Anyone who has had moles will tell you they can be the bane of your life! No I'm not talking about a skin condition; I'm referring to the little buggers that make such short work of ruining your lawn.
The humble mole can do a surprising amount of damage for such a small creature.
Unfortunately they can be tricky to get rid of.
Moles are highly specialised for digging and living underground.
Their powerful spade like claws can excavate up to 18kg of earth in under an hour, that's the equivalent of 12 tons for an average human.
Their underground living arrangements make them especially elusive.
They sleep in underground nests, lined with dry leaves and grass, maintain food stores (mortuaries of up to 1000 worms), and feed in extensive networks of underground tunnels that may extend up to 1.
5m into the soil column.
The favourite food for a mole is a worm.
Some people have tried to exploit this by placing poisoned worms in mole tunnels.
Unfortunately this rarely works.
Moles have a highly developed sense of smell which easily alerts them to the presence of unwanted chemicals.
Additionally, they also have a rather strange feeding technique.
When they catch a worm, they will squeeze it between their forelimbs, removing and earth (or poison) from the inside and outside of the worm.
They do this to reduce wear on their teeth, but it also gets rid of the poison.
Another set of 'highly recommended' solutions to moles is the stunning range of deterrents.
Ranging from solar powered vibrators, to specialised plants, or simply rotting vegetables and mothballs, many people advocate this approach.
Unfortunately, as anyone with moles knows, these methods are utterly hopeless.
You can expect precisely three possible outcomes: 1.
A waste of time.
The mole takes no notice.
2.
A temporary reduction in mole activity, until the smell goes away or the mole gets used to the buzzing.
3.
An explosion of mole activity and damage as the mole digs new tunnels around the now contaminated ones.
So? What is the answer? The only method that has stood the test of time is the use of killing traps.
These devices dispatch the mole quickly and efficiently - just be sure to get the right one! Many 'killing traps' would be put to better use as oversized paper clips.
Either the springs are too weak, the triggers too insensitive, the killing jaws the wrong shape, or they essentially place an assault course of metal wires in the tunnel for the mole to clamber over on its way to the trigger.
As an added bonus, most are also a pain (quite literally!) to set and are liable to give you a sharp rap on the knuckles.
When choosing a trap, look for one that is easy to set, places nothing more than the trigger in the line of the tunnel, has powerful springs (that hurt if you lower them onto your finger), and a sensitive triggering mechanism.
It is impossible to go through all the different traps here, see our website ( www.
beagleproducts.
com ) for reviews of all the major trap designs.
Generally: spear / harpoon traps are better used as tent-pegs, as they usually miss.
Scissor type traps are better but are often jammed by stones or suffer from design flaws.
Tunnel type trap are the best, with killing looks that rise explosively into the tunnel roof when triggered.