Ok folks….every year we get a flood of phone calls from homeowners who have moles on their property and think that it MUST be due to a grub problem. NOTHING could be further from the truth! It’s been an old wives tale passed down for decades that moles are attracted to a property by grubs and that applying grub control will get rid of moles. Unfortunately, this is just NOT the case! So it’s time to put the myths, the mysteries, and the misconceptions about moles to rest once and for all and STOP blaming grubs for your mole issue. They actually have very little to do with each other!
OUR PROFESSIONAL HISTORY WITH MOLE CONTROL
For about 10 years beginning back in the mid-90s, Custom used to offer Mole Control services to customers. At that time we were licensed to utilize a restricted-use product called Phostoxin which was a tablet that we tossed into mole tunnels which dissolved into a gas and fumigated the mole tunnels. The product was a dream come true UNLESS you failed to stay at least 10 feet from the foundation of a home. Well, long story short, someone didn’t stay 10 feet away and all of a sudden we were no longer able to provide Mole Control for our customers. Anywho, our experience with mole control is the reason we became so knowledgeable about these little pests because we needed to understand their habits in order to become experts in controlling them. So we went to our local library to do some research the old fashioned way…..by reading books and encyclopedias!!! We know…..ancient times that are RARELY talked about anymore!
THINK LIKE A MOLE WITH THESE 7 FUN FACTS
The ONLY tried and true method of eliminating moles is by trapping them. In order to be successful at this, you need to start thinking like a mole with these seven fun facts:
- Moles mainly eat earthworms. You’ve been taught to believe that they eat grubs (and they do find them to be a tasty treat) but 90% of a mole’s diet comes from earthworms. Yes, they will eat grubs if they come across one, but they are NOT attracted to a property because there are grubs in that property. Applying grub control will do absolutely nothing to get rid of your mole problem. Mind blowing, we know!!
- Moles are migratory. They prefer about 1 acre of turf because they nest in one area and feed in a totally different area which are often quite a distance from each other. They can burrow up to 60 ft in an hour and burn so many calories doing so that they are always searching for food.
- Moles are territorial. Each mole likes its own acre of turf and if a mole encounters another in a tunnel, they will hiss at each other to encourage them to move along.
- Moles go inactive in March and April. They breed and have babies during this time and then reemerge in April and May with 3-5 babies in tow making it seem like there are moles EVERYWHERE. This is when you will see the most damage from moles because (see Fun Fact #3 above) moles are territorial and the baby moles are now on a mission to find their OWN acre of turf to nest and feed in. The fact that they go inactive in early Spring helped fuel many of the old wives tales about controlling moles with grub control because homeowners would have it applied in the spring and then the moles would suddenly be “gone” when in fact they were simply inactive due to the breeding process.
- Moles are nocturnal. They are most active at night and this plays a big part in tracking their activity and trapping them.
- Moles have very poor eyesight but an EXCELLENT sense of smell. Again, this plays into the best ways to control moles that we’ll get into later.
- Moles don’t have any awareness of boundaries or property lines. SHOCKING, we know! The fact that your neighbor does or doesn’t have moles has NOTHING to do with moles on your property so just carry on with your own business and leave your neighbor out of it!
GET TO KNOW YOUR MOLE AND TRACK ITS ACTIVITY
Now that you know the basic behaviors of moles, it’s time to turn you into a Pro Status Mole Hunter. The first requirement to utilizing your new Pro Status involves observing your mole’s behavior based on the facts we provided you above.
STEP #1: Collapse All Tunnels. Grab your favorite Soda Pop AT DUSK and walk down ALL tunnels that you find in your lawn. If you have a million tunnels and feel like it’s going to take you all night, just take an old tire and roll it along the tunnels OR hop on your lawn mower and start rollin’ away! Either way, ALL tunnels need to be flattened out.
STEP #2: Go To Bed! Moles are nocturnal (see Fun Fact #5 above) and evidence of their activity won’t be visible until the next morning.
STEP #3: Identify Highway Tunnels. The next morning when you get up, look and see which tunnels are pushed back up. Do this 2 or 3 nights in a row….you’ll find a pattern. Moles nest in the same place generally speaking for a significant amount of time. They'll go back to their nest each night but the next day they usually have a couple of highway tunnels that will pop back up that take them back to their feeding zone because (see Fact #2 above) they don’t feed in the same area where they nest. Once you identify these highway tunnels that keep popping up over those couple of days, you know which tunnels to target with your mechanical traps.
TRAP YOUR MOLE WITH THESE
PRO STATUS TECHNIQUES
So there’s two ways to get rid of moles. One is best suited to 12 year old kids who love the thrill of the hunt and any chance to play with water, and the other method is the “Pro Status” method. If you’re looking to keep your kid busy and entertained you can always go with the trusty method of taking a hose, flooding the mole tunnels with water, and being ready with a pitchfork when your mole surfaces from its tunnel. For those of you wanting to go Pro Status, follow the steps below:
STEP #1: Purchase mechanical traps.
These are standard variety spring-loaded mechanical traps with a spear in them and can be found at your local hardware store.
STEP #2: Do NOT fall for the old wives tale of putting Juicy Fruit in your trap! Moles have an excellent sense of smell. They DON’T want anything to do with your silly bubble gum (or anything else you put in their trap)! Moles are just NOT that dumb and will simply go around your gum and make new tunnels while you’re sitting there scratching your head about why you can’t trap your mole! We beg you…..be SMARTER than the mole!
STEP #3: Get rid of your trap’s mechanical and human smells. As stated in bullet point #6 above, moles have terrible eyesight but an excellent sense of smell. Because of this it’s important to wash off ALL of the mechanical oil and human scent before placing the trap. Take the trap outside and roll it around in the dirt and gravel, take the shine off of it, get your odor off of it, and use RUBBER GLOVES to handle it, because otherwise they WILL smell your scent on it when you place it into the tunnel. So the more you can make it look and smell like their natural environment with a little dirt on it and no shine, the less concerned they will be with it and THAT’S the key to trapping them!
So now you FINALLY know the truth about moles, grubs, and mole control! We wish you luck in hunting your moles and ask you to PLEASE share your newfound knowledge for the greater good of ending the myth that grubs are attracting moles to properties and causing the downfall of lawns everywhere!!!
