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Nicepix

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Everything posted by Nicepix

  1. Nicepix
    I wouldn't use them as my mainstay traps. They are useful in shallow runs where the turf has been pushed up and in tight spots like patios or path edges when concrete gets in the way of conventional traps. You can set them prior to going out and carefully lay them in a box ready set. I use an ice cream tub and sometimes have a dozen or so ready for use. The trigger has to be pushed back to operate the trap so if the traps are carried so they don't slide about they'll stay set. Make sure the triggers are tied on though and mind your fingers when you pick them up.
  2. Nicepix
    My patch is about 40 miles radius and I sometimes have traps in three or four departments. The customer pays my travelling fees so its no bother. I've just bought a van specifically for the job as I was putting to much on the car.
  3. Nicepix
    I work it out on two factors; the first being the distance I have to travel to the job based on three visits and then the size of the area to be cleared. If I need to do extra visits I schedule them in for when I'm in the area on other jobs and stand them myself. It doesn't happen often enough to be a problem. On the plus side, I sometimes get two or more jobs in the same general area and so make a bit on the travelling fees. The average price is €160 and it doesn't matter whether it is for one mole or twenty-one.
  4. Nicepix
    Well, I'm going to have to up my trap setting rate tomorrow. Seven visits, three of them new jobs, two checks and two completions, all in a 300km round trip.
  5. Nicepix
    Regards what Perthshire Keeper put earlier about walking back along the line of set traps and picking up trapped moles. I've done similar myself. Walked back to the start and re-traced my steps and I'll often find recently dead moles. In another job I set a Talpex, walked a few yards away, probed, found a tunnel, dug into it and saw the first trap go off. So my theory is that the setting process disturbs some moles and can cause them to panic and run into the traps. Does anyone else share this or have you got other ideas?
  6. Nicepix
    "but ive seen enough redundant Beagle traps to build a small wall" ha ha & theyve been endorsed by a "master molecatcher" from the "guild" too,....lol Obviously the power of marketing confirms that there really is one born every minute. People want to believe and this guy knows how to present something they think that they need even if it turns out to be a crock of schite. He guarantees the traps and will replace any where people complain. But when you imagine how much profit he's making at fifteen quid a trap he can afford to massage a few disgruntled egos.
  7. Nicepix
    I used Torchey's method of setting Putanges on their side the other day. Got back to check them today and one had a nice clean capture; chest and spine. It's nice to know that it didn't have the inconvenience of having to turn sideways to take its last breath. Cheers Torchey.
  8. Nicepix
    I'm much more of a Mickey-Mouse operation. 60 traps max in a day on a a farm is enough for me. It is amazing how some traps catch time and time again though isn't it? I did a job recently in a 2 acre garden and took 7 moles from 10 traps out in 2 visits, one trap catching a single and a double. I left 4 traps in and checked them a few days later and there were 5 moles trapped including 2 in the trap that had previously caught a double. A few days later, another 4 with the same trap throwing up another double. There were 3 last time I checked with that same trap accounting for another 1.
  9. Nicepix
    That would explain the all the expat customers... Over this side the major pests are the rat-taupiers I got a job out Civray way, about 50km west of here. I was an hour early and the customer wasn't home and so I walked around the garden looking for molehills. All I could find were a few small mounds that weren't like any molehills I'd seen. Turned out there were no moles, the 'mole' hills were made by the rat taupier. I got two in the Putanges. I also trap Lerots in summer when they use mole tunnels to access fallen fruit. Do you ever get asked to get rid of stone martens? Wir
  10. Nicepix
    I didn't keep them for long. But if my mate ever comes across his I will let you know and post one over.
  11. Nicepix
    Well, thats not what Cambridgeshire mole catcher David Anderson (cambridgeshiremolecatcher.co.uk) who has been accredited as a 'master mole catcher' by the Guild of Master Mole Catchers thinks. http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Doing-battle-Mr-Mole/story-25427100-detail/story.html TC Yes, I noticed that they had a 'Master Mole Catcher' on board. Strange thing is that they never posted my review of the trap. Can't think why
  12. Nicepix
    I keep coming across those green plastic Beagle 'Easy Set' traps. One of my customers had three and while I was waiting for him to come home one afternoon I set about playing with them. They were God awful and it would take a Shire Horse to trigger the trap. Also, I noticed that the profile of the trap was square, not round like a mole tunnel (I pride myself on being observant), and had unnecessary corrugated ridges along the bottom that would be guaranteed to alert Mr. Mole as he tripped over them. When the customer arrived to pay me he let me take the traps free gratis. I got them home a
  13. Nicepix
    16, but only a few klicks from 87. I do jobs in 16, 24, 79, 86 & 87, a 60km radius from home.
