Mole Prevention

These top 10 mole prevention tips were designed to give you some of the best techniques for removing unwanted moles from your lawn, and stopping them from coming back.

Without any intervention, a mole or two can cause a lot of damage to your lawn or garden.  

As they burrow under the surface in search of food they leave behind a network of damaging tunnels.

When the tunnels form under your lawn, the grass roots are damaged and within a few days your luscious green lawn will be full of yellow streaks of dead grass.  

Even worse, the moles could tunnel under sidewalks or above ground pools causing sink holes in the bottom of your pool liner.  

Once a mole tunnels under an above ground pool, it's only a matter of time before the pool liner is damaged.

To keep mole damage to a minimum, it's important to remove them from your lawn as soon as possible.  

Since they can create up to 18 feet of surface tunnels in one hour, the sooner you can remove them the better.

Mole Prevention - Top Ten List

Here's our top ten list of mole prevention ideas to remove moles from your lawn or garden and stop them from coming back!

#1  Start Early

Begin looking for mole damage in the early spring when the grass is short and new mole tunnels are easy to spot.

Since moles breed in the early spring and can have between 2 - 6 babies at a time, eliminating them early is important.

#2  Avoid Pesticides

Don't spend money on pesticides or grub control products to spread on your lawn.

Moles primarily feed on earthworms, so the absence of grubs will have little effect on the mole population in your lawn.

You'll be better off saving your money and concentrating on getting rid of the moles, not their food source.

#3  Choose A Good Trap

If you choose to trap the moles, select a trap that's proven to work.  

Scissor traps are very popular, easy to use, and are preferred by many mole trapping professionals.

The Victor Out O'Sight scissor trap and the Talpirid mole trap are two great choices.

#4  Only Trap Straight Active Tunnels

Moles repeatedly use straight tunnels that run along sidewalks and other natural edgings everyday.

Placing your trap or poison in the longest, or straightest part of the tunnel insures the mole will encounter it.

Avoid setting a trap in one of the smaller tunnels that branch out from the main tunnel.

These are just feeding tunnels and the mole might not travel through them again.

The easiest way to find out if the tunnel is active is to simply step on it to compact the dirt, then check on it the next day to see if the dirt is raised again.

The raised dirt will confirm the tunnel is actively being used by a mole.

#5  Choose A Good Poison

Although controversy always exists with poisons, some of the newer poisons on todays market work really well.  

Choose a poison like the Talpirid worm shaped baits, which uses Bromethalin as the active ingredient.  

Even though I'm a big advocate for using traps, many people have had great results using the less labor intensive poisonous worms.

Plus, you don't have to deal with removing the mole from your trap after you catch it.

The moles simply die underground and you don't have to do anything aide from placing one of the baits inside an active tunnel.

#6  Avoid Short Zig Zag Tunnels

The short zig zag tunnels you see branching off from the long straight tunnels should be avoided when using both traps and poison.  

These tunnels are caused when the mole searches for food and are generally used one time only.    

#7  Don't Trap Mole Mounds

A common mole prevention mistake many people make is setting a trap in a mole mound. 

These mounds often look like small dirt volcanoes and are a poor location to set a trap.  

Setting a trap on one of these mounds will often result in a sprung trap without actually trapping the mole.

#8  Move Your Traps

Since moles are somewhat solitary animals there's typically only one mole using the active tunnel.

If you don't trap a mole within 48 hours, move the trap to a new location.

If you trap a mole, move your trap to a new tunnel rather than setting it back in the same spot.

#9  Home Remedies Don't Work

Human hair, moth balls, chemicals, exhaust fumes and other home remedies are not a reliable way to kill or repel a mole.

#10  Check Often For Fresh Tunnels

Since moles typically live in wooded or grassy areas near your lawn, a new mole can move in at any time.

Check often for fresh mole activity and reset your traps as needed before they have a chance to destroy your yard.

Mole Prevention - Overall

Mole prevention isn't hard, but it does take a little bit of time and effort to remove them and keep them from coming back.

I highly recommend buying two or three traps and setting them when you see fresh tunnels appear in the spring.

This will keep your lawn looking great, and you won't have to worry about the damaging aftermath of a hungry mole.