Old Wive's Tales & Superstitions

[Nicepix 5,650]

We've all heard them. You won't catch moles if you:

 

Don't wear gloves

Don't weather your traps

Don't rub soil on the triggers

Don't clean soil off the traps before moving them to another area

 

I don't believe them because I have caught moles while not using gloves, with brand new traps straight out of the box, without any soil on the triggers and regularly takes traps up from one job and put them somewhere else still wet and clagged up. But I do have some bug bears that I believe in. for example I hate any grass or leaves getting into the tunnel.

 

What are your do's and don'ts?

[bryn27 89]

Grass or leaves in a tunnel must surely trigger an alarm to moley.

[Matt 160]

 

 

I'm with you on grass and leaves Clive

 

I also wash and check over all my traps between jobs

 

I smoke (too much) and usually whilst I set traps; I wear gloves (only to keep my hands clean) and I've used traps straight out of the box......

 

It must affect my catch rate because I only had 25 moles out of 24 traps today

[outandabout 27]

There's a myth that you won't catch a mole in the feeding area......

 

Like you nicepix, I won't tolerate grass or other detritus - but I don't smooth the base of the run any more. Controversial maybe but I'm still doing just as well.

 

I dug out my grandfathers old scissor traps the other day. They haven't seen the light of day for many years, but to my surprise there was a pack of mothballs in with them! Wonder what old wives tale/theory was behind using those?

[myersbg 1,385]

I'm with you on grass and leaves Clive

 

I also wash and check over all my traps between jobs

 

I smoke (too much) and usually whilst I set traps; I wear gloves (only to keep my hands clean) and I've used traps straight out of the box......

 

It must affect my catch rate because I only had 25 moles out of 24 traps today

 

Same as you mat, i smoke like a chimney,dont think affects my catch rate, i once set a garden with 4 traps that had been on top of the dog cage for over a month and caught 4 moles.

But i have a bugger at the moment in a garden thats been bossing me for over a week and its starting to embarrass me, i will have him though.

 

Brian

[bryn27 89]

Got a job exactly the same pristine landscaped lawns with borders and mature trees.

feckin mole runs 1" under the turf and creates havoc for a couple of days then disappears next door under the conifer hedge. The ground is sludge like and bad to work with, hoping I can get him in a dry bit with the talpex.

[comanche 2,919]

", but to my surprise there was a pack of mothballs in with them! Wonder what old wives tale/theory was behind using those?"

I know some people place moth-balls( You surely need a steady hand to castrate a moth!) as a repellent in the runs, only to find them kicked out the next day and the mole as active as ever. .

Thinking outside the box(or having a daft turn) ;I wonder if placing a trap either side of a moth ball might work. If nothing else I might just have started a new Old Wives' Tale

 

I often wonder if a mole's feeding instinct and the urge to patrol its tunnel overcome some of the arguments about strange scent . I had a job where I caught several moles from an area of soil that was stained by, and smelt of, heating oil following a leak in the tank a few weeks previously.

Edited March 1, 2015 by comanche

[Steve Albano 21]

We have many of the same old wives tales here in the states. One I hear all the time is "put the dead mole back in the mole run and other moles will leave the area". And yet if you check your sets carefully you will often notice that another mole has tunneled right next to a dead mole in a trap. Another that we hear all the time over here is to put chewing gum into the mole and gopher runs and the animals will eat it and will get their digestive tracts blocked up and will die. Of course there's no truth at all to it, but it's amazing how persistent the myth is.

 

"You surely need a steady hand to castrate a moth!" :laugh: :laugh:

 

 

[Mr Muddy 141]

We have many of the same old wives tales here in the states. One I hear all the time is "put the dead mole back in the mole run and other moles will leave the area". And yet if you check your sets carefully you will often notice that another mole has tunneled right next to a dead mole in a trap.

 

 

 

Where I work the live moles are just as likely to eat the dead ones

[myersbg 1,385]

 

We have many of the same old wives tales here in the states. One I hear all the time is "put the dead mole back in the mole run and other moles will leave the area". And yet if you check your sets carefully you will often notice that another mole has tunneled right next to a dead mole in a trap.

Where I work the live moles are just as likely to eat the dead ones

 

Same as

[Dr mole 15]

I used to invariably wash ALL my traps between jobs. Most days I'd have the pressure washer on at the end of the day. Until last summer anyway. Trying to juggle all the mole work and the wasp jobs etc I just didn't get time and seemed to catch just the same as ever. I've never washed a trap since.

[Matt 160]

I used to invariably wash ALL my traps between jobs. Most days I'd have the pressure washer on at the end of the day. Until last summer anyway. Trying to juggle all the mole work and the wasp jobs etc I just didn't get time and seemed to catch just the same as ever. I've never washed a trap since.

 

Wait until you start seeing the corrosion

[Phil Lloyd 10,738]

Matt is right...

Some soils,.especially darn sarf, on the coastal plain,.seem to have a kinda salty effect on the metal..

Facts are, few traps are made from the best steel,.so,..this year I am determined to put aside a real hot day and dip all my traps. I did this many years ago with the Fenns, Imbras and Body Grippers,...

I am convinced that it has saved them from rotting away.

It is curious, but even with the mole traps,.some batches of the same trap, from the same supplier,..corroded badly ? Traps ain't cheap,..they are the tools of our trade, so it makes sense to look after them..

[Nicepix 5,650]

 

I used to invariably wash ALL my traps between jobs. Most days I'd have the pressure washer on at the end of the day. Until last summer anyway. Trying to juggle all the mole work and the wasp jobs etc I just didn't get time and seemed to catch just the same as ever. I've never washed a trap since.

 

Wait until you start seeing the corrosion

 

 

I regularly take them out of one job and put them straight into another location still wet and claggy. And I have only ever washed my traps once and that was last week so I could work on them. Normally I'll just wipe any wet mud off them before I put them in another run or if the mud is dried I test fire one side of the trap and it all drops off. Never had any corrosion, but they are all stainless so I wouldn't expect any.