Many pests exist out there that cause problems for your house or yard. Ants, rats, spiders – they can pop up without warning, leaving you to deal with their removal or extermination. One such problem you may encounter is a yard mole. Most don’t even think of these creatures when imagining a pest in their yard, but the problem is real.
5 Humane Steps on How To Get Rid of Moles in Your Yard
Moles are small, furry animals that spend their time underground. Their large forearms are ideal for digging through the dirt where they burrow, eat earthworms, and stay mostly out of sight. The issues you go through in regards to a mole in your yard are sometimes mild, but sometimes severe. Luckily, there are ways to get rid of the animal.
Keep Moles Away From Your Lawn
Do you want a way to keep moles from even getting into your lawn in the first place? There are some tried and tested ways that people use to repel these pests from even trying to dig up your lawn from the start:- Cat litter: For some reason, moles don’t like cat litter, whether it be the scent or perhaps an accidental taste of it. Pour the litter into any mole holes you find, and the idea is that they’ll move on to another area.
- Blood meal: This product is a deterrent to moles, but great for your yard! Sprinkle the dried blood meal all around the molehills, mixing it into the soil, and make sure to re-apply after a rain.
- Castor Oil: Moles don’t like castor oil. To use it against them, put some in a spray bottle and mix with water, then spray all-around any mole activity in your yard or garden. Using a shovel, stir the dirt around and spray the castor oil mixture in with it to try and get the oil deeper into the ground. For more information click here.
- Cayenne pepper: This spice is unpleasant to many animals and insects, including moles. Mix some with water and liberally spray around your lawn and all-around any dirt mounds the moles have created. As for your garden, be careful to avoid getting too much on your plants, as a concentrated amount of cayenne might hurt them.
Stop These Pests From Digging
Where they invade your backyard? When you’ve got moles invading your yard, you’ve got more than options available to you. Not only can you try and persuade these animals to go off somewhere else, but you can also trap them, and kill them. Whichever one is up to you, but make sure to do research and learn the facts about each option.The gigantic paws on a mole help it to almost swim through the dirt underground. Because the root of the problem with them is all based on the digging, one way to solve the issue is to somehow make them give up the digging, at least in your yard.
One way to stop moles from digging is through a barrier. You can dig a deep trench around your garden and fill it with gravel, then bury dirt over the top of it. Moles won’t want to go through that gravel barrier and will turn around. You can also shove wire mesh or chicken wire into the ground to act as a barrier.
Controlling Moles: a Humane Way to Go About Capturing Moles
Sometimes, using household items to combat your mole problems isn’t good enough. If that’s the case, it’s time to get more serious.If the creatures won’t leave your yard alone, it might time to capture them. By getting a hold of the mole, you can then bring it somewhere else and release it into the wild, perhaps to an open field or forested area.
Moles are similar to a rat in size.Some products to keep in mind when you want to capture a mole:
- Capture and release mole traps: These traps don’t kill the animal, instead of allowing you to catch it for transport to another area. Some look like a cylinder, while others are more box-like, but all use the same trick - a trapdoor that only opens one way. While the mole can easily get inside it, there’s no way to get back out again. Stick the contraption into one of the mole holes and wait for it to crawl inside.
Quick Setup - A bucket: Locate one of the mole tunnels, then dig down deep into the ground right in the middle of it. Bury a bucket in the hole, then cave in the tunnels on either side of the bucket. This will trigger the mole to dig through that caved-in dirt and breakthrough right into where the bucket is set. The goal is that the animal will fall into the bucket and be unable to get out. Make sure to cover the top of the tunnel you’ve disturbed with some plywood or other material, otherwise, the mole won’t want to dig there anymore.
- Flooding: Take a hose and stick into the opening of a molehill. Slowly begin to fill the mole tunnels with water. Keep an eye on the other molehills in your yard and watch for when the animal will escape out of one. Once one appears, snatch it up quickly and put it in a bucket it can’t get out of.
Capturing moles doesn’t have to be an all-day event and is easier than you may think. Click here for more information on catching moles.
- Capture and release mole traps: These traps don’t kill the animal, instead of allowing you to catch it for transport to another area. Some look like a cylinder, while others are more box-like, but all use the same trick - a trapdoor that only opens one way. While the mole can easily get inside it, there’s no way to get back out again. Stick the contraption into one of the mole holes and wait for it to crawl inside.
What to Do When You Need to Exterminate Them
Moles are like any other pest that needs to be taken care of, which means that sometimes they must be killed instead of just removed.And there are many different products on the market that can help you with it:
- Spring loaded traps: Sort of like a mousetrap, these devices are made in different ways but all result in the same thing - killing the mole. You place them either inside a mole tunnel or on the ground just outside one and wait for the trap to be triggered.
- Spike traps: Similar to the spring-loaded traps, these are also triggered by the mole’s movement, but use spikes that stab the mole instead of crushing it.
- Poison: There are different kinds of poisons you can set out in the yard or directly into a molehill. For example, there are fake earthworms you can buy that are tasty to moles, yet full of poison.
Watch your pets, especially dogs, when handling mole removal. Dogs can dig up the dirt and get caught in a mole trap, or maybe ingest some of the mole poison. Try and keep your beloved pets away from anything that can hurt them until the mole problem is taken care of.Although there are many lethal ways to get rid of moles, some people only want to do it the natural way. Click here for more information on getting rid of moles naturally.
Is There a Mole Removal Service I Can Call?
If you’ve got a mole problem and don’t want to go through the hassle of dealing with it yourself, there are services you can call. Pest control companies routinely do mole removal, and there are even companies devoted solely to controlling animals like moles and gophers.