  14. Nicepix
    20 traps for one mole was maybe a bit overkill,5 traps placed at a slower pace and in the right place would have been my method. I certainly wouldn't be happy with a catch ratio like you what got on that job. Thing is, I would probably set a lot of traps in that situation on my first visit. I've done a garden of one acre riddled with 60+ tumps and taken just one mole out, and there's been no more activity for almost a year. Go back a year later, put four traps in and kill the new resident. Job done. But I've done a similar sized garden with half the number of tumps and taken 19 out.
  15. Nicepix
    20 an hour? I couldn't imagine setting traps at that sort of rate. For a large garden job I'll take 10 Duffus, 4 Talpex and a box of Putanges in my basket and carry out a couple of trays of traps and covers and leave them somewhere handy in the garden. Once I'm out of the traps in my basket I'll re-fill from the trays. On a farm job I usually load a fishing trolley with around 60 traps and covers and drag that into the field and keep re-filling from it. With all the walking about to and fro 60 is the maximum I'll put out in a day and that usually takes about 6 hours including stopping for
  16. Nicepix
    On a first visit to a new client I'll catch an average of 9 or 10 moles per job in three visits; Monday to set, Wednesday to check and Friday to lift and finish off. Re-visits can be as few as 4 or 5 traps but I've only once set 3 traps and finished the job in 2 visits. I usually allow for 10 traps per hour. I'd rather do 3 or 4 garden jobs than 1 farm job any day. Clients usually leave me to get on with it and in a lot of cases they aren't in the country when I visit. I get loads of requests from people with lock up holiday homes who have been alerted by their gardener or keyholder to the
  17. Nicepix
    My garden jobs out here average between an acre and over three acres - 15 to 40 traps. If you can do them in half an hour I'll set you on.
  18. Nicepix
    I reckon that I average around 10 to 12 traps an hour in larger gardens or paddocks using a combination of Duffus, Talpex and Putanges. Over 90% of my traps are set in grass. What is your rate of setting traps?
  19. Nicepix
    I've put some Putanges in sideways today - that is prongs horizontal. I'll be interested to see how they fair against the usual prongs up method. As far as frost goes it seems like we've almost seen the back of it. Last one is forecast for tonight and that will only be -1C. Other than a job at an old watermill that is hidden away in a valley, all the other jobs have been in warm soil. Thought I heard a cuckoo today. When I checked the ex-pat forums it seems that I'm not the only one. And there have been several flocks of cranes migrating north today. That's way ahead of schedule and cr
  20. Nicepix
    Just google 'English French Translator' or 'French English Translator', all acording to which way you want to translate, and you'll have no problems. Works with any language. Trouble is you end up sounding like the policeman in 'Allo, 'Allo
  21. Nicepix
    I've just done a small garden job this morning. The sun is out for the first time for a few days and so the ground is softening up. I started in the sunniest corner, found the deeper commuting runs and popped some Flatpacks in with insulation over as it will drop to zero overnight. Got home two hours after setting off Normally I have an hour each way travelling. Details of two more jobs on the notepad that came in while I was out. Happy days.
  22. Nicepix
    If you overcomplicate it you'll end up with a Trapline
  23. Nicepix
    I put the trigger around 1" back from the prongs. Every mole is trapped between the skull and just behind the shoulders. I've not had a single foul capture using these traps. If I put the trigger further back it would widen the prongs, but the further back you put them, the greater the pressure on the trigger and the harder it is to trip it. The Putanges I use now are a lot stronger than the ones available in some shops. I don't have a micrometer to check, but I reckon the metal is thicker on these traps than the cheaper type, but it might be down to the quality of metal used. I put them p
  24. Nicepix
    Good advice. I've been putting them in on their backs as that is how the locals do it, but thinking about it now sideways makes more sense. Strange how I knew what the problem was, but didn't see the solution. What a silly bunt! LOL Thinking about it, I'll bet that the local pro's put the traps on their backs, prongs up, so that they can put the rods in through the eyes to secure the traps and mark their position. I'll start to put them in on their sides and let you know how I get on. Thanks.
  25. Nicepix
    Yep. In the case of a trap set prongs up the mole sometimes turns sideways, scrapers up and down in line with the prongs and is caught that way. If you set the prongs horizontal the mole doesn't need to turn as its scrapers fit between the prongs more easily. We are achieving the same results.
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