Cascadians, for us inexperienced people with moles running wild in our yards, what kind of trap do you use? Any setting hints? Every time I plant something the moles and/or voles love the loose soil and make a tunnel that comes up right by the roots of the plant I just planted. A couple of my tomatoes have most of the leaves wilting because of a hole in their root zone. Help!!!

I almost miss my former very rocky soil where no burrowing animal could make it.:-(

You're right these moles make tunnels and holes right in the root zone! Aarrggghhh.

We bought these traps at Home Depot. They're heavy metal, jaws of death. The directions are on the box and on a paper you can take out of the box; both sets of instructions necessary. Comes with levers to set the trap and placement tips. You find a fresh mound on the main passageway and dig a hole, follow instructions for engineering and placing, and when the mole pushes through again bham! he sets off the trap and gets squished by the fast-snapping slam-hard jaws.

You can re-use the traps as many times as necessary. They weren't expensive. We bought at least 4 so we could target a few mounds. The sooner the mole is stopped the sooner the tunnels can be plugged and trees watered very well and hopefully damage reversed.

Moles are territorial and usually 1 mole per acre in adulthood. However, once your yard's mole is trapped and disposed of, another will find the tunnels and take up residence, proclaimed by those molehills. Walk your entire yard every day to spot these digging travelers in time, and set traps immediately. As soon as you've got the mole, be sure to fill in all holes and tunnels really well so there aren't air pockets under roots or air passageways that rob the soil of water.

I've never killed anything until last years' mole destroyed our yard and we tried every other method to get rid of him but failed. Had to use traps. Moles like worms and grubs and nice moist easy dirt. Now I know it's necessary to kill moles (and slugs) if I want my trees to live. Since I'm watering and hardly anybody else around here is, there's no way to convince a mole to stay away from the wriggling plump worms crowding this yards' soil.

Cascadians, i'm really glad to hear you've saved your tree. I know it's a really horrible feeling to kill a living creature, but the moles here have driven me to genocide as well. I use those gas sticks, with only marginal success.

Before I moved here to mole and vole heaven I was a kind-hearted sort that live-trapped ground squirrels and released them, but I got hard-hearted after seeing all the damage and have to admit to stomping a few critters. I worked up a new bed all across the front of my lawn with fig trees, roses, daylilies, irises, and dahlias, and the moles couldn't resist the nice dug earth. I actually found 3 above ground and stomped them in one day. Arrrgh. It breaks my heart since they are so cute and furry. I actually washed a couple up to the surface when I first moved here and ran water down the holes, but I let them go. No more. I have one of those traps you described but found it too hard to set- too scary. I think I've heard of some other lighter trap, a scissor trap? I guess I should go shopping. I caught one vole with a mouse trap set under an overturned large pot.

Hemnancy can I hire you to come over here with your boots on?

Just looked up "vole" and we have those also.

Last year I was so desperate to get rid of the mole, advertised on craigslist for a gopher snake and found out it's illegal to buy or sell or procure native snakes. Read that toads eat gobs of slugs and then found out no toads in western Oregon.

Maybe all the thirsty hungry wandering snakes and toads from eastern Oregon will miraculously find their way to my yard? Until then, Home Depot's trap section, never thought I'd be searching THAT aisle!

We have 24 bird stations around the house and all that food and water invites other critters. Do have coopers hawks regularly, wish they'd get the little furry varmints.

The mole damage seems worse in my yard this year, likely because the ground took so long to dry out. They like moisture, so anywhere you keep the soil moist, they'll be drawn to it. Sometimes I'll water the lawn to draw them out of the garden beds.
I make chicken wire cages to plant my tomatoes in. I just dig the hole, put in the cage, and plant the tomato in it. They're about the size of a gallon pot and it seems to be enough protection to allow the tomatoes to grow. I also now get those castor oil pellets and put some in the bottom of the hole and on top of the soil around the plant. I think it helps.
I got Mole Pro traps. They're easier for me to use. The company provides a tape to help you determine where their main tunnels are that they use to travel around. That's where you need to put the traps. They travel along driveways, foundations, etc. You dig a small hole and check for 2 holes opposite one another and set up the trap. If there are 3 or more holes, keep trying until you find one with just 2. Their site will give you more info.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mole Traps

Since we heard that mole traps are illegal in Washington my dear husband, previously an animal lover, now sits in a lawn chair over the mole run with his shotgun and gleefully disposes of them when he sees them. He then takes whatever is left of the carcass and buries it in the run near our property line hoping to scare off any others that might decide to move in. It usually takes them only a few days to overcome their fear. Thank goodness we live in the country where guns are legal even if moletraps aren't.