Signs That You’ve Got a Mole in Your Yard
Everyone has heard the saying “Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.” Molehills are a telltale sign that you’ve got the creatures in your yard. When Moles burrow, they use their large paws to dig out so much dirt that it piles up outside the hole. Mounds will also appear over the burrow from the displaced soil.
What brings them here in the first place?
Moles love to eat earthworms. If your yard has an abundance of those, you’ll be more likely to attract a mole.
Other things that attract moles include:
- Moist soil.
- Loose dirt that’s easy to dig through.
- All sorts of insects, including larvae, beetles, crickets, and grubs.
When they’re in your lawn
When moles have invaded your lawn, you’ll be able to tell. Mounds of dirt are left behind when a mole digs beneath the surface and displaces the soil, breaking apart your grass and ruining the roots. You might even notice long lines of dirt, which are evidence of moles making tunnels to travel through.
Besides ruining your lawn, moles can also destroy trees. Although they don’t eat the tree roots, they do disturb the soil around the tree enough to kill them off, resulting in tree damage or death.
Get Them Out of the Garden
Moles don’t like vegetables, flowers, or fruits, so they don’t invade your garden to get at any of your beautiful plants. But because of their subterranean behaviors, they’ll cause indirect damage that will kill off the garden you’ve worked so hard on.
Ways that moles can ruin your garden include:
- Destroying the plant roots underground.
- The mounds of dirt moles create from their burrowing can collapse inward, resulting in a hole or dip in the ground, taking plant life with it.
- Crawling over flower beds or vegetable plants and trampling them.
Moles and other underground pests are so irritating, why capture them when you can kill? For more details on how to kill moles, go here.
The Best Way to Remove Yard Moles
If you’re looking for not just a good way to remove moles, but the best way to remove them, it just depends on what you want.
If it’s a humane option you’re seeking, go with the catch and release traps. These may take a little more effort on your part, but you won’t need to kill the animal. For the quickest way, a lethal trap is most likely going to do the job. If cost is your main concern, go with a buried bucket.
Moles might be furry and adorable, but they sure are annoying. The havoc they churn up underground doesn’t just churn up your lawn, it can destroy your garden and even take down small trees – their presence isn’t something you want to deal with for long. Choose a removal method, put it into play, and get rid of those underground pests for good. It’s time to take your yard back.
I need a professional estimate for getting rid of ground moles in my yard…
call terminx
I spent $400.00 for Terminex to come to my property and was told they would trap and remove the moles. A few days later a kid came out and set some flags, then the next day one came and put some of the worms in the holes. They did this several times. Sold the property a year later and still had the moles..
If juicy fruit works and tbe moles die, will they stink up the yard
Good lord they are underground when they die. How do they smell up the yard?
A friend of mine had the same thing happen. Spent $500 on an exterminator and a few months later had moles again. They are a scam, or just plain expensive to maintain regular services.
As a kid we stuck a hose in hole and flooded them out while all of us about 6 stood near other hole with a shovel they ran out we smacked me. But hear juicy fruit works well from an exterminator friend.
That almost sounds fun. My dad used to wait until he saw the dirt moving then he would hold a 12 gauge shotgun over the movement then blam. It worked but only he had the arms to hold a shotgun vertical and not lose hold of it.
I also wait to see dirt moving and after they have tunneled a foot or two I very carefull out my foot in the tunnel behind them and slowly step down to sort of seal the exit, so to speak, and then….stab them with a pitchfork!!!
OH YA
Moles are totally ruining my yard! Help!
I spent over 1000.00 on baits, traps, and every dang way told to rid my yard of Moles. I bought two boxes of moth balls. I did not disturb the tunnel. Just poke a hole in and drop in the moth ball. About every 6 feet. Moles vanished. Have not returned in a year so far. Had one large spot so I sprinkled crushed moth balls out and watered in the ground. INSTANT results! Traps, expensive methods be dang.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup unrefined castor oil
2 Tbsp dish soap
Directions:
Combine and blend in a blender.
After the first mix, add 6 Tbsp water and blend again.
Take this concentrated mixture and add 2 Tbsp to 1 gallon of water, place in a sprayer and spray liberally in areas where the moles are active and areas that you want to be protected.
This works best in areas where the ground will be watered from time to time. The treatment should last 30-60 days and may need to be reapplied before the moles relocate.
There is another way to do this I learned I a long time ago . Fill a jug up with water and pour it in its hole the mole should get stuck in the jug
Don’t understand why the critter would enter the jug
is this safe for dogs and kids?
I tried the moth balls too, but they did not work for me. The moles actually pushed most of the moth balls back to the surface overnight. I’m beginning to believe there is no guaranteed way to get rid of them.
Make sure they are Naptha moth balls. The newer “safer” moth balls aren’t a deterent.
Call a mole service to come out and get rid of them
is there someone in clarksville TN that can get rid of moles???
$80.00 a month for a service .And 4 bait traps set up in my yard. Still got Moles. Picked up Juice Fruit gum today,I’ll give that try.
I’m hoping this works. We will try it this weekend.
Did the mothballs really work?
YES! I tried them last year with complete success. But you must reapply each season IF they return from your neighbors yard. Interestingly, the mothballs last a very long time underground and work extremely well. I did use 2 mothballs in each spot. They are aggravating creatures and really are destructive, so best of wishes, it does work!
The moth balls keep snakes away too. That might be a good thing, but snakes eat mice. If moth balls deter moles, maybe that’s true for mice.
I’m trying the juicy fruit, yard spray and pellets. If I had a shotgun I’d do that too.
What brand did you use? I have been going crazy with these critters destroying my yard and rock beds!
I am going to try your method pray it works
I need help these things are ruining my whole yard front and back .How do I get rid of them fast ?
Find the tunnel in the pushed up dirt, make sure you find the tunnel and that you have it opened. Once you have the tunnel identified use a propane torch, not lit and fill the tunnel with propane gas. Kills all the moles in that run.
