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yet more Moles - Detaupeur


runningdog

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I think that mole hunting has become an obsessive compulsive disorder with me.  It's not even that I've got a lawn - although I like to call it that - just a closely mown field of a half acre.  BUT, what I've got I want to look the best possible.  We are surrounded by agricultural land so I accept that this will be an ongoing problem. In the time which I have been waging war I had success with claw traps trapping 6 during the winter and spring.  But when the ground began to dry out and the tunnels became deeper my success evaporated with the water.  In one three week period [June / July] we had 100+ taupinieres and we became desperate. During that period and since I have tried many of the folklore methods but only added 2 to my tally and the hours spent achieving this I would hate to try to tally up.

So, in desperation we invested 100€ in a Detaupeur + 20 extra charges - this was only last week.  To date 4 charges have detonated but I have not found a single body, I know that two were ineffective because there were new molehills within 24 hours but since the last 2 [in different locations] there have been no more molehills.  I find it difficult to believe that something powerful enough to blow a finger off people will only give moles a migraine which may or may not be terminal.  Also, if the simple instructions are followed and the charge connected is in the right place and at the right time I cannot understand how the injuries quoted in the other mole thread can happen.

Has anyone else had similar experience.

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I've had the same obsessive desire to rid the garden of moles. We live on the edge of a village and I know that, no matter what I do, there will always be a new mole to take the place of any that I manage to get rid of. After 4 years I'm gradually coming to terms with it and no longer get so worked up every time I see a new molehill. I try and remove the debris the same day otherwise I find that the grass dies off and in any case the mower doesn't like all the stones which also come to the surface. I've tried all of the devices on the market in cluding the explosive charges; none of them work for long and in fact the explosive one never went off once! I would come back the following morning to find the whole lot, trigger, wire and charge neatly laid out on the grass under the bucket. Latterly I used the method shown to me by my neighbour, which involves a pickaxe, and requires you to watch and wait at 12 noon or 5pm (I assume the moles have wristwatches?) and strike when the earth moves [:$] So limited has been my success that I have almost completely given up and we now live in a state of tolerance. I still find it irritating to return from holiday in the Spring to find 70 or 80 molehills though!

Currently there is little or no activity visible, I assume he (they) have gone deep, but I know it'll start again in the autumn. [:-))]

My advice is to try and find something else to worry about! [;-)]

Sid

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I've been trying for ages to shift moles.  Tried the detonators, which went off occasionally but didn't produce a deceased mole.

Invested in several sonic deterrents, but gave them up as a bad job when I found a molehill had erupted right alongside one.

Tried murderously wielding a spiked metal bar when I've seen the earth move, still unsuccessful.

Tried staking out molehills with the cat and waiting - earth moves, cat legs it.

I read on one of these forums recently that some lady found bouncing a heavy ball for half an hour in the vicinity of recent molehills seemed to do the trick temporarily.

I think I'll just leave a note politely asking them to leave.

Chris

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Try a small piece of Calcium Carbide left in a newly created run.  This gradually releases acetylene gas on contact with moisture in the earth and the moles don't like it (or more likely the gases produced from hte contaminants in the carbide - phoshene and arsene for 2)

 

 

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[quote user="sid"]

I've had the same obsessive desire to rid the garden of moles. We live on the edge of a village and I know that, no matter what I do, there will always be a new mole to take the place of any that I manage to get rid of. After 4 years I'm gradually coming to terms with it and no longer get so worked up every time I see a new molehill. I try and remove the debris the same day otherwise I find that the grass dies off and in any case the mower doesn't like all the stones which also come to the surface. I've tried all of the devices on the market in cluding the explosive charges; none of them work for long and in fact the explosive one never went off once! I would come back the following morning to find the whole lot, trigger, wire and charge neatly laid out on the grass under the bucket. Latterly I used the method shown to me by my neighbour, which involves a pickaxe, and requires you to watch and wait at 12 noon or 5pm (I assume the moles have wristwatches?) and strike when the earth moves [:$] So limited has been my success that I have almost completely given up and we now live in a state of tolerance. I still find it irritating to return from holiday in the Spring to find 70 or 80 molehills though!

Currently there is little or no activity visible, I assume he (they) have gone deep, but I know it'll start again in the autumn. [:-))]

My advice is to try and find something else to worry about! [;-)]

Sid

[/quote]

If you think about it it's pretty sad if that's all I have to worry about!

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[quote user="andyh4"]

Try a small piece of Calcium Carbide left in a newly created run.  This gradually releases acetylene gas on contact with moisture in the earth and the moles don't like it (or more likely the gases produced from hte contaminants in the carbide - phoshene and arsene for 2)

 

 

[/quote]

Thanks for that.  I'll try it if I can find where to get it.

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[quote user="thunderhorse"]I tried gassing and then the smoke bombs with limited success. Then I bought two of the sonic devices - four weeks and no moles, and none on my neighbours side of the fence, either. Whether it's just summer coincidence...

[/quote]

I bought 4 of these sonic repellents when they were on cheap offer with similar result to you. Although I said that we were surrounded by agricultural land on one side of us there are about four acres of grassland belong to a house that is under renovation and all of the grass is regularly cut using a normal ride-on.  In the year that I have been here I have never seen a single molehill there and all there is is a wire fence separating us from them.  The Frenchman who owns it puts this down to the single sonic repellent that he has.

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[quote user="runningdog"][quote user="andyh4"]

Try a small piece of Calcium Carbide left in a newly created run.  This gradually releases acetylene gas on contact with moisture in the earth and the moles don't like it (or more likely the gases produced from hte contaminants in the carbide - phoshene and arsene for 2)

 

 

[/quote]
Thanks for that.  I'll try it if I can find where to get it.
[/quote]

 

I would help if I could but my source now only sells in 50kg drums!!!  An old fashioned ironmonger might be able to help.

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I bought a detauper at the beginning of last week after years of trying to deter moles using sonic devices and awful smelling batonettes.  Sonic devices were totally useless.  The batonettes did work sometimes.  However, I decided to wage war when I had a mole invading the potager causing all sorts of problems and loss of veggies.   I used the detaupeur on this mole first.  Got it within an hour after setting it up [:)].  Moved to another part of the garden to a new mole hill (all mole hills had been flattened earlier),  Got this mole withing 10 minutes! [;-)] Then moved to another new mole hill.  Set this up (very quietly) and even before the detaupeur had become active (5 minutes after arming it) the mole was trying to move the bomb!   [:D] Got that mole as soon as the device became active.  The 4th mole within 48 hours was got overnight.  [:)]  I then had a week of no new mole hills until yesterday when it seems as if another mole has moved in.  I must admit I haven't gone searching for mole bodies, but having seen a bomb go off (the 3rd mole), I can't see how they can survive.  I seem to have the most success when I go after moles that have recently produced a taupiniere - and very quietly set up the detaupeur.  Time will obviously tell if I can manage to minimise mole damage using the detaupeur - but it is more successful than anything else I have tried.

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