Mole Control

The Common or Eastern Mole is the one most often found in our lawns, flower beds and fields. He can be identified by his long, pointed snout; inconspicuous eyes and ears; short tail; and enormous rounded front paws, which are armed with stout claws. His smaller cousins, the shrews, do not have the powerful digging feet.

Moles live underground and seldom venture out of their burrows. When they do come out, it's generally at night. They are most active in the early morning and late evening hours. The ridges of earth "pushed" up by burrowing indicate their presence.

One mole may construct a maze of haphazard criss-crossed runways. Certain runways are used frequently, but most of the tunneling is made in a random search for food, and some runways are seldom used again. It is important to remember this point when trying to trap the animals. The more permanent or "active" tunnels most often run along fences, plant rows, borders and other protected places and lead to feeding areas. While moles may be found in many different soil types, moist, shaded areas seem to be favored. Moles have a hard time digging in hard, dry, clay soil.

Moles feed almost exclusively on insects, earthworms, grubs and other insect larvae. For this reason, they are considered insectivores--not rodents. Damage to bulbs, flowers and vegetables, while often blamed on moles, is usually caused by mice using mole runways or by injury caused by moles while digging for food. Most plant damage blamed on moles should probably be charged to mice. Mice use mole runways as a source of cover and access to food.

Trapping is the most satisfactory way to eliminate moles. However, moles are very suspicious of any foreign objects in their runways. For instance, if any portion of a trap is exposed in the tunnel opening, moles will detect it and either desert that part of the runway of tunnel around or under the trap. On the other hand, moles are not at all disturbed by soil blocking the runway, since they encounter this situation regularly when people or animals step on the burrow and close it. Taking advantage of this fact is one of the important secrets of successful mole trapping.

Two good traps for catching moles are the harpoon type, and the choker type. These traps are available at garden or hardware stores.

Success in mole trapping depends largely on placement and setting of the trap. First, it is necessary to determine a suitable place to set the trap. As stated earlier, many of the visible mole runways are made during the search for food, and may never be used again. Therefore, it is necessary to locate traps on runways that are used regularly. An easy way to locate such places is to flatten many sections of the runways. Do this by gently stepping on them. Mark the flattened places with stones or other small items. Repeat this procedure for a few days to discover places where the mole goes every day. These places will be raised. Set traps in these places.

To set the harpoon or plunger trap, flatten a small section of the runway with your hand or foot to make a base for the trigger pan on the flattened runway. Raise and lower the prongs of the trap until they penetrate easily. Make sure they cover the tunnel.

To set the choker trap, press down a small section of the runway firmly with your hand or foot to make a base for the trigger pan. make slits in the ground for the loops. Set choker loops in the slits so that the loops encircle the runway. Be sure the bottoms of the loops are at least an inch below the original passage.

If a trap fails to produce after two or three days, try another place.

Small areas, such as seed beds or "fish worm" beds, sometimes receive excessive and persistent mole damage. To protect these areas, it may be necessary to install an underground fence of concrete blocks, wood, sheet metal, or hardware cloth. Line the bottom of the enclosed area with 1/4 inch mesh hardware cloth.

Use of suitable soil insecticides may eliminate the moles' food supply and force them to move elsewhere. This method is often slow and inefficient. If earthworms are abundant, this method may not work since earthworms are resistant to some insecticides such as diazinon.

For more information on mole control, contact your local county Extension office.