Last evening on regular 2X per day inspection lo and behold the top of the trap was wide open. Pulled it, voila, mole! Rather large one which had started voraciously tearing a path along the retaining wall and got 75' along the east side before springing a trap. Had to put in 4 traps. Not easy to determine which is a tunnel he'll be using soon again.

It's true what they say about a new mole finding those old tunnels and using them. We squished the hills back down and tried to flatten the tunnels but those moles pick up the trace and burrow away. Thinking 4 traps isn't enough.

Hopefully that's it for this year, still amazed at how late in the year this one showed up. Can never be too vigilant examining yard for those telltale fresh mounds of dirt!

I could sure use a man with a shotgun ... actually I'm interested in finding a werewolf, would be very welcome and useful, but haven't had any luck finding one so far.

Cascadians, i have one tunneling not too far from my retaining wall as well, and my fear is that the earth movement will destabilize the balance of the rocks. Is this a fear i can easily shed, or is it a legitimate concern do you think? The rocks are quite massive, so maybe they wouldn't bother trying to tunnel underneath all that weight?

~~ shrugs and tries not to worry ~~

Estreya, I don't know much about moles and physics. If the buggers aren't caught they just keep tunneling and digging. This exposes root systems and dries them out, killing the trees. Moles like damp places where worms and grubs hang out so under walls is appealing. They can't push the dirt up there so they tunnel under, eat, and pop the dirt up alongside the walls.

I imagine a mole in time could topple anything -- you should have seen my yard last spring! But hopefully a more knowledgable experienced person will answer your question :-)

I'm going to patrol this tunnel route every day to pounce on the next mole that takes up residence. This last one came directly up to the trunk of my newly planted sequoias. Ggggrrrrrrrr

Cascadians, thank you for your reply. I guess i have to continue my mole-ocide. The only thing i feel guilty about is not feeling the least but guilty about killing them! :)

You should see our yard- my husbands been trapping them-10 this year (he only got 5 the year before)! but they keep comming!

Our house was a rental for 5 years and borders a park... our good sized backyard is all up and down, rough, riddled with indentations and rises from the years of the little monsters tunneling and settling- I HATE it, but we can't, at the moment, afford to bring a large rototiller in to dig everything up to loosen the hardpack and level it all out to start FRESH.

For now I have stuck to the fence line, adding in vines. It's all behind chicken wire at the moment anyway, since we have a 6 month old pup!

Usually, I prefer to live-trap. Even put a 5 second video of a trap and release on my webpage about trapping squirrels.

But with moles, there is almost no other way to do it.

My mother in law had a mole, and my brother in law set these electronic gadgets about 4 weeks ago (as I snickered and giggled in the house).

Mole still dug at one hundred percent.

So about a week and a half ago, I went and got one of the "Out of Sight" mole traps mentioned earlier, and set it inline with the main tunnel around 4pm.

By 10am the next morning, it caught the mole and I put it out of its misery so it wouldn't suffer.

The key is not mentioned in the instructions.

The most important technique is crumbling loose soil back into the hole so it falls around the jaws and under the trigger completely. That way the mole has to bulldoze its way through pushing dirt into the trigger. Otherwise, three quarters of the time, the mole will zip right through the trap.

I've almost always caught moles on the first or second day that way, putting traps by the freshly dug mounds.

The electric gadgets are a wasted of time and mental energy.

One day! You're lucky. We set the traps correctly but never get the mole in one day, more like 3 weeks or longer. The traps we're using, bought 2 springs ago from Home Depot, are heavy contraptions that pinch the mole completely in half instantly, no putting it out of misery, it's over for the mole the second it shoves dirt near the trigger. Noticed that before the mole got trapped it decimated the neighbor's creeklet, poking out all along the bank and collapsing it. Those neighbors never get to that corner of their yard so they wouldn't know or care, but I've put insane amounts of time and $$$ into my yard and don't want any mole killing any tree by exposing roots to drying out.

Ellen, 10 moles this year! Whoa

Its amazing how many mounds can be from a single mole sometimes.

In a college class dealing with weeds and pest, the instructor said that moles can cover up to 3 miles of distance in a day.

Not 3 miles from here to there, but the day's travel's accumlated. Most move much less, but they can easily work in all 4 corners of a one acre yard on the same day.

I was just reading this thread, as I have recently acquired a mole problem myself! In my rock garden! It's hole is outside the garden, but I can see it's above ground runways through the grass, then....by/inbetween each rock there are mounds of dirt, and my garden is SINKING! I've mashed down each tunnel, several times a day but it keeps tunneling! We tried the mouse trap method, by it's hole, and under a weighted down bucket. We caught one of the little buggers the first try! But alas, none sence. Ants love the peanut butter bait though...arrgh! I thought these were solitary creatures? It seems my whole yard, including by the foundation of the house, is overrun by them. It seems a loosing battle. Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone above has had any more sucess sence their last postings? October now, and do they even stop during the winters freezing temps?

