Underground Pests
Printed From: Rainy Side Gardeners
Category: The Archives
Forum Name: Archived Gardening
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URL: http://rainyside.com/forum//forum_posts.asp?TID=5639
Printed Date: May-24-2013 at 10:18am
Topic: Underground Pests
Posted By: bobm
Subject: Underground Pests
Date Posted: Dec-13-2011 at 6:34am
Over the last 2 days, there suddennly appeared 9 quite large mounds of dirt in our back yard. 2 within 3 hours in the area that I just leveled for our new patio! Is it a gopher, mole, or vole or ? How does one kill, maime, or perminently destroy this earth bulldozing el destructo ?  ------------- bobm |
Replies:
Posted By: tommyb
Date Posted: Dec-13-2011 at 6:59am
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These subterranean creatures do not hibernate.
If the mound are conical, as were the three in my yard, and there are "trails" of raised soil in the area (travel tunnels) the the mole is your target. You have to locate the trail to set the, drum roll please, Victor Out O' Sight Mole trap. You could check the Washington State pest site for descriptions and tips. Once you have found a trail or two, set the trap as shown on the box and wait. My visitor of last week was "recycled" the same day. Even I draw the line at mole pelts. Looked soft... Buy two, set them in separate "runs" and improve your chances of success. Look on craigslist, these traps show up there occasionally. Tom ------------- Favorite Tool: Potato Hook |
Posted By: CJoy
Date Posted: Dec-13-2011 at 2:11pm
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Tommy's last bit of advice is very effective. Use 2 traps--husband put them in the same run, almost side by side, because if one didn't get him, the second one would. At first he kept score, but Toby, our cat, always won, until he used the 2 trap system, then he could keep up.
Also, moles are very territorial,and it is probably only one mole that is responsible for your 9 mounds, however, when they get caught, it doesn't take long for another mole to take over the territory, so keep an eye out for new hills soon after you catch one. Remember, the mounds are formed along side the main run to keep the run open, so dig carefully to find the main run and place your trap in the main run, not directly over the mound. Finally, use the loose mound soil to cover the trap that so he needs to dig under it to clear the run. OOPS, I hope! ------------- CJ |
Posted By: DebbieTT
Date Posted: Dec-13-2011 at 2:59pm
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Those little rototillers are a good indication your soil is healthy with earthworms and such. I don't trap them myself and put up with the occasional problems they cause. The biggest problem being that the mice use the runs to eat stuff, the moles usually cause unsightly hills or undermine a plant so that its roots aren't in the soil. ------------- |
Posted By: bobm
Date Posted: Dec-14-2011 at 6:50am
I don't think that it is a mole at all, but gophers. Yesterday 4 more mounds showed up... 6-8" tall and 18-22" in diameter and 6-10ft. apart... GAAAAH !!!   ------------- bobm |
Posted By: DebbieTT
Date Posted: Dec-14-2011 at 12:40pm
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Are there gophers in SW Washington? One mole can do what you describe. I had a cat that used to catch moles. She would sit for a long time watching them excavate and at some point she would pounce flip the mole into the air and then torture it to death. That was back before I started trying to live with the wildlife instead of warring against it. But as Cjoy mentioned another would move in. ------------- |
Posted By: tommyb
Date Posted: Dec-14-2011 at 12:57pm
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For the information,
http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/gophers.html - How to stop worrying and love the gopher/mole For true satisfaction, get the traps and get to work earning your "Mole Destroyer" scout badge. I'm on my third mole invasion, I have learned to wait for the runs to get established. To maintain your RSG status, deny the above. Step away and lay down the 12 gauge, your neighbors probably won't understand... Hang in there Bob, we're all rootin' for you. Unless you're a Husky, then you're on your own. Quack, Quack. Tom ------------- Favorite Tool: Potato Hook |
Posted By: greenmann
Date Posted: Dec-14-2011 at 3:51pm
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Gophers are over twice the size of the typical moles around here, and their mounds are considerably larger too, not so conical, and usually with a side entrance rather than the volcano like mound of the moles (which are more air vents than entrances/exits since the moles almost never leave their burrows).
Interestingly, the Mima Mounds formation of SW Washington was once attributed to "giant gophers" gradually hilling up the countryside. I think this has been pretty much discredited, but you hear it every once in a while, lol. What IS true is that the gopher mounds, as they till the soil, open up new soil for seedlings to get started. Pocket Gophers are considered a keystone species for the Western Washington and Oregon Prairies because of this. This probably doesn't fill you with love for your gophers, lol, but if you can live with them, maybe you can learn to appreciate them? lol. One note on the difference between these- moles are insectivores. They burrow to stay away from predators and to find their usual meals- worms and insect larvae like crane flies, junebugs and other big juicy grubs. Often when you get moles what you are seeing is the opportunistic entrance of a predator going after an abundance of prey. If it is craneflies (the usual suspect) these are basically overgrown mosquitoes that don't suck blood. So, dissolve a bt dunk designed for mosquitoes and try watering your lawn thoroughly with the bt water. It should kill most of the crane fly larvae, which is what the moles are presumably eating, and the moles will go away. If its worms the moles are after, the bt won't touch them, but it might be enough to lower the general insect population to make the moles consider moving along anyway. If this is a permeable patio (brick or landscape rock in a sand bed) consider digging a little deeper than you normally would, and putting down a layer of chicken wire or better, fine hardware cloth with a layer of crushed gravel before you put in the sand. Burrowing critters like this don't like gravel and will usually avoid it. The hardware cloth or chicken wire will help to keep the gravel and sand in place even if they DO burrow under it. You can also get a polymer type product that mixes with the sand for a kind of grout to fill in between, which will pretty much cap the area and keep it much drier than normal, which will exclude most of the insects from the area and keep moles at least out from under the rock for the most part. Not so sure that will help if you have vole,s which like putting their main burrow under a big rock but there ya go. Anyway, good luck! Hope the little burrowers skedaddle on their own :P Gophers on the other hand are more like large voles or tailless mice. They eat vegetation. If you do have gophers, you will see plants and plant parts at their burrow entrances, and see a marked increase in disappearing plants, especially this time of year. I would advocate trapping and moving gophers. They are fast disappearing over large parts of what should be their natural range. ------------- Green Man Gardens design and consulting with a focus on native plants and wildlife habitat |
Posted By: Dahlia
Date Posted: Dec-31-2011 at 2:15pm
| Now I understand that the hills are unsightly and annoying. But Debbie is right they do mean that you have nice soil and I have found that they can help break up clay soil. After I started composting it. They are part of the deal when it comes to gardening. Now if you insist on not having them in the neighborhood I know that others have had luck using prducts that are of a high concentration of castor oil. In a liquid form. Granuals don't seem to work as well. Usually it attaches to the hose and will cover about 2000 square feet. You want to spray the entire area. Had a client that just did the grass and the moles just moved into the beds. This won't make friends with the neighbors since the moles just relocate. It works by coating mole food with oil and makes it inedible. No reason to stay. It may not work for as long in the rainy season. Washes it away but it will get them all out. Not just one at a time and keep others from moving in. One of the names for the product is Mole Scoot I believe. Have to find it in the smaller hardware stores as I have yet to see it in the big box stores. Good luck. |