Not so sure just where all those tunnels go….suggestion would be to avoid sparks in the general area of homes tho….
Get some mole and gopher pellets from Lowe yellow cone shaped container
I’ve tried this and it did not work, they just pushed them out of the tunnels
juicyfruit gum. break it in small pieces and put in the holes and tunnels and cover them or step on the dirt. they can’t digest it and they blow up and die in the tunnels, no mess. I did this and didn’t have them for eight years, but, alas, they are back again. so I did it again today. I’m also going to put kitty litter around the perimeter of the yard and hope the neighborhood cats use it, because mole don’t like the smell of cats and will stay away.
They are in my yard, but That’s a really sad & sick way to deal with the situation. They are some little living animal God created. There are greenbelt areas they can be relocated to.
I actually wait to see a mole hill move then blast it with a 12ga shot gun. Works great
I’m all for it. Napalm.
I agree , I am plagued by the little bastards , I mean tore my yard up and around tree and under walkway and bricked. My bricks are falling in after a rain, dog is trying to dig them out as well . I used to use moth balls for snakes and had success. I never thought about using it for moles . I dont want to buy a trap .
I’m with u Sharon. These lil Bastards are going to Die! My dog has my yard all dug up! Can’t take it Anymore
I wonder if ammonia will work
Ammonia works until it rains, then you need to reapply.
Cooler, lawn chair & watch. I’d go for spearing though as shotshells are expensive.
Kool
My husband did that once about 25 years ago ended up in the ER with dirt in his eyes. I do not recommend this remedy cost too much
I use a 22. Works great, mole be gone!! Quick, painless and does not affect my other animals. Win win!!
Yep I’m going hunting early in tomorrow morning. I’m thinking stabbing them with my 3 prong extendable garden tool. That mole is tearing up my new oriental lilies that I have not seen yet.
wow. . .have fun with destruction of your property and a terrible life
And it arieats your lawn!
Get real you goog ball
They obviously haven’t done much damage to your yard, or maybe you don’t have a nice manicured lawn? I don’t know. On the other hand, I do, I CANNOT wait til I kill my first one!
God also created the misquito
They are rodents would you have mice or rats in your house
juicyfruit gum did it for me many years ago, never had another prolem.
My huskie keeps diggjng down about 2 feet and pulling the moles out and killing them.. All of a sudden she starts digging Nd then found baby 3 inch long miles dead near the hole.. I have to fill them but I don’t mind..know I have a place to toss he dog loop and the dead miles..
Did the dead moles in the ground cause a smell ?
something like a dead body in a shallow grave
I tried the Castor Oil solution today not realizing it has to be applied after every rain. It’s not very practical for large area’s plus the OIL & WATER do not mix.
That’s what the dish soap is for. It allows the oil to bond to water molecules. I think it’s called emulsification?
I thought Juicy Fruit gum had to be a joke. (Sorry Suzy ☺) It turns out several people claim this works.
This video says to use gloves so they won’t detect a human sent.
No it does work.. But then you get feild mice moving in and when they come ,they stay… And any kind of gum will work.. Now mice don’t like mint.. So try using mint gum along with some juicy..I won’t use grubworm killer as I have the dogs and rabbits in the yard. Along with the neighbor cats that come thru and try for those moles and field mice
does killing the food supply for the mose work
I have them in my yard bad ready for them to leave.so you say mouth ball’s work.
Put in the holes and tunnels pieces of exlax use the entire box. They will eat it the like the smell of it. The next day they’ll be dead from dehydration.
I use the Columbus method to get rid of moles – discover and land on it. This method requires time and patience, but it is 100 % effective if you’re willing to spend the time. Moles are sensitive to ground vibrations, so will not be active for awhile after you approach. You must then be willing to stand or sit for 20+ minutes and watch for the ground to start moving.When you see the ground moving, jump on that spot with both heels as hard as you can . Then you can dig up your dead mole. In Scotland, people are paid to sit on stools on golf courses to deal with moles. Take a good book, enjoy some sunshine. I forgot to mention, I only go out and wait if I have seen fresh digging. And boy does this behavior shake up the neighbors. What the hell is he doing??
Investigated this method but because the ground is moving at the hill, it doesn’t mean the mole is beneath it. I found the mole can be as far as 18″ away and is pushing the soil along the tunnel, moving the earth at the weakest point.
My tried and tested method is summed up in one word ‘Pee’ save the families pee, mix with equal amounts of water, pour over the newly created hill and feel smug! Pee’d off to far away places…Yesssss!!!
If that were the case they would set off traps way before they get to them and I’m having success with mine.
They arent as far away as 18″, however, they could be down pretty low or off at any angle to the sides. I regularly use the “stand and wait with a shovel” method, popped up 2 last month. If i see a fresh hill moving, I wait until a few seconds after it stops, brush the dirt of and see which way the mole is coming from. Did this today and found he was coming from straight underneath! Totally missed him! With a good 6-8′ deep shovel size hole I waited…had a garden hose at the ready, as soon as the dirt started moving i shoved that hose in full blast, felt him pushing against my hose and trying to get out so he didnt drown, I let him climb up passed the hose and WHAM, shovels happen.