...Liz

I just noticed this was the PNW forum, so maybe I shouldn't have asked here? I'm in NY...but got here by a search of moles. But moles are moles anywhere, right? LOL!
...Liz

Hi Liz! You came on as a heated debate about moles is in progress ... check out this thread:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/nwest/msg0914445415560.html?34
why are mole traps banned in wa??

The only thing that has worked for me is the heavy metal jaw trap. I tried everything else for months. My yard is in a peculiar state of new raw tenderness so is especially hard-hit by moles for the next few years. In winter there's a lot of running water here which doesn't freeze so the mole kept at it, finding worms and soft dirt and warm sifted-into-powder horse manure and tunneling, popping up, rummaging through and making a huge mess, literally coming stright up under the rootballs of baby trees and toppling them into the creeklets where he had already caved in the banks. So winter in this yard didn't even slow him down.

If you do a search of "moles" on gardenweb you'll find lots of threads and advice. I never wanted to hurt any animal but could not persuade the moles to stop killing my trees. Happy reading!

Here is a link that might be useful: why are mole traps banned in wa??

Hi
A mole is wrecking my yard. I have been reading these posts with interest but, of course, did not think it would happen to me. Now, I see different mounds of dirt but they don't follow a line or anything. How do I determine where to place the trap? I learned in the video that the bigger mound of dirt does not necessarily translate into a good place to set a trap. Then, how does one know? Thanks

Hubby and I moved to a great old house built in 1951 on an acre in a semi-rural area. We have Fruit& Nut Trees and LOVE our gardening.. Veggie, Herb and flower, you name it! For 6 years we have had a mole/vole problem tearing up and tunneling the whole yard.. The tunnels are just below the grass and everywhere. I think they got FAT on those so called Poision peanuts. They do NOT work. We have well water so I'd rather trap the monsters. Also in the veggie garden something got to our sweet potatoes this year with underground tunnels there were teeth marks on alot of them and this made me so ... unhappy! Hubby found an old mole trap in the wood shed which works. But HOW do you set it and what do you do, bury the bottom in an active tunnel? We are both retired and can't afford to go out and buy anything right now so we want to try the mole trap. It is really long, (tall) and has spikes on the bottom and two flat bars where the mole is trapped and killed (GOOD!) it's unlike the wide short ones we see pictured online so it must be an older version. Can anyone tell us how to use this? We also would appreciate how to use the mouse trap bucket way. I'm sure we have a few moles and voles if not more. Thanks my fellow gardening friends!

The attached link may help - there's quite a bit of difference between moles and voles and they have distinctly different diets as well. While they can be quite annoying as far as lawns are concerned and sometimes disturbing new plantings, moles are really quite harmless in the landscape. Voles are another problem altogether. As far as your trap is concerned, you could take it to your local wildlife control office for directions regarding its use. It's a bit of guess on how to use it when we can't see it and have no idea of its mechanisms. And there's always a concern of a unintended victim being injured or killed if the trap is not set or located properly.

Here is a link that might be useful: Moles vs. voles and how to control them

This past spring, summer, fall (crossed fingers) no mole. Last summer the neighbors to the south put in a big wood fence, drilled lots of holes for posts, think they disturbed the "route" all these moles used for years.

Every day I go examine every inch of the yard for any signs of moles. None!

We have possums, skunks, nutria, raccoons, rabbits, coyotes, and lots of types of birds. Nothing has damaged the yard like that one berserk mole when we first planted. This is a certified wildlife habitat and all is well. The trees are growing and their roots elongating. In fact the ground is beginning to be Root City.

The possum is very welcome because it eats the slugs. It has broken a lot of branches in the back corner Prairie Cascade Willow but hopefully the willow will recover. Will be doing a lot of pruning in January when it is cold and the trees dormant.

I am excited about the future year when the trees are so mature and established that a mole cannot hurt this yard. Not there yet. 2 years 10 months since 1st 200 trees planted. Almost 3 years!

We will have a huge celebration this coming New Years to mark the 3 years-in-the-ground milestone!

The Moles vs Voles link is very good gardengal48, thank you for replying to my post!
We have tunnels everywhere under the grass, (Moles) AND we have damage to many young trees where the ground meets the base plus sweet potato damage and "missing tulips," (voles) We knew we were dealing with both.
We'll try the methods listed for the voles and check into the trap directions locally.
I hope to return with some victory stories! Thanks again! All help and advise is very appreciated.