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How to keep moles away...


Kitty
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....Use a football.  It works. 

My garden "lawn" had so many mole hils, they were meeting so I had no garden lawn.  So this year, when the moles came back in force, I tried a new trick.  At the end of a line, I bounced a heavy football 10 times every half an hour for a couple of hours.  Thereafter, I repeated the exercise every time that I remembered to do it.  They stayed away for about 2 weeks.  In that time, grass seed applied on the hills has already started to hide the tracks.

A couple of weeks ago, they came back and so I did it again.  I can report that once again, the moles have gone.  I realise that they've only scurried along the tunnels to another field but I have about 10% of the molehills that I had last year.  Bouncing a heavy ball is not great deal and feels a kinder way than poisoning them.

P.S. I also bought some children's windmills to put into the holes to cause vibration.  They do not work but they do look pretty on a windy day!

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Right - I'm off to buy a football tomorrow!  I have so many molehills that it takes longer to scoop them up into the wheelbarrow (to go onto the veg garden) than mow. (I have about half an acre of lawn)  Last year I had a few but this year, as I sit in the garden, they pop their heads up and wave as I'm watching!  What with slugs, rabbits and birds eating my veg I feel I'm fighting a losing battle this year.  It's worth a try and if nothing else it'll amuse the neighbours! 

Why don't they go onto their gardens - I mow at least once a week which should be quite disturbing for them but no - they like my grass better.

Cal

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Tried the windmill/urine/mothballs all with limited success,However a French neighbour said try bits of broken glass.Apparently moles are Haemophiliacs and bleed to death. Haven't tried it yet but they are pushing their luck.Hope the spelling/punctuation is correct Sid?

Regards.

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Folks...fun though it may be to try all of these so called mole eradicators, take a little tip from me...forget about trying to get rid of them.  I have tried all of these systems during the 7 years I have been in France and my garden is still full of moles.  I now just drive over the mole hills whilst cutting the grass.  Ok you get lots of bare circles of earth but in time the grass grows up through them again.

I have tried the hose pipe down the holes until it runs back up others, I have attached a pipe to my car exhaust and poked it down the holes and I have placed kids plastic windmills all over the garden.  I tell you what, you try doing the first two methods whilst at the same time peeing down the holes...it's blooming tricky.  Bouncing footballs I haven't tried but the vision I have of Cathy doing it is amusing.  Perhaps you could let us know in a months time if you are still bouncing Cathy.

Learn to live with them, it'll be easier in the long run, and cheaper.

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There are numerous threads on here about moles. I contributed to one of them because it has been a thorny issue for me.

But this is the first time that I have had some success.  So a football is all you need....  Simple really.

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1175443/ShowPost.aspx

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/965054/ShowPost.aspx

By the way, I waited until I rushed into print to check that they had gone.  I realise that they will be back but at least it keeps the numbers down.  Oh and when you bounce the ball, you really have to thud it.  Good exercise for those arm muscles.

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[quote user="Gastines"]

...However a French neighbour said try bits of broken glass.Apparently moles are Haemophiliacs and bleed to death...

[/quote]

Urban myth.

I've read a few forums (forae?) on the subject of moles, and done some research across the globe. Virtually all 'cures' are urban myths. Long story short, the only successful way to kill moles is to trap them.

However, that doesn't get rid of the problem. Moles are territorial. Kill a mole and before long another mole (or other rodent) will take over the gallery. Blow up/gas/poison/spike/drown a mole, and he'll appear 30 metres away within the hour. You think you've killed him and another bugger has appeared - it's likely the same mole. They can tunnel at 30m/day! True, they can be discouraged with noise - e.g. kids with football - but not eliminated.

An acre of lawn has between two and six moles only: wherever you flood/gas/poison, he's half an acre away.

It seems to me that moles are an insoluble problem - but they are extremely beneficial. So I, for one, have resolved to live with them (no choice...) and try to discourage as opportunity arises.

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having read all the threads seems we are all in the same boat, hills on the lawns i can live with even though i have to buy new blades for the tractor mower each year at 35 euros a pop. but in my veg garden they either bury new plants and seedlings completely or lift them out of the ground, any way last week while working in the garden our young cat who does as much damage as the moles if not more was sat over an open hole for at least an hour suddenly plunged into the hole in a way that a polar bear does when catching seals, yes she caught the mole now she has the hang of it shes caught 4 in a week its easy to measure her success as she brings them in and leaves them on the carpet. solution get a french cat, that is if you can stand it digging up all your plants or just laying on top of young ones until they die!. mole problem seems to be solved cat problem? better get a french dog.

 

clive.

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Mine is not the only cat that catches moles then.

Our french cat has caught three so far but would like that to be more but she seems to have taken to catching baby rabbits instead, she has come back with two this week. I am not to happy about that as that could well be next years lunch or if its female several generations of lunchs gone.

I shall have to show her what a mole hill looks like again...

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Hello,

someone on one of the previous forums I remember suggested putting pickled onions down the mole holes, never tried it but may be less barbaric than glass down the hole.  We actually had a mole under our gravel terrace, under the weed membrane, so could not get at them.

Suey

 

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[quote user="Weedon"]...bag of crisps, pickled egg and a drop of Guinness...[/quote]

Not fair, now I'm sitting, mouth watering (or more like it...drooling), imagining dropping the pickled egg into the Walkers cheese and onion crisps bag...[:D]

SWMBO has made me some pickled eggs, not tried them yet, waiting for them to mature a bit, so all we have to do now is get the Walkers delivered.

 

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I have never had a problem with moles even through I notice my neighbours do, I have always put this down to the dog weeing on the lawn every day .... could this be a cure , how many of you are dog owners?

b v

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Pads

I'm a dog owner and the moles in question were burrowing even where he was and his lavatory area.  So I don't think that dog pee deters them.  Incidentally, the dog (a labrador) would dig and dig to get at them and make the "lawn" even worse.

Only bouncing the heavy football has done the trick.

 

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WBB - I have to drive over my "lawn", made up of sand that is just about covered by grass (I'm by the coast).  If I have no lawn, I get stuck in the sand - badly.

Your dog must be very thin - the tunnels are tiny in diameter, even though the mole hills are like mountains.

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we have 2 Lab's and yes, they do enjoy digging for moles and yes our garden is full of hills and holes. However, their last session must have scared the little varmint off, as I have not notices any new hills - I cut grass for a living and you do get a teeny bit fed up with them after 27 mole full gardens - especially after fitting new blades.........grrrrr. I wouldnt put a pickled onion down a hole though!

Steve

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We have 2 local breed dogs "ratiers" and 3 french cats . They are all major league assassins  re moles and we could have made a gorgeous pair of trousers from the pelts caught thus far. Yet the moles continue to be more successful than the "A team". I dont believe there is a permanent solution.

W Rat

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The solution seems obvious, on reflection.

1.    Breed a new type of mole where the females are double tasty and cannot be resisted by the males;

2.    Train them as mole schlappers: perhaps a Moley Big Bruvver?

3.    Strap sticks of explosive around these trained schlapper female moles:

4.    Work out how long moles take to scurry to the further obvious position on the mole tunnel complex:

5.    Consult a zoologist specialising in moles for the mole standard copulation period:

6.    Adjust the detonators accordingly:

7.    Groom, primp your mole schlappers well, douse them in moley perfume, strap on the explosives: set the detonators and set them into the holes to find the male  moles.

Job done.

Signed

Heath Robinson

 

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