02 August 2010

Moles.................

I have had a tremendous problem with moles.  They have devastated my garden (so far my precious tomatoes have survived the onslaught) destroying my pea patch, my lettuces, and are working hard on everything else.  The green beans and the cucumbers are doing OK, so far, as I planted them along the fence and inside open-ended gallon tin cans.  I think the only reason they are making it is because Mr. Mole doesn't have a clear path in which to burrow and those cans are confusing him.  Maybe. 
Anywho, I called our local county agricultural agent and asked him a few questions.  Do those little windmills that you place in the ground and vibrate when the wind blows keep moles away?  In a word, no.  He also said that trying to drown them by placing a hose down the tunnels doesn't work either.  My idea of hooking up a hose to my car's exhaust and gassing them with carbon monoxide brought a chuckle from him, and he said nothing really works except trapping them.  Yuck. He said moles make extensive tunnels over a 1/4 acre area and are capable of digging 60 -80 feet an hour.  Holy cats! No wonder water and gas don't have much of a success rate.  His suggestion was a trap called ---- are you ready for this? ---------- the moleinator. Such a cheesy name, but he said it works very well.

No one here locally carried them so I was forced to shop online  (oh darn) and found one on Amazon.  The trick to capturing the mole, I am told, is finding a newly made tunnel, stamping it down, then setting the trap over the ruined tunnel.  When Mr. Mole comes back through checking his network of tunnels, he comes to the ruined tunnel and begins to re-open it. As he burrows through the collapsed tunnel and into the center of the trap, SNAAAAP! He meets his maker.  So this week will be the testing of the Moleinator.  I shall keep you posted.  Thanks for stopping by Two Dogs.  Have a fabulous week.

1 comment:

  1. Let me know what this cage looks like and if it works. Is there only one mole or do they live in groups?

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