Question
How do I get rid of moles?  Live in the Pacific Northwest in Longview,WA.

Answer
Hi Gus Nolte,

About burrowing Rodents:

These seem to be a common problem and one which seems to exist in proportion to a homeowner's distance from an urban center.  If your property is rural and less cosmopolitan, then the rodent problem will probably be a continuous one, and the best you can do is to try to keep the pest's populations down.

 Both moles, voles, and other rodents feed on grubs, insects, and other insect larvae as well as certain roots.  If you can eliminate some of their food resources, they will often move on to more profitable hunting grounds. Grubs exist mainly in mid-late summer, so spray insecticides and grubicides for these at that time or whenever you detect their presence in the root zone (by examining a few root plugs).

Other Remedies for Burrowing Rodents:
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Reduce the food supply>
Attracting birds and toads and other insect-eating beneficial animals to your lawn area can do much to decrease the population of the larva producing insects mentioned, one of the animal's main delicacies.  Insect traps and bug zappers, etc. also will reduce larvae producing adult insects.
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Repellant Plants and Baits>
Organic gardeners claim that planting certain "bitter-rooted" or poisonous plants may help to control gophers and moles. There are reports stating that planting CASTOR BEAN plants and Atropa ('Angel's Trumpet') and other poisonous rooted plants will repel moles as the animals feed on the roots.

There are reports that using sugared bubble gum made to look like earth-worms will kill rodents when this is eaten because they cannot digest the gum.  I do not know how well this works if at all, however.
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Make the animal tunnels un-inhabitable>
Sometimes you can flood their burrows and the animal will come to the surface to be caught; flooding often will kill the pups in the nest as the adults escape.

Traps and Devices>
There are commercially available traps for moles, voles and gophers.  Your local lawn and garden center or farm supply store may have stuff to try.

Traps can be mail-ordered if not locally available>
Website: HAVAHART TRAPS:___ www.havahart.com

There are also devices you can buy which will generate a sonic vibrations at various frequencies, and this is supposed to frighten the animals away.  I do not know how well these work.
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Protect and Prevent Root-Damage>
In some areas it is nearly impossible to have a garden because of the rodent damage.  Occassionally, you can make "Island Gardens" by sinking galvanized wire-mesh into a border around your garden plot,...the deeper the better.  The burrowing rodents will be forced to detour around these protected areas and your plants will not be root-damaged.
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Rodenticides.....Non-Organic Chemical warfare>
Most garden centers will have a rodenticide or something similar to "Mole-Rid,"  This is a poison pellet you can drop into their tunnel-systems. These can work very good, but be warned that they do contain a deadly poison (often ARSENIC) which you must keep away from pets and children.  Do not handle these poisons without protective gloves.

At the hardware store you may also find Muriatic (hydrochloric)>
acid (used for swimming pools and masonry cleaning).  Pour a cup full of this into a tunnel opening and cap it closed, the fumes of this acid will sometimes kill all in the nest.  This is a very volatile-fuming chemical and should be handled with caution.

Use Organic Methods to control bugs (described above) and/or synthetic insecticides and grubicides as needed to keep beetles and other insects from providing food for the rodents.
Killing any adult beetle-like bug you see (Japanese Beetles and June-Bugs, eg.)...will do much to prevent the larval forms that hatch from the eggs certain species lay in the top-soil.

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In summary, your best bet is to eliminate their food source and try to reduce their numbers; but if you do live anywhere near a wild area, they'll be back...almost as bad as weeds sometimes.
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I Hope this has answered your question(s)!

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