Bruce, my dad taught me a similar method. He observes the mounds for a bit to see where there is fresh dirt pushed up. (You can tell, because the dirt is not dried out in the new part of the trail from exposure to the air.) Then you take a hoe or shovel and stand at the fresh dirt until you see movement (the dirt actively being pushed up from below). While the moles are digging, chop your hoe/shovel into the old path about six or eight inches behind where the dirt is coming up. This will allow you to use the hoe/shovel to flip them up onto the ground. From that point on, what you do to them is completely up to you. My father would always kill them. I prefer to use my hoe to flip them into my five gallon bucket (which also serves as a stool to sit on while I am waiting) and then I take the bucket to the woods and turn the mole loose. There’s plenty of stuff for them to eat in the woods and they can’t really cause any harm there. Be mindful when you are preparing to chop into the ground that they travel quickly through the trails that they have already dug so that is why you chop behind them instead of in front of them where they are still trying to dig. Also, if you prefer to release them into the wild, they move quickly on top of the ground as well, so keep an eye out.
has anyone ever heard of moles eating yucca plants? This winter I discovered six of the yucca plants in my yard have been invaded at the roots, not to mention the yard is filled with mole hills .does anyone have a solution to this problem I would be so appreciative.Thank you
moles do not eat plants they eat bugs… worms… and sometimes small mice… the reason your plants are dying is because their tunnels are being used by other small animals who DO eat plants… and/or as they create tunnels near or next to your plants they are moving dirt and soil away from the roots of your plants which deprive the plant of what it needs to survive.
Very good explanation! Here’s your gold star⭐
sorry man they enjoy our carrots and potatoes
Voles eat plants
moles eat bugs. Gopher eat roots and plants. Feed them whatever stuffed with ground up glass. Dead rodent fast.
Spread Agricultural lime also called sweet lime on your yard, Moles will leave, Been using this method for years.
How do you spread the lime? Mixed in water or dry? Does it bother the plants? They are eating my hostas from the roots underground all winter, and a good section of our lawn. I want them gone!
Most yard lime can be spread with a Scott fertilizer spreader, lay it down before rains to let it soak into the ground, it’s caustic so use gloves, plus lime is really good for your yard, usaly most new lawns need lime
Do you pellet lime or powder
Moles don’t eat plants. Only insects-worms and grubs
Hahaha
can you tell me where to buy sweet lime and is it under any other name ??
I have a dog that senses the moles under ground and digs them up he goes nuts but is very good at extermination .
Yeah, we have had two different dogs that hated moles. Both of them would find the moles, dig them up and put them on the ground then stand on them with one paw and bark until I would come out and dispense with the mole.
I had two dachshunds who would hunt moles. My female was the one who was the real catcher though. She would get them and shake them until she killed them. Dachshunds were bred to be badger hunters so this doesn’t surprise me. I lost my female six months ago at the age of fifteen. I raised her from six weeks old. She was an amazing dog.
This article has many errors. Castor oil in an form does not repel moles. The one study done at Michigan by an entomologist (bug person) that led to the rage has never been able to be duplicated….faulty research. Lime, moth balls, poison peanuts, tail pipe exhaust, flooding, juicy fruit gum, sonic sound devices, etc, etc, etc do NOT work. Other than killing your environment, the ONLY effective mole control is trapping and generally by someone that know what they are doing. Oh, and so you trap them and get rid of them—- well, surrounding moles (did you know they are territorial?) quickly determine the territory is mole free and move in to expand their area and population! Good luck!
I do not have them in my yard yet. They are right at the fence line. I have trapped seven total and their is still fresh mounds coming up. I use a rat trap and peanut butter. No end in sight.
Kill Traps work, 100% as long as you put them in the correct place, over an active tunnel that you have stepped on so the mole has to clear it out and thus triggers the trap and BAM, it is dead.
The only thing that worked for me is traps. However, one
can flatten mole tunnels and mole hills…even add rocks to
their tunnels and they tend to either leave or go with much
deeper tunnels as not to bother your yard surface.
Flooding can work, kind of. On an active hill (meaning mole was pushing dirt up as i did this) I turned on the hose full blast and had the mole pushing up and against my garden hose so he wouldnt drown, i slowly let him push and push until he was out and killed him. Yes they are territorial, usually a few weeks to a month later I will have the FNG move in and start new mole runs. I agree that sonic devices are BS, used plenty and had moles literally making mounds of dirt around them. GRRRR.
Well, there is another effective mole control; natural predators like fox, cats, and other hunters. I guess if you sit in your yard with a shotgun 24/7 and watch for an evolving run, that would be effective, too. Just not very practical. 🙂
What can we used to kill modes an not hurt or kill my 3dogs
ABSOLUTELY DO NOT USE ANY POISON BAITS!!! It is very dangerous as the dogs will smell it, dig it up and eat it thus poisoning themselves. If you have a dog panting very hard that will not drink milk, get it to an emergency vet immediately as it is highly likely it has been poisoned. IF you can’t get a vet, pack it in ice and give it plenty of water or call a vet and ask their advice which is best. Don’t DIY if there is anyway around it and you can get to a vet. Good Luck!
what is the most cheapest way to get rid of moles without harming my german shepard
i have used ” Fumitabs” very successfully in Port Elizabeth SA. You buy 6 tablets in a box . They are actually for bees, cockroaches etc. Ensure all mole hills are flattened, then Dig a hole 6 inches square around 1 mole hole . get 2 bricks and put to one side . Light 2 Fumitabs in the hole ( ensuring the entrance to the mole hole is open) They give off an amazing amount of dangerous smoke- quickly put the bricks over the opening and cover with the loose soil you took out the ground.You must stop the smoke from escaping out the hole . The smoke goes through the myriad of passages and effectively fumigates the moles. If it does not work 1st time , redo. It works.
Hi
Does this method have any adverse effects on the lawn/garden or pets in your experience? Why not just shove a Doom Fogger nozzle first down the hole?
I don’t know about ‘Fumitab’ but in general my experience with the gasses generated by these kind of things is that grasses and small plants will be adversely affected. Pun unintended but this is a case of ‘pick your poison’; continued devastation of lawn and garden caused by moles or damage caused by gassing.
