Moles???

humdrum_hostage

Full Member
Jul 19, 2014
771
2
Stradishall, Suffolk
I have a customer and she has a problem with moles. She said could i get rid of them because she cant bear to kill them. Now I am not sure yet if she meant she can't bear to kill them herself or if she meant she cant bear to see them get killed.
So if I was to get some humane traps, where would I release them? Is it aloud to release them somewhere public? We live in the sticks but a lot of the fields are farmers crops.
 

mick91

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
May 13, 2015
2,064
8
Sunderland
Releasing pests of any kind into someone else's land is an offence. Plus I read that live catch traps for moles are actually largely considered inhumane, something to do with their metabolic rate and being unlikely to survive after a few hours in a trap and The abandonment of Animals Act 1960 section 1 makes it an offence to release an animal into the environment if it does not have a reasonable chance of survival. I can't help but think aluminium phosphide is the solution to the problem, but I understand some people may have a different attitude to pest control. Its a long shot, but maybe some animal charities may take them? I doubt it because they're pretty much vermin but you never know
 

dewi

Full Member
May 26, 2015
2,647
13
Cheshire
Humane way of dealing with them is ferret poo.

If you can get hold of the feces of some ferrets, drop it down the holes, the moles will disappear. They may appear a few hundred yards away, but if you treat the holes in the same way, they will move away, not back to the original holes.
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,891
2,143
Mercia
I do a lot of mole trapping. I've come across three things that work on moles, traps, poison and large diameter shotgun pellets. Poison is indiscriminate and shooting is slow going and very time consuming. Traps are the most efficient
 

Wacker

Full Member
Sep 4, 2015
133
1
East Yorkshire
Humane way of dealing with them is ferret poo.

If you can get hold of the feces of some ferrets, drop it down the holes, the moles will disappear. They may appear a few hundred yards away, but if you treat the holes in the same way, they will move away, not back to the original holes.

Well I didn't know that! I used to keep ferrets and they produce an inordinate amount of feces, could have helped a few people out with that lot...
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
18
Scotland
The way we kept moles out of the garden on the farm was to bury glass bottles into mole runs with the open top/mouth just a little proud of the surface. (Lawnmower could go over top without hitting them). As the wind blew over the grass it blew over the top of the bottles like you do when you're a kid (or still do in your 40's if you're me). The noise reverberates down the tunnels an the mole scarpers.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
 

Herbalist1

Settler
Jun 24, 2011
585
1
North Yorks
As I recall there's a short animated instructional video by Jaspar Carrot on the effective control of moles - might be available on line somewhere :cool:
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
18
Scotland
Oh yeah, explosives work... not very humane, but it works even better than the ferret poo!

The smell of pouring a little parafin or petrol into the burrow makes them scarper too.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,891
2,143
Mercia
I have a roofing torch with a piezo sparker. Its not a technique I advise people to try (its also not all that effective)
 

Bowlander

Full Member
Nov 28, 2011
1,353
1
Forest of Bowland
Green keepers kill off the worms - not very eco friendly.

Euphorbia seems to work in our garden but it could just be where they are planted.

Sent from my SM-A500FU using Tapatalk
 

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