloth. If you don't the trigger will become harder to displace. If you push the trigger over and it doesn't displace before it gets to almost horizontal (about 30 degrees from the horizontal) it needs work IMO. Sometimes, dependent on how corroded the trap is a new trigger is the best remedy. Some areas are worse than others for causing oxidisation of the traps. I would imagine that your chalky areas will be less prone to this, whilst anyone trapping in coniferous areas
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Yes, I said last year that the more UK trappers who use these Putanges the better chance we'll have of improving them or the methods used. The off the shelf triggers would be useful for those who can't make their own, but would be able to do a bit of filing to make them work. They aren't expensive. I've got some laying around somewhere and will measure the width once I find them. That will give you a idea of whether it is worth ordering a few to adapt. I would imagine making them individually from sheet steel would be both time consuming and expensive. I am surprised that there is a need
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There are off the shelf triggers available that are designed for a scissor type trap but can be adapted quite easily to fit a Putange. They are slightly wider and the lugs need some work with a file. These are one type, there are shorter, wider ones as well. I've tried them just out of curiosity, but don't find them any better than the original triggers. To be perfectly honest I get so few misfires that it isn't worth the trouble.
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Farmer, happy? I never considered the concept
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All you need to do now is trap a white or ginger mole and you'll be welcomed into the club
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It would work of course, if all area's were trapped. Unfortunately, and obviously, this isn't possible. The way we looked at it was that if you can shoot and / or trap the corvids after they have established their territories and paired up, there won't be any newcomers until after the breeding season. And by that time the game birds should have got their first brood off.
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Well, i would have too 'differ' with you, on that one,...cause, you can still contribute, & give away just a 'little', (as well, as 'telling all', if you want) ?,...you see it, all the time ?,.., some folk, just offer some 'words of wisdom', & some will offer a 'hint' or two ?,.....& then you can just 'generalise',.....everyones entitled to 'participate', how they like, surely (well, within limits, i suppose) Post like you quote above are generally very welcome. It's the "I am not telling you anything" posts that are a complete and utter waste of time. The only reason they ma
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I agree. That's what I do; fix a price and guarantee to leave domestic jobs mole free no matter how long it takes. If I think there are still moles to catch after my three planned visits I'll leave a few Putanges under grass clods to mop up the stragglers and check them weekly or whenever I'm passing. For farms it is a fixed fee and they trust me to take as many out as I possibly can in the three scheduled visits. We all know where we stand that way. All domestic properties pay the same fixed price and with a 2 week "no more mole hills" guarantee. Customers like this, its goo
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Where I work a lot depends on the type of soil as to what I use to open up the tunnels. Out west it is all limestone country and the soil is littered with small stones. In some gardens it is like builder's rubble. It also dries out pretty quickly and so a cut down border spade with a narrow blade, about the same width as a trowel, is better than a hand trowel. Same in the clay areas in summer. You wouldn't get through to the deeper runs with a hand trowel. Up in the north of the area I work all that is needed is a large knife on most occasions. Thankfully I manage to do the business most t