To be sure, the gassing causes less problems (and narrowly confined to where the tunnels are) and only once (if effective) until other moles intrude upon the now unoccupied territory (your now mole-less lawn). More problematic for me was the effect the tunnels were having on mature fruit trees. Apparently the tree roots were deprived of soil and nutrients as the roots hung down into the tunnels. Since the food source of moles lived in and around the roots, these areas became the favorite for moles. Once the moles had been eradicated and soil replaced, the trees began to thrive again. I nearly lost several healthy mature fruit trees. I also lost several rose bushes in the same manner.
Hi,
I live in P E and have a Big problem with creeping moles.
Please contact me, as I would like to discuss the matter of Fumitabes with you
I have a big problem with them as well
I have a mole that is on steriots or something. I have tried eveything no luck. He seems to love and trive on it. Where can I get this stuff. I am in Durban. I am really loosing home to get rid of this child of Satan …LOL
.. Help if you can. Tx. Anita
Fumitabs (available from ” Builders express / warehouse – gardening dept) had some success (see my previous post for method). Of late i have been using LP gas with more success (method – open hole put pipe from gas cylinder in hole – about 6 inches into hole – seal well with soil where pipe enters ground – ensure any other mole heaps in area are flattend and sealed and turn gas on at the cylinder key. – leave for hours – i do it for 4- 8 hours .NO MATCHES OR LIGHTERS USED – GAS MUST BE JUST FREELY COMING OUT OF PIPE. bit expensive but it worked! This method does not work for surface / creeping moles – only works with deep ground moles.Please note this worked for me a few times- very lush lawns. In SA ( Port Elizabeth- drought!! at present ground will be rock hard( unless you have a borehole!) and moles i find have gone on holiday elsewhere.
Peter
ground glass. smash it and stuff it inside a bug or worm. Works every time.
Here in South Africa on the Cape coast. We just arrived here from Johannesbug and we have a mole problem. I remember from years ago in Jhb, a friend of mine told me about this trick. You cut a potato in half and stuff Rattex pellets into the potato halves, wrap the potato in newspaper and push them into the hole ( I never found out why you wrap them in newspaper). I remember it worked in Jhb but moles weren’t a serious problem there. Here, they’re much worse. By the way, Rattex is a SA product for killing rats and mice. I think the active ingredient is warfarin.
used juicy fruit gum worked very well last year in back yard, now have them in front yard after heavy rains, using juicy fruit again and going to try moth balls and pinwheels to create vibration to see if that works
I just spent $$ DIY landscaping my back yard myself. Once complete, my dog started digging. At first I thought with the Cicada invasion this year, that is what he was after. It wasn’t until over the weekend and spending much time outside, that I noticed raised mulch. When I stepped down on those areas, it collapsed. There was no digging by the dog prior to landscaping and no raised mounds from moles either. What would cause moles to set up camp in these areas. Seemingly, these areas of my yard only? Any Ideas. BTW. I only planted 2 plants.
They may have already been there, just had very deep tunnels. You have probably added loose soil that is easy to push through and from watering or something you now have yummy earthworms. My moles had been ‘dormant’ this summer until i did a little landscaping and reseeding grass with lots of water. That brought out earthworms and loose soil…friends to moles 🙁
I watch the mole holes and tunnels and when I see movement, I open fire with a .22 LR semi-auto pistol, killing the mole. Shooting moles works great.
I stamped down the tunnels. Went back, put the garden hose in the yard with no sprinkle. Came back in an hour focused the stream of water on the new tunnels. Mole came out and I took care of the problem. Three moles taken care with about 30 mins of work.
Sorry….I just find that way too hard to believe
Can be done, every mole is a little different, every lawn is a little different (clay or loose topsoil and such), every method will be effective or not. I’ve used traps, garden hose to force them out, worm baits. Some mole tunnels are insanely deep and cannot be flooded as it moves to lower areas while mole shoots off to the side tunnel and heads for high ground. I’ve been fighting them off and on for 5 years…no thanks to the cow pasture/hay field behind my house, plenty of room for them to respawn, haha.
Moles favorite food is grub worms. You could try some Grub X. My husband gets them out with his pickax. Dusk or dawn is the best time to see them working, or rainy days. Just watch for about 10 min to see which direction they are tunneling and get behind them. He throws them 10 feet in the air! Yeah, hubby. Neighbor dog takes the evidence.
Find an active tunnel by looking for a fresh dirt mound. Open the top of the mound and put a garden hose inside. Turn on the water. Wait a few minutes and the mole will pop out of the flooded tunnel. Just be ready with a shovel and bucket to catch them. They are fast. i have done this numerous times and it has never failed.
Nope…that doesn’t work either
I have trapped 25 so far with the “victor out o’sight mole trap” in the last year. They are easy to use, just crush the active tunnel with your heel and press it in place after a good rain. At 10 bucks a piece I bought 15 of them. No muss, no fuss. I didn’t have good luck using their instructions and learned how to do it best “YouTube” style. I did try sonic repellent, poison worms, 2 different professional exterminators, juicy fruit gum, castor oil, feral cats, fumigators and Russian Unicorns with laser beams, but not a single one worked until I started using the right trap.
Coffee grounds works great, just put them at the holes. I also throw the grounds around the yard, good for the yard and moles don’t like them
Household bleach. A bunch of moles hit our backyard and in a matter of a week pretty much ruined the yard. I used the spear type trap and got one, but by that time we probably had 4-5 active. My landscaper came to renew the lawn and used about a cup of household bleach down a funnel into their burrow and air holes (4-5 in our yard). Covered the holes with dirt after the bleach was poured in. I don’t know if the moles died or left, but there are no new holes or any action in the yard.
Household bleach worked for me. The mole disappeared after one day
Creosote on a rag stuffed into their run does the trick for me!
I have 2 Jack Russell’s, no more moles now! These dogs are mole killers.
