Mole Hills!

[pumper_bob]

I have been given permision from a farmer friend of mine to turn the 10 meter(wide x 550m) strip on the side of his field into a runway. Does anyone know how to get rid of and then keep moles out of the ground? Any offers of help, maybe room for a couple of plane to park. No hangars though. Strip is near Filey N.Yorks.

[pistongone]

You need an organophosphate solution sprayed on it once a week for a month. What sort of charges are you considering for parking? Or will it be helping with maintenance of the strip? or both of course:ok:

[david viewing]

We just happen to have a steamroller and find that quite effective. Presumably it compacts the ground too much for their liking.

[Dave Gittins]

Jasper Carrott recommended a revolving stool and a shotgun, with a torch taped to the barrels.
:ok:

[Them thar hills]

"There was this blue flashing light ! "
Wot 'yer doing Carrott ?!!
Mole catching !

[pumper_bob]

Do you mean a roller pulled by a tractor or a real live hissing steam roller David? I think i need to look at this more closely, could mean more days on the land than above it! But it will be nice to be able to come and go as i please, no pilots order book, booking in and out etc. All i have to do in return is take the farmer up a few times here and there!

[david viewing]

Yes, what I mean is:
http://www.viewing.com/steam/Holcot0287s.JPG
Engines like this are quite common and no doubt a local owner would help in return for a ride in the plane or two. You might have to buy the coal...
Try attending a local steam rally and asking around. Now is a good time of year because the ground is firm. It'll take a good day to roll a strip of the size you mention obviously depending on the surface but I imagine soft soil hence the mole problem. It's hard work for the engine because it's pushing a wave of soil uphill all the time, hence the need for coal. You might also have to supply beer.
The engine in the picture is typical and weighs 12 tons, which spread over a track of 7' is much more ground pressure than a farm roller can apply. Obviously I can't guarantee it'll defeat the moles, but it worked for my (much smaller) strip. What it will do is put a nice surface on the ground once you've equalised the 3-4" ruts by further rolling and the soil springing back naturally.
The ground must be dry though: a stuck steamroller is not something you can call the AA for!

[maggioneato]

Jeyes fluid poured down into the molehill. They havn't been back this summer. Prior to that, they has been around making a mess for 4 years. Coinsidence maybe, but worth trying.

[javelin]

Nay, David, that won't do it, it's only an Aveling - Thar needs a proper engine like our Fowler for a job like that :E

[BEagle]

There's only one way to get rid of a mole...

Blow its bloody head off!

A couple of gallons of diesel, then another couple of 4-star followed by a match should see the little buggers off to another world!

[VP959]

In French DIY supermarkets they sell a wonderful mole destruction kit. It consists of a spike, containing a battery and a trigger switch, operated by a long, adjustable plunger arm.

The kit also contains a number of small explosive charges, that look like little red plastic bangers, with electrically operated detonators.

To use the device, one inserts one of the charges a foot or so inside the tunnel at a mole hill. The spiked detonator is then pushed into the soil and arranged so that the plunger switch rod is poking into the hole a few inches. The detonator wires from the charge are then connected and the unit armed, by flicking the safety switch on.

Some time later, Mr Mole, whilst taking his nightly constitutional, crawls along his burrow, over the charge, to get a breath of fresh night air. His nose sniffs around, contacts the plunger switch and the charge blows his bl**dy a*se off...................

Only in France could such a patently dangerous, but no doubt hugely entertaining, form of mole destruction be on open sale.

VP

[Trinity 09L]

From the web:
Defend our moles!
If you see a mole above ground he will not readily see you, for his eyesight is very poor. He will, however, pick up the slightest vibration caused by your footsteps and will disappear into solid ground in less than a minute. For his size, he is one of the world's most powerful animals. Never try to put a mole head first down its hole; instead, turn it round and it will disappear backwards into its tunnel, albeit biting you as it goes.
I realise that the mole hasn't got the eyes of the owl, the cuddliness of a dormouse or the majesty of a fox, but it is a warm-blooded, thinking feeling animal that deserves to be given more consideration by our present day agriculturists.
In these more enlightened times it is the mole's doubtful privilege to be the only animal in Britain that can be legally poisoned with strychnine.:D

[javelin]

And they taste lovely on the barbeque !:ok:

[SkyHawk-N]

There's only one way to get rid of a mole...
Blow its bloody head off!
A couple of gallons of diesel, then another couple of 4-star followed by a match should see the little buggers off to another world!

Alternatively you could try a humane method! plenty of kits on the market and the cute, furry little things can be released harmlessly in your next door neighbours (the one that complains a lot) garden.

[Them thar hills]

Sorry
All wrong !
Garlic and mothballs !!
They can't stand the smell.
:)

[Kiltie]

BEagle and VP.

You are a bunch of sick b*****ds. I look forward to finding your own individual demises hugely entertaining.

[Dave Gittins]

Nah, Nah ! Jasper tried mothballs and garlic with little or no effect (indeed I think it was suspected that they liked them and thrived on them and brought all their mates round to party on the free snacks) ... I refer you back to posts 4 and 10.

:)

[gasax]

We've tried gas capsules - didn't work,
We've tried traps - gets a few but does n't get rid of them all,
We've tried petrol - good fun but does n't seem to be that effective,

However a two-stroke motorcycle's exhaust connected into the burrows and left running for an hour or two does seem to work!

As for the humane methods - you're wasting your time, they'll be back the next day.......

[BLEED-AIR]

Remove the soil mound,expose the tunnel and insert an unlit Fire Lighter and cover over. One fire lighter should be placed every twenty / thirty feet. This works without fail.

[turniphead]

Or us really really sick bas***ds could slice up bits of Kiltie? There must be enough venom there to finish them off for miles around.

[dublinpilot]

Turniphead,

Is their really a need to get personal?

I'm with Skyhawk & Kiltie on this one....there must be a more humaine way?

dp

[slim_slag]

However a two-stroke motorcycle's exhaust connected into the burrows and left running for an hour or two does seem to work!

As for the humane methods - you're wasting your time, they'll be back the next day.......

If it's the CO in the exhaust that gets them its probably as humane as you can get. Kevorkian used this in his assisted suicides, essentially you fall asleep long before you get breathless and start to panic. 2 stroke is pretty dirty though, probably 4 stroke is cleaner, but think most of the CO is now taken out by the catalytic converter, so you need an old but clean running beater.

[gasax]

sorry dublin, the real world does not recognise 'humane' methods.

Nature is about survival. That takes effort and for the various small creatures that can cause us a great deal of trouble and/or expense, it usually takes all their effort.

That is why they are strong, smart and very tenacious. Move a mole and unless you have flown him the length of the country he'll be back the next day! Or more likely a neighbouring mole will take advantage of all his efforts and move it - end result you're still got moles!

The same goes for rabbits, rats, mice - all of the small creatures. The reason they survive is not our kindness but their tenacity.

From Beatrix Potter on we have all this rubbish about 'sweet little creatures in their little velvet jackets' and similar nonsense. Ask someone whose horse has just been put down after breaking its leg in a mole burrow whether they are 'sweet little creatures'?

It would be lovely and oh so kind to simply suhh them away - but that is not what drives them.

p.s. why do none of the 'bunny huggers' love big brown rats - they're so much smarter - almost clever enough to understand being asked to leave?

p.p.s - Slim - I suspect you're right about the CO, but of course there is also an O2 deficiency and as you note 2 strokes are pretty 'dirty' in terms of exhaust. Non-catalytic diesels would probably be best - but the motorcycle is of course very 'portable' and we try to keep all vehicles off the strip.

[SkyHawk-N]

If it's the CO in the exhaust that gets them its probably as humane as you can get.

Hey Slim, letting them live is the most humane you can get!

I hope you aren't a doctor! :}

[slim_slag]

There is some law, the 'protection of wild mammals act' or something similar which says you cannot cause unnecessary suffering when you dispatch the little buggers. So one has to be careful as the world according to westminster does recognise humane methods. Being shot is probably very humane, as it's instantaneous and so no suffering. I'd try the car exhaust, I've heard it works well from other sources too.

Skyhawk, get over to medical and health with that opinion and you will get an answer :)

[SkyHawk-N]

Move a mole and unless you have flown him the length of the country he'll be back the next day!

Homing moles? :hmm: I once had a mole 'problem'. Caught two in humane traps (of a non-CO2 variety), drove them two miles away and released them. Never had a problem again.

[Dave Gittins]

Jibes about Carrott and his humourous attempts to dispatch burrowing beasts aside ..... nature is indeed (i'm with gasax on this one) about survival of the biggest, nastiest and hungriest and is pretty cruel it as well. Get into a lions cage and ask it nicely about humane.

Squirrels are just bloody big rats with good PR and the most common bird in the british countryside is the pigeon. Both of them cause immeasurable damage and mess and just like the moles I will be none too pleased or tolerant if they get in my way. I've got slight signs of mole activity in a corner of my garden and woe betide it if it comes any nearer. I won't be planning on foisting my misery on a farmer in the next county instead.

Opinions on mole dispatching aside - isn't PpRuNe great for starting an argument about the most mundane of subjects.

I wonder if 411A has an opinion about moles ?

:ok:

[javelin]

He won't understand what one is - call it a Gopher and he might !

[dublinpilot]

Gasax,

What ever your view about dispatching moles to the afterlife, the main point of my posting was about another ppruners thoughts of dispatching a fellow ppruner to the afterlife.

Or us really really sick bas***ds could slice up bits of Kiltie?

Surely personal insults aren't called for. Kiltie was making a comment about something they believe in, without being personal.

As for the real world, I'm not suggesting that they shouldn't be killed. But to intentionally kill something with as much cruelty as possible is beyond belief to this city boy.

We've tried petrol - good fun but doesn't seem to be that effective

Intentionally burning a creature alive is about as far from humane as I can imagine short of pulling each of its limbs off one by one first. If that's how you get your fun.....well.......I won't finish that sentence to avoid getting personal ;) But you get the idea.

Skyhawks idea, if it works, would seem to be as humane as is possible. :ok:

Shooting the creatures would provide a quick killing, and shorten the suffering too.

I just can't agree with the idea of burning a sentient creature.....mole or ppruner.

dp