Mr mole

[richie 1]

been called back to a regular customer who had a major mole problem...

 

a few months back i ended up clearing 20 moles from his lawn/land. he called me a few days ago as two more areas have been effected.

 

the first place is by a compost heap that has around 8 mounds of earth kicked up. in this area ive taken 2 moles within 3 days & have left the traps to take more which im sure i will get.

 

the 2nd place is on the lawn right by his front door, a large area affected.

 

i set 5 traps, 3 duffus & 2 fenns. on the following day 3 of the traps were activated, thought one must be holding, pulled them out & not a thing, just back filled.

 

went today & the lawn area had 4 traps triggered, not a thing

 

ive placed two more traps on the runs into the feeding area, one comes from the stream & the other from a bushed area, maybe a bit over kill having 7 traps set, but the more traps the more chance of catching him.

 

i think i have a smart arse mole on my hands.

 

now im more determined than ever to catch it !.

[stubby 175]

richie, take the advice of jasper carrot, a headlight,shotgun and swivel chair

[Steve Albano 21]

I don't really see moles getting smart about avoiding traps, like some animals do. The pocket gophers I trap here definitely learn to avoid traps if they've been pinched and escaped from a trap--they can become almost impossible to trap. But moles never seem to learn that. There are some soil conditions where it's hard to catch the moles for instance if the soil is overly muddy or overly sandy, and it may seem like they're smart, but in reality I don't think they learn to avoid traps. I know you're only half serious with this, but I think it's an interesting topic.

 

I'm curious to see what others think about this.

[richie 1]

I don't really see moles getting smart about avoiding traps, like some animals do. The pocket gophers I trap here definitely learn to avoid traps if they've been pinched and escaped from a trap--they can become almost impossible to trap. But moles never seem to learn that. There are some soil conditions where it's hard to catch the moles for instance if the soil is overly muddy or overly sandy, and it may seem like they're smart, but in reality I don't think they learn to avoid traps. I know you're only half serious with this, but I think it's an interesting topic.

 

I'm curious to see what others think about this.

 

 

the garden is totally over run with tunnnels everywhere...

 

when you walk in certain places the ground willl just give way with the amount of mole activity.

 

he had a company in a few times to gas them & charged a small fortune with no real result, but since hes got me in the mole activity is very minimal.

 

the main garden " 3 acre" hasnt seen any activity since i last cleared it, theyve just started to appear by the main lawn.

 

i must admit though, the soil is very wet / damp, just seems strange that on both visits a large number of traps have been triggered with no results & the duffus are totally back filled all the way through.

 

im back there tomorrow, hopefully i should have a result.

[comanche 3,197]

I don't really see moles getting smart about avoiding traps, like some animals do. The pocket gophers I trap here definitely learn to avoid traps if they've been pinched and escaped from a trap--they can become almost impossible to trap. But moles never seem to learn that. There are some soil conditions where it's hard to catch the moles for instance if the soil is overly muddy or overly sandy, and it may seem like they're smart, but in reality I don't think they learn to avoid traps. I know you're only half serious with this, but I think it's an interesting topic.

 

I'm curious to see what others think about this.

 

I'd imagine that if a mole notices a trap in it's run it reacts as it were a stone or twig that had fallen in. An obstruction to shift and a tunnel to repair or block-off .Had success with Rolfe's back-filled Talpex tip (in a dead -end) for the first time recently .Reverse psychology?.....I've decided that this might well be the technique to try when a mole is plugging me up as I've found that this is when a talpex set in a more conventional manner comes into it's own. Sometimes I think I've cracked it.Everything "feels "right. Some mornings I leave every customer with a smile on their face .......A week later I'm pulling plugged traps or scratching my head trying to gain some sort of sixth sense insight as to where I should be setting up ambush sites.....A few days later and I feel like a proper mole-catcher again...for a while. Is this normal? Spose I'd better add this pattern has been occuring for the past twenty years.

Edited July 13, 2008 by comanche

[richie 1]

comanche,

 

ive just returned from the garden to check the traps to make sure none had gone off empty..

 

 

when i got there i saw the little f****r pushing a load of earth out, tried cutting him off with the trowel, but no joy.

 

he was pushing the earth out of a dead end & they was a large mound he pushed out on top of an old hill aswell...

 

i just done the same as you, placed a talpex in the dead end..

 

i better have him by tomorrow

[wasp 0]

Mmmmm i hope you catch the little bugger.....more moleskin woohoo

[ratcatcherrick 0]

comanche,

 

ive just returned from the garden to check the traps to make sure none had gone off empty..

 

 

when i got there i saw the little f****r pushing a load of earth out, tried cutting him off with the trowel, but no joy.

 

he was pushing the earth out of a dead end & they was a large mound he pushed out on top of an old hill aswell...

 

i just done the same as you, placed a talpex in the dead end..

 

i better have him by tomorrow

Hi Richie

 

I richie the best trap for catching mole are the talpex, this is the only trap I use, I still use the duffus and scissors but very rarely, if you find moles are filling traps with dirty try opening the entrance to the tunnels up this makes the mole rush round thinking there a break in the run.

 

I had 39 moles over a three week period on 52 acres using the talpex, if you can get the knack of using them you want use another trap. I price all my jobs on a visit and a re-visit very rear I have to do more than two visits for domestic customers.