I read lots of contradicting views, what is the verdict? My garden is completely ruined. What can I use to keep the moles away. Can I combine castor oil, dishwashing soap and bleach to spray or pour into the holes?
Will paving help?
Paving doesn’t really help, it just hides their activity. I used 10 gallons of castor oil on a 10,000 square foot lawn with no effect. Even at 10 times the recommended dose, zero effect. You have to trap them and walk the yard every day to find new runs. I have 15 traps on hand and I’ll use multiple per active run and it works well. I use the steel Victor Out of Sight traps.
I just read 5 or 6 ideas and comments that the idea did not work,
I like the shotgun idea but live in town. I don’t think the local police wold be happy. Guess I’ll try Juicy Fruit gum, Castor oil, bleach and Lime.
Sounds like a deadly mixture
Im sick of it i have 5 mole traps in and yet still makeing fresh earth hills , im now golng 2 put jays fluid and meths spirts in the holes no animals so lets see never had this problem in 34 years of living in my house
it feels good to know i’m not the only one who has lost it.
We’re having terrible problems with moles in our yard! Not sure which methods to try. It sounds like none of them are reall very effective.
Here’s what I’ve found effective….Find an active hole, bair a rat trap with natural peanut butter and set trap a few inches from hole. Put a box over trap with cut out ends, to keep nosy birds and squirrels away. Check back daily. I’ve removed MANY with this simple method…
Here’s what I’ve found effective….Find an active hole, bait a rat trap with natural peanut butter and set trap a few inches from hole. Put a box over trap with cut out ends, to keep nosy birds and squirrels away. Check back daily. I’ve removed MANY with this simple method…
I have 5 acres of torn up, mole-infested yard. I also have 2 dogs (who are useless when it comes to catching moles, by the way), ducks and a small child. Sounds to me like lime, bleach, fuming insect gasses and moth balls are out because they are harmful to my child and pets. So, what? Juicy fruit gum? Live traps would be a full-time job in my yard and the .22 methos……Probably not a good idea since I’m legally blind. Any help out there? Please? I’m getting desperate!
Ricki, My exterminator recommends a smoke bomb for moles. The Giant Destroyer is a common one that works good. Here is a to YouTube video on how to use them.
I look first for the air hole. All moles need air to breath, so they have one hole without a mound that is used to allow air into the tunnel complex. If I can’t find the air hole, I’ll brush off the dirt mound with my gloved hand and poke with my finger or a stick to find the hole, open it up a little, then insert the lit smoke bomb into the hole and cover up the entrance to the hole with soil. Look for the smoke to come up from another hole and treat that one too.
I’m serious, this works….Find an active hole, bait a rat trap with natural peanut butter and set trap a few inches from hole. Put a box over trap with cut out ends, to keep nosy birds and squirrels away. Check back daily. I’ve removed MANY with this simple method…
Thanks. I will try this. Does this method kill the moles? I don’t want to relocate them because they’ll just come back here! I’m an animal lover and don’t like the idea of killing them either but at a loss as to how to just chase them out and keep them out of my yard. Moles suck! Ha
Ya it kills them instantly!
I’m serious, this works….Find an active hole, bait a rat trap with natural peanut butter and set trap a few inches from hole. Put a box over trap with cut out ends, to keep nosy birds and squirrels away. Check back daily. I’ve removed MANY with this simple method…
Rat traps kill them instantly. I have Bobcats and Red Foxes making nightly forays to my yard in search of the tidbits I leave them. (When the grounds not frozen over)….
The rattrap method is good drive nails thru the bottom of the rattrap so they stick up where the spring snaps down on them and wire them to something so they cant get away,check daily….
Juicy fruit gum it is! My dogs also torture the heck out of moles when they catch them so I put the miles out of misery with one swift shovel smack.
Okay sounds like I will try the rat traps. FYI, I have tried Juicy Fruit, Moth Balls, & smoke bombs with no luck. Castor Oil did work for one season. I’m no good at setting mole traps. Last year I chased 5 out with the garden hose. But I think I have a couple GrandDaddy’s as the mounds are sometimes 10″ tall. I will keep you all posted:)
Arena Granular insecticide, not cheap but will reduce mole activity by as much as 80 percent in first year. Apply in June, and follow instructions on label.
Well, I’ve read all of the comments & decided to put my 2 cents in as I
tried the gum, the sonic sticks pinwheels smoke bomb moth balls to NO
avail. Put the traps with peanut butter + oatmeal covered all with a bucket then put a heavy brick on top. If I hadn’t seen this myself, I
wouldn’t believe it. A damn raccoon approached the bucket, took the brick off tipped the bucket, snapped the trap then ate the bait. I also added de-con into peanut butter -Oh well haven’t seen him back!! Try
to kill a mole & missed!!
Yes, I had a squirrel knock over a box and the last I saw it was running back into the woods with my four dollar rat trap stuck on his nose.
However, my yard is now mole free and when I do see an active hole its only for a day or two, as the moles are suckers for PB!
Find a active tunnel. Push the raised soil back down with a broom stick,then put your weight on it to flatten the tunnel. The next day keep an eye on the tunnel (being retired helps) if a small area is raised chances are he is re-opening the tunnel. Stand there with a shovel, when the earth moves get behind it a few inches dig down quickly and flip him out, I have elimanated thirteen of these little #&*%$# critters to date.
Use a grubworm killer…that is what the moles are after. Been doing it for years…lasts about six months….dry grvranul.
Won’t use poisen in my hard.. My dog, the neighborhood cats that come thru and nice and even ho after the moles and chipmunks.. And then the bunnies that have a nest in my yard
No prob…I have multiple dogs in yard, nvr been an issue. One time spread, soaks in first rain…or watering. 6 months min….just depends on how bad you want them out.
gasoline people!!. stop complicating the solution. which breathing organism can withstand the smell of gasoline? the smoking them out method is the same thing. find the hole, pour gasoline in it, cover it up. since its petroleum based, it stays in the soil for a longer period. all animals hate the smell of gasoline including us. keep it simple people!!
also kills the grass!!!!
The comments here are a riot. I read some of them to my wife and she didn’t see the humor. Tomorrow it’s going to be war. I went to Hime Depot got a trap and a bag to kill grubs. I have a 12 gauge shotgun, a 306 deer rifle under my bed and a 38 pistol in my sock drawer. If all that fails I will use the water hose and shovel over their heads.
I’m laughing at all the replies. Funny stuff y’all. Looking forward to tomorrow’s task of taking on the moles. Hate those things. Florida St. Augustine grass (weed) !! Had woodchuck issue up north and water hose worked on one with shovel waiting. Another I used a muskrat trap and a 22 once I pulled it out from under porch on the chain.. Think I’m going to try the rat trap with PB over night.
I farm put lime on fields no moles. None in my yard either.
Which type of lime?
Get the cheap little wooden mouse traps that have springs and put peanut butter on them and you will have killed one. Buy several
I have heard that Moles and Pees go together, or so I am told. What you do is by a can of Pees, any national brand like Hunts, Monsanto, ect.
To rid the yard of the mole, open the can and spread the Pees evenly around the hole. Get a lawn chair and sit near the hole and wait. I have heard tat they take a pee about 20 times day. So why not wait until the mole takes a pee…then whack him…They always take a pee…or is that a pea..
You folks are killing me! I can’t stop laughing. By the time I gather the arsenal, get myself situated with all the necessary equipment, I will have to work quickly because my neighbors are going to have called those guys in the white coats to come get me!! Truth being, I am desperate to find a way to destroy these guys like they are destroying my yard! Today I tried the castor oil and liquid soap. Don’t know how that will work. On top of the moles I now have an armadillo that I am sure is also searching for the mole! What kind of advice can you offer for moles and armadillo’s??? Double trouble is what I have!
Well, I haven’t seen this advice yet. I carefully find the hole under the mound. ( not easy). Then turn a bottle of any kind of beer, long neck bottle, upside down and let it drain in the hole. You can tell when you are in a tunnel because it will drain out without any beer coming above ground. Do all the mounds at once. Then just stay on top of any new ones. This worked for me. That’s how we do it here on Oklahoma!
I am going to comment before and after my own idea, which I’ve yet to try and could not read all of the above so we’ll see if it’s been done. I am going to boil water and down the hatch or maybe turn my water heater up to girlfriends spending the weekend temp and I’m gonna boil these pricks. I hope.
I need to get my molars taken out, how do I do this? Will Juicy Fruit work?
Reading all these posts sure has been entertaining! I also have a mole problem but my yard is almost 4 acres and I can’t afford to treat it all with moth balls, grub control, castor oil, etc. One thing I didn’t see tried are those Solar Mole Spikes that vibrate and are supposed to be effective in a 5000 sq ft area? Has anyone tried those things? I’m thinking just a few of those could take care of a big yard. I have some beer but I hate to waste it on moles. Let them get their own! LOL
i can vouch the yellow cone poison pellets are a waste if money…castor oil recipes just seem to drive them into other areas of the lawn… i will try the bleach next… about at my wits end… these moles are churning up my lawn agrass and plants
Another method guaranteed to work: get a hammer and a wad of chewing tobacco. Put the tobacco in a tunnel. When the mole comes up to spit, hit him in the head with the hammer.
Kill everything, use roundup and chlordane and saturate your yard, cut down all your trees and plants, then call Redimix and have them pave the whole damn thing all over. 100% guarantee you’ll have no moles back. That’s what Trump would do…. I asked him
Now if we could disinfect ourselves of ignorant Hitlery drones….
Hilarious…. but the damned things keep coming back. Killed 11 years of hard work in one garden.
How do get rid of things? Pave over it, wall them out, use poisons and toxins, blast them with bombs, shotgun shells, and bullets, guillotine traps, and any other inhumane and violent way possible imagined …. and I’m called ignorant?
I don’t have any moles, I don’t use toxic pesticides, poisons, traps, guns, or bombs. Yep, I’m the ignorant one alright. Newsflash, Zen living is a great practice; Non-violent, harmony, and peaceful living among all living things …. amazingly discovering that the less harm one does to nature the less harm nature does to one.
I say that you irritated by the presence of these moles are suffering from your own neglectful and selfish ways of living and just don’t get it… so poison everything, cut it all down, and cover it with concrete and asphalt because as we all know …. greed matters more then peace and harmony
Sorry Ernaldo, I’d vote Bern or third party Libs before I’d vote Hillary, so now go take shooting practice and kill some defenseless animals after you spray poison your lawn, and our drinking water …btw, thanks
I don’t need to shoot them, I take advantage of THEIR greed and selfishness. Like any socialist slob, they can’t pass up a freebie, I offer it in a peanut butter baited rat trap. I have a mole free lawn, and when one shows I get it fast….then feed the local fox. I’m doing my duty and not whining about what others don’t do……Cheers!
Crush up some florescent lights, drop it in the tunnel and fill with dirt.
No more moles.
I’ve tried using the tomcat foot activated traps which didn’t work for me, the tomcat worms which have been consumed but I still have moles. I’ve popped two out of the ground with a shovel and I currently have a victor out of sight steel trap in the flower bed hoping that they’ll trigger it soon. I’ve used the rat traps to catch the 8 voles that followed the moles but I’ve never had a mole get into one. I’m still waiting for the perfect solution…I suppose that I’ll have to insert a snake into their run next.
I tried using carbon monoxide to kill the gophers that had taken over my front yard. I bought a devise that fit over the exhaust pipe of my car and screwed on a garden hose and put the other end of the hose down one of the gopher holes. I then turned on the car engine and the carbon dioxide produced by the running engine traveled down the tail pipe and through the hose into the hole in the ground.
While I was hooking up the devise to the tail pipe, one of my neighbors drove by and I later met them at the clubhouse where she asked me what I was doing with the tail pipe to my car.. I explained I had gophers…. She replied “you have gophers in your tail pipe!… Yes, she was a blonde….. AND Yes, I still have gophers in my front yard.
I have found a method of keeping the moles at bay around the edges of my lawn. I use a gig and watch for current activity at the mole runs always looking for fresh signs of use. I have been experimenting with a method that looks promising to me. I patrol the yard everyday looking for runs and mounds. When I find new runs I will try to catch the moles working and use the gig to end the problem. When I do not have time to stand and watch for the mole to uplift the dirt, I take a hoe handle and poke holes in the run about every 8 or 10 inches. This method looks promising as the holes seem to discourage the moles from using that area and I have been able to keep the moles at bay around the edges of the yard and not all over the rest of the yard. It works for me.
I found a great way to get rid of moles. Move….!
What’s up mates, nice piece of writing and nice urging commented at this place, I am in fact enjoying by these.|
I use hot peppers. Put a couple of hot peppers in a blender (the hotter the better), fill halfway with water. Mix thoughly, you can even add a few dashes of Tabasco Sauce. Pour all of the mixture into a mole hole along the main tunnel line, lightly cover the hole. Repeat a few time if necessary. Wait and see if signs of mole activity still exists. It has worked in my yard.
Keep in mind that moles really are a “good” pest. They eat a boatload of insects and aerate the lawn. Mow down the damage and throw out some grass seed.
I love how the article states using a poison having the “look of a worm and, therefore, attract moles”… considering moles don’t use their eyes but their nose, it’s a ridiculous statement. Poison nuts don’t work either…moles are insectivores and the emitters, don’t work either…who writes this crap? I even read a clueless article that said to use poison to kill the grubs in your lawn so the moles run out of food and will move on. Yeah, like grubs are the only food source for moles!
Two of the easiest ways to get rid of moles:
-trap them
-use the Tom Cat “worms”…they have the “smell” of worms but contain poison
Thats all we have as “proven” ways to rid them right now and remember…there may be more than one and since they are solitary, there may be separate tunnel systems close together but not overlapping or intertwining… That’s all folks…
I’ve used Tom Cat worms, they’re expensive and don’t work, I put one of those in a mole hill, right in the hole. A year later I checked the spot where I’d put it and the whole Tom Cat worm was still there untouched.
What does work (for a few months at least) is cayenne powder and/or bleach, put that down a hole and the mole will most likely move off to another spot, sometimes for quite a while. Hopefully he buggers off to your neighbor’s property so the mole becomes his problem and not yours. You can be sure though, that once the smell from the bleach and burn from the hot peppers dissipates, your mole and the problem will be back.
I rid my yard of moles two years ago by using this method and have to repeat it now as my neighbor doesn’t do anything to irradicate them. I used meal worms, a syringe, and old fashion Anti-freeze. I inject the meal worms with Anti-freeze and drop them in the tunnels. No more moles. It takes about an hour beginning to end to inject the worms, and deposit them in the tunnels. Then wait for the results. It works.
Finally caught a couple of the little bugers in the last few days using a rat trap with peanut butter. After spending alot of money on poison worms and everything else on the market the trap is working. Drilled a hole thru one end of trap inserted a large nail to secure the trap on the ground placed right by the opening of the hole. His head was in the trap and his lower body was still in the hole. Didn’t cover the trap with anything but placed it close enough to hole that he had to step on it to get out. Buying more traps today.
I have a damn mole that is on striods…he has wrecked my garden. Someone suggested I use pool clorine it s3ms to work…still want to kill the pest. It dug about 37 holes in my garden. I look like a deranged lady with knife not all there…..hope this clorine things works its been one week already…help
Moth balls work great on many insects too….the trouble with mothballs is they are highly toxic to the environment. If you have a septic system it destroys that also.
While I actually came to this site looking for advice, the comments were
very entertaining. Even the trolls were hilarious. But I guess I’ll just
let the moles have the back yard, shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes
to cut what little grass survives.
They don’t bother the large front yard, since previous owners laid down a lot of packed gravel when they built the place in 2008. Grass and clover has grown up thru the gravel since then and looks good. Have to use raised flower beds, too much trouble for me to dig thru the gravel.
A friend, trying to be funny suggested putting down AstroTurf in back yard, but now I think he may be on to something – no mowing and smothered moles.
Moles are not like insects. If you live in or near a wooded area or even a thick fence line there going to come and then come back. Just like mice. The reusable traps is what I will try. I bought the bait worms and they DO work but they cost me every time I will need them. You just got to get off your rear ends and quit paying those “experts” to put a screwing on ya.
Dont waste time. Do this. It works for any animal. Break up a glass , jar …Place a few pieces on concrete and put brick on it. Step on and grind into powder and shards. Cut open big fishing worms. Just a couple small cuts. Squeeze out guts and put in glass and shove in body with a small stick. Roll worm in glass. Poke hole in tunnel and drop in worm. Dead mole vole … Use veggies for gopher or whatever food your pest eats.Nothing will live after eating. Fast cheap easy works every time.
Moles love juicy fruit but it does not kill them I used bunches of it to try.
If you take dry laundry degerant. Like cheer or tide put in your seeder and spread it. They don’t like the smell..must do it before a rain. They hate it. It works. And it does not hurt the grass or environment..totaly safe. It works. And smells great