"clarissa" wrote in message
news:HvQKi.20074$nO3.19642@edtnps90...
Hi everyone I live on the edge of woodland and so have many pests, such
as
slugs and snails, crawling up from the bush - but the worst by far are the
moles that topple plants, disturb carefully laid small cobble patios, kill
perennials and shrubs. I can forgive the piles of dirt on the lawn
because
grass soon fills in but killing much- loved plants is very discouraging.
I
have tried everything I can think of - human hair, mothballs and gum in
the
runs, flooding or gassing the runs, small windmills to create vibration,
and
so forth. Nothing seems to work. I really don't want to trap them since
I
think they probably die a terrible death. So can anyone suggest something
else that works. Many thanks for any help. Jean Vancouver BC Canada


The only things that work reliably are traps and poisions. Don't take my
word for it...here is an report into methods used all over Europe by DEFRA
the UK government agency...

http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-cou...ole-review.pdf

It looked at all the old wives tales like mothballs or flooding with water.
I read this and purchased 5 barrel traps and 5 sissor traps off ebay
(poisons appear to be banned in the UK?). I set all 10 and within about a
week the barrel traps had caught about 7 moles. On one ocassion I found a
mole in a trap, reset it and cut the lawn, while putting the mower away I
noticed it had gone off again and yes it had caught another one! Now all the
moles are gone! All were caught with the barrel type, none with the sissor
type. Not sure why.

When we lived in Belgium I tried the ultrasonic things and they didn't work
.. The moles created hills either side of the usless things. The above report
says they are "not effective" - I believe because the sound waves don't
travel very far.

Neither type of trap is really easy to set, very easy to trap your fingers.
Both types are quite crude devices and need "fine tuning" (bending etc) when
delivered to get them to be sensitive enough yet not too sensitive that they
go off while you set them. The main advantage of the barrel type is that
it's much easier to put the earth back over them - the half barrel stops the
dirt falling into the run.

Good luck

Colin