The Problem Mole

[Nicepix 5,650]

I'm sure that we all get them at some time, but I still don't know why some moles walk blindly into the traps and a rare few seem to do everything to thwart you.

 

I set some traps in a new customer's garden last week. On the first check I had a double in Putanges in the back garden and all six traps in the front garden had been sprung or dug under. Two pairs of Putanges blocked, two Duffus traps filled with soil and two Talpex sprung with no body. Same the next time except the back garden was clear. I'd lowered the traps after clearing out the holes as normal, but the mole went even deeper and managed to spring both Talpex again. I haven't had this for months, probably over a year.

 

I'd set the Talpex as per the J Darcy method which has been much more reliable than the method I'd previously been using, i.e. filling the trap with loose soil. The last time I visited though I went back to the old method and also put the Putanges in upside down, prongs down, just to try something different. I thought about putting the Duffus traps in upside down too, but decided against it

 

Called today and was heartened to find the first two traps were clean and undisturbed. You just know that there is a body somewhere when that happens, and so it was. In one of the back filled Talpex traps. I kicked the little fecker all over the garden!

 

 

[3175darren 1,101]

It's good when you get the hard ones, it's good to come across them now and again to keep you on your toes,

[Torquemada 288]

...in the back garden and all six traps in the front garden had been sprung or dug under.

How big was the garden? 6 seems a lot unless it was huge. I rarely put down more than 3 in a domestic. I think that too much digging might actually cause the Mole to spook especially if it was close by when you started working.

 

As you say some will take no notice of the digging, but the tricky ones may just be more nervous of activity above ground.

 

Typically if I get one I will leave it a couple of weeks and then put only one or two Traps down when I go back and that usually does the trick.

[Nicepix 5,650]

Gardens are huge out here. And this one has an 180 metre border with a winter wheat field with no wall, fence, ditch or any other obstruction to keep the farmer's moles his side of the legal boundary. It is very, very rare that I get a job with one isolated mole in a garden. I invariably end up trapping moles coming in from adjoining areas too. As in this case.

[shropshire mole 190]

I'm sure that we all get them at some time, but I still don't know why some moles walk blindly into the traps and a rare few seem to do everything to thwart you.

 

I set some traps in a new customer's garden last week. On the first check I had a double in Putanges in the back garden and all six traps in the front garden had been sprung or dug under. Two pairs of Putanges blocked, two Duffus traps filled with soil and two Talpex sprung with no body. Same the next time except the back garden was clear. I'd lowered the traps after clearing out the holes as normal, but the mole went even deeper and managed to spring both Talpex again. I haven't had this for months, probably over a year.

 

I'd set the Talpex as per the J Darcy method which has been much more reliable than the method I'd previously been using, i.e. filling the trap with loose soil. The last time I visited though I went back to the old method and also put the Putanges in upside down, prongs down, just to try something different. I thought about putting the Duffus traps in upside down too, but decided against it

 

Called today and was heartened to find the first two traps were clean and undisturbed. You just know that there is a body somewhere when that happens, and so it was. In one of the back filled Talpex traps. I kicked the little fecker all over the garden!

 

 

Often wondered as to why certain moles seems to know more than I do.

Is it something they have learned or naturally more wary of their surroundings than other moles or there are subtle differences in the way the traps have been placed, but look no different to me.

Be interesting to place cameras in the runs to see what the mole detects and how they go about filling the trap.

 

Luckily even the most determined mole, gives in eventually

[Torquemada 288]

Ah. Yes, bigger gardens than I get. Saying that, I have lost count of the number of time I've had 2 moles out of the 3 Traps.

[Nicepix 5,650]

Two moles ain't going to make much difference to most new jobs I get. The average is 6 to 8 per job and you can never tell when the surprises will turn up. For example last week I had a job in a very small garden of about 800 m2. There was one centre of activity in the main part of the garden and an obvious tunnel across a path in another part of the garden that lead from a rockery to a steep grassed verge about 2 metres wide that dropped down to the road. The verge petered out a few metres uphill and went around a corner bordering the lower part of the garden. I put a Talpex in the main area for the resident and a pair of Putanges in the tunnel at the side of the garden for any nosey neighbours. The Talpex yielded a mole on the first check and then nothing more. The Putanges have had three doubles in three checks. All adults.

 

Another garden of about an acre of bare, short grass, in clay soil, with no trees or bushes to speak of yielded 19 moles from 6 traps in 3 visits. And in the 14 months since, another 29 from three pairs of Putanges. One trap, the one nearest the house facing out towards the boundary has accounted for at least two thirds of that total. And he has barely had a molehill in the last twelve months.

[shropshire mole 190]

Two moles ain't going to make much difference to most new jobs I get. The average is 6 to 8 per job and you can never tell when the surprises will turn up. For example last week I had a job in a very small garden of about 800 m2. There was one centre of activity in the main part of the garden and an obvious tunnel across a path in another part of the garden that lead from a rockery to a steep grassed verge about 2 metres wide that dropped down to the road. The verge petered out a few metres uphill and went around a corner bordering the lower part of the garden. I put a Talpex in the main area for the resident and a pair of Putanges in the tunnel at the side of the garden for any nosey neighbours. The Talpex yielded a mole on the first check and then nothing more. The Putanges have had three doubles in three checks. All adults.

 

Another garden of about an acre of bare, short grass, in clay soil, with no trees or bushes to speak of yielded 19 moles from 6 traps in 3 visits. And in the 14 months since, another 29 from three pairs of Putanges. One trap, the one nearest the house facing out towards the boundary has accounted for at least two thirds of that total. And he has barely had a molehill in the last twelve months.

If you happen to find a well used communual run, then you can catch moles often, and as you mention sometimes little or few mole hills seen above

[J Darcy 5,871]

It's rare I bump into a mole I can't catch, but i did the other week on a golf course. The 'soil' was white sand and the whole place riddled with runs. 6 traps i put in and, sure as eggs is eggs, it made a mistake and ended it's like if the jaws of a trusty talpex...but it took a week......it was a big boar mole, and i think he was doing more rooting about rather than travelling on his established runs.....I was glad to catch him, but sad in a way, as he was a proper challenge!!

[earth-thrower 493]

It's rare I bump into a mole I can't catch, but i did the other week on a golf course. The 'soil' was white sand and the whole place riddled with runs. 6 traps i put in and, sure as eggs is eggs, it made a mistake and ended it's like if the jaws of a trusty talpex...but it took a week......it was a big boar mole, and i think he was doing more rooting about rather than travelling on his established runs.....I was glad to catch him, but sad in a way, as he was a proper challenge!!

I tend to think, there cant be alot of 'grub' , for them, in real 'sandy soil' ?,....no wonder, they have too do more "rooting about", in it,....lol

Edited April 7, 2016 by earth